Burly Burr Knife Sharpening

Method

I use belts. I originally learned with whetstones but they're just too slow for my niche. Most of the work is on my 1x30 belt sander, starting with a 120 or 180 grit Cubitron, then moving to a Trizact A30, then onto my 4x36 leather belt for polishing off the burr. I mist the belts with water to keep the blade cool and keep the dust down in the van.

If your knife isn't too chipped and doesn't need any profile repair, they should take me about five minutes each.

Prices

Any full-sized kitchen knife is $15. Paring knives and folding pocket knives are $10. Anything in between is negotiated one way or the other but I try and target $2 an inch. Tax included.

Payment by cash, credit card, or even a check is fine if it's more than a couple knives. Reach out on the contact page and I'll let you know when I can show up on your street.

My focus

There's a lot of aspects to knife sharpening beside just making a sharp edge. Fixing broken tips, grinding down the bolster, smoothing out the profile so your vegetables aren't all connected like paper dolls, straightening bends, conditioning the cheeks of the blade to remove scratches or take off rust, thinning, it goes on and on and that's not even getting to the handles. Much less to shears and scissors! It really does take a lifetime to learn this stuff.

At this point in my knife sharpening journey I'm focused on the sharp edge. I can do some of those other things to varying degrees, but as a mobile sharpener with a fast same-day turnaround, I'm selling sharpness and convenience.

As for what I sharpen, at this point in time I'm focused on knives. Occassionally I will take a stab at chisels or garden tools or hatchets or various other edged items, but those things are more of a 2026 goal for me. 2025 is all about knives.