Sharpening Business

[hmayorca]

Hi everyone:

I am opening a sharpening business in Central America and I would like to ask if you can help me with the price list for the services. (usa reference)

There are different prices for the knives considering how was made it?

Regards

[Ken S]

Bienvenido al foro, Horacio.

I don't know how much help we can be, however, I will give it a try.

I would suggest you make up two sets of charts. For the first chart, I would find an online price list for sharpening different tools. The location doesn't really matter. From this price list, I would begin with the item you are most likely to sharpen often. As a typical example, I might start with a standard chef's knife, perhaps 200mm or eight inches in length and needing only sharpening. I would designate this cost as 1.00. Using the same price list, I would also note the cost of sharpening other items you plan to sharpen. For example, a 100mm or four inch paring knife. Next to the notation for this knife, I would note the percentage of the cost of your designated original knife.

For example, if the chef's knife costs 4 units of the local currency and the paring knife costs 3 units, I would note this as:

200mm chef's knife1.00

100mm paring knife .75

This list would be expanded to include all the different knives and tools you plan to sharpen. Also list the cost in the same way for extra services, such as repairing broken knife points, as these costs relate to the price of sharpening the chef's knife. For this chart the local currency does not matter. All we want to know is what percentage of the cost of sharpening the chef's knife the other services cost.

Make up these charts for several online sharpening services.

For the second chart, use the price for only the chef's knife for the different services. For this chart, you will want to designate a single currency. Converting the second chart chef's knife costs to your local currency probably makes sense. Or you could designate a common currency, such as USD.

To these second chart items, also include the cost of several very common items. One common measure is the "Big Mac Index", which compares prices throughout the world using McDonald's Big Mac sandwich as the gage. The purpose of these calculations is to give you an idea of what sharpening a chef's knife would cost in comparison to several commonly purchased items. Again, using a percentage figure is easy to work with.

Once you know the cost of sharpening a chef's knife compares with several common items in your area, you can come up with an initial price for sharpening this knife. From that price point, you can use the first chart percentages to calculate the price of your other services.

While this system is not foolproof, if you know that in several other areas a Big Mac, or a certain size container of laundry detergent costs 70% of what people in those areas pay to have a chef's knife sharpened, you should be close to an optimal price.

By the way, I also checked on the Tormek website under the dealers tab. The closest dealer listed for Central America is in Mexico. That website gave me the impression that Tormek might be one of many products carried. The dealer website is not always complete. I would suggest you email Tormek in Sweden. (support.tormek.se) would get your email to the factory. You could inquire as to whether there are any dealers in your area.

I wish you the best of luck in this.

Ken

[grepper]

I've never seen prices differences based on how a knife was made, but most prices seem to be based on blade length, number of blades for pocket knives, etc.

I've seen prices that are something like:

Less than 4" - $3.00
4" – 6" $4.00
6" – 8" - $6.00

Or some just say $1.00 - $1.50 per inch, with some minimum charge of say $5.00.

I saw one place that charged base rate +1.00 extra for a hollow ground bevel, stating that they used a Tormek to do it.

Of course, it's whatever your local market will support, and how good you are about convincing folks that parting with $$$ is better than using dull knives.  From my experience a lot of people would prefer using a club to bash something in half rather than pay anything at all to have a sharp knife.

I did a quick Google search for "knife sharpening cost", and got a full page of price lists from various services.  You could also search for "knife sharpening service", etc.  Be a little creative in your search words and you should easily be able to find an answer to your question.

[stevebot]

Sharpeners Report publishes an annual survey of sharpening prices, knives and all else. http://sharpeners-report.com/
The going rate here in Cleveland OH is $1 and inch. My rates are:
Paring $4
5 and 6" knives $6
up to 8" $8
over 8  $9

[grepper]

Where do you find these wonderful people?  Most of the folks I run into would just as soon bludgeon things in half with a cudgel than actually pay for sharpening.  At the same time, they are all pleased to have me do it for free, which I do because consider sharpening fun. I know what you're thinking... He must have a low fun threshold.

[Ken S]

Grepper,

I saw several customers who were willing to have Steve, as a Tormek demonstrator, sharpen their knives gratis. Actually, that's an old tradition at the Hartville store. For as long as I can remember there was a diamond bench stone on display where customers were welcome to sharpen their knives for free. One of my co workers sharpened his regularly, every time he was there!

The trick is to find the paying customers.......

I ran into the same thing over the years with  my photography side business (mostly black and white processing and custom printing). I shot a very few weddings, mostly for family and friends. I knew when a stranger called inquiring about wedding photography that they were looking for a lower price. I wasn't that interested.

You may have to help educate people to the value of well sharpened knives. I explained archival processing to numerous people. Some were appreciative and willing to pay for quality and some were not.

Ken