How to Make Money Sharpening Knives - Dexter Ewing

In this video we interview knife sharpening expert, Dexter Ewing from the Winston Salem area of North Carolina. Dexter shares how he got started sharpening knives for money and how he got the word out to support his sharpening service.
We start by getting a look at Dexter's setup. He is running 3 Ken Onion Edition KTS Elite's with a different grit belt on each. This saves Dexter time having to change out the belts on one machine, allowing him to move from one machine to the next and refine the edge on the knife he is sharpening.
Dexter then shares a bit about how he got his start, offering to sharpen knives for is local Whole Foods as a service and how that led into growing his network.
Finally Dexter shares these key tips!
- Understand your tools, get set up and get comfortable. Whatever sharpening system you use, learn to use it well and become an expert.
-Practice makes perfect! Become excellent at sharpening before you sharpen as a service.
- Grow the business - use your network.
If you live in the Salem - Winston area of North Carolina and want to contact Dexter you can reach him at [e-mail]
0:00 Intro
0:20 Dexter's Setup
4:00 How Dexter Got Started
7:36 Networking - Get the word out!
10:16 Pricing
12:06 Tips, Trick, and Advice
14:15 How to Reach Dexter!
14:55 Outro and next video preview

[@curtisstewart3179]

Excellent advice. Tomake $$ sharpening be able to do it in two minutes. Few will pay for polish. All they want is a sharp edge that last. I finish 320 for butcher/meat edges, 600 for vegetable. Again, do it in 2 minutes. Talk to Tractor Supply as some managers will let you set up on weekends. But you have to advertise and be regular. No one wanders around with a batch of edges looking for a sharpener.

[@shashiekka7917]

Having declared my dissatisfaction with this sharpener last night kzbin.infoUgkxDcr-y2Pf6xdnrFHrSP7dl9kpKaCozcSQ I thought about the problem some more. It occurred to me that I might be undoing each attempt at achieving a sharp edge by the repeated attempts. So, I tried to clean up the unsatisfactory result by honing with only positions 3 and 4.Miracle!! A really nicely sharpened chef's knife, more than enough to handle my needs. Admittedly, it did not reach professionally sharpened razor-fineness, but it is now significantly sharper than it was. A bout of breaking down carrots convinced me. So, major apologies to the manufacturer, Amazon, and all happy and potential owners! Follow the directions: don't buy it if you have ceramic blades; and don't overwork your knife blade.

[@williammack3018]

I used to own a kitchenware store in Boston. We specialized on selling kitchen knives and I wanted to be the go to place for knife service. I learned to sharpen and repair knives and scissors. Now that I'm retired, I still enjoy knife sharpening and repair. Serrated knife sharpening is often hard to find and so I have made it a specialty and I get $14 each for doing them. During the past few years I have added knife scale (handle) replacement which do for one of the major knife brands. It doesn't pay that well, but to a retiree, I've got the time and it's fun. I don't know of anyone else who does this so it's a bit of a niche for me.

[@logansundheim4409]

How do you sharpen serrated knives for your customers?

[@williammack3018]

@@logansundheim4409 There are lots of different serrations found on serrated knives and what I do varies from one to another. To sharpen I use tapered diamond files, chainsaw files, Chainsaw sharpening wheels mounted on a grinder and Crystolon steels made by Norton/Saint-Gobain, product #40433. I get most of these items from Amazon. So those are the tools. The technique description would take more time and space than I have the temperament for getting into here. Come by and I will show you. Sudbury, MAssachusetts.

[@capnmatt41]

Love that networking connection with Whole Foods.

[@geoffreydlin8043]

Dexter!! So good to see you!

[@kevinfonseca6233]

Excellent video! I sharpen knives for friends but had it in my mind to have my hobby pay for itself.

[@Joker32256]

Man, this is awesome. I’ve sharpened all the knives at our house before, some friends knives for free, but i’ve gotten paid by a butcher neighbour to sharpen his butcher knives. I just set up a podcast and grind away

[@emanuelroth7960]

Great vid, well done!! Love to see Dexter and get his wealth of knife knowledge!

[@dragan3290]

This is exactly what I need to do! Awesome tutorial! I'm glad I came across this topic! Cheers from Australia 🙂👍👍👍. My wife bought a set of forever sharp kitchen knives ( surgical stainless) apparently! Ok but after learning from Japanese sharpening guy on KZbin. I copied his methods and I sharpened up 2 Aldi knives which my wife threw in the garage to scary sharp! Lol. I had 1 forever sharp bread knife from the 80s which I scored from my mother years ago. That bread knife was great and lasted forever. The ones they sell now are poor quality and dull very quickly! Awesome!!!!

[@grantsimms2009]

This is great! I have been thinking about starting my own business, and this series looks like it will help a lot.

[@troyhaynes509]

you start it yet

[@grantsimms2009]

@@troyhaynes509 I did it for a few months before I went off to college.

[@12801270able]

@@grantsimms2009 Why did you stop?

[@TheStonesvids]

Right on time, i m on my way to make money with sharpening ! Good job!

[@rodolfoquezada1744]

Really helpful insight and perspective! Thank you for the ideas and recommendations!

[@nitanice]

When I was a cook in Aspen, the knife sharpening guy had a van and went to every restaurant in town on a monthly basis. Miss him. I think, if possible, a mobile business that caters to restaurants, can set up in -- as he does -- at the Whole Foods or other supermarket might be a good way to go.

[@garyfrombuffalo]

Cool video idea 👍🏻

[@jaywalker2012]

This is going to be a great series. I’ve been sharpening friends knives for a while. Been wondering if there is a way to make some money for doing it to fund more sharpening supplies and knives.

[@darkmaer]

This is interesting. Before starting to try to learn how to sharpen my own knives I looked around and couldn’t find anybody, but maybe I just didn’t look hard enough. I live in Greensboro and Winston is a hop skip and a jump away. I would have easily given him my business if I still needed it.

[@silvergrizzly316]

Hey brother, I'm down here in Cabarrus County and the wife just bought me the Work Sharp Precision Elite Knife Sharpener with the additional sharpening stones and carry case. It will be here tomorrow, can't wait to sharpen all the knives I have and I've got a lot of them! Lol, so I'll get plenty of practice if I ever start doing it on the side. Merry Christmas to you and yours 🕊 🎅

[@greatedgeltd]

Excellent video - when will we see the next one?

[@gerardamitranno8837]

I like networking with the community at Whole Foods . There are also knife shows here in Wilmington NC which you can rent a booth inside of the show. I would love see your set up in Winston Salem .

[@DrinkLikeAFishInAK]

Nothing against this guy and him building his business, that's great. I personally would like to hear from someone who makes a professional living doing this and no longer has the need for a 'regular' job.

[@robertdouglas4293]

Nice,

[@BearHartOutdoorsChannel]

How does he sharpen scissors/shears? I'd love to see that technique!

[@MrPersson007]

also consider doing just like him but in Sweden with your products

[@johnnytheknife4022]

What do you do if you don't have a belt sander or a work shop? Do you do Manuel stone sharpening?

[@Junkremoval-hvac]

What brand sharpener is the ones he is using I hear the model of each but did not hear the brand. Thanks

[@robertdouglas4293]

Very cool, No disrespect, you make stuff usable, good for you, the tool doesn't make the product, though, nice vid bro.

[@muchimi]

Are there special instructions for faberware?

[@paulwilliams819]

Does someone starting this kind of business need to get a license?

[@beorbeorian150]

Seems Doing this at an industrial/ industry level would be the only way to make significant $

[@johnshorba]

I just cant avoid putting a slight recurve on knives

[@primarymeme9929]

I think that happens when your alternating between starting from the hilt or the tip

[@ibramodaddy]

Can you sell to me old knife sharpening machines?

[@maximus512]

Never sharpen a knife on a grinding belt. Never.

[@TheBeatenPaths]

Actually you can't make money sharpening knives. Everyone & their dog is already doing it.

[@richardisotope]

Thank you for your long ad . I know I will not buy from you.