Q&A CORNER
Q: What are some options for cleaning blades?
A: I used to use kerosene to disinfect blades, but I didn’t like that it is flammable. Now I switched to a water-based, organic cleaners. One alternative is Magic 555, which can be purchased for $50 after shipping from Florida. You can dilute it 2:1 with water. As long as you dry it right away, there’s no need to fear rust. Use the solution in a jewelry ultrasonic cleaner. –Jim Correll, KS.
A: We use denatured alcohol. Just dip a brush in it and clean the blades between the teeth, and then use the air compressor to dry them off. – Slip Sharpening, MN

SOME FUNDAMENTALS
A human hair averages 3-5 micron but can be 8-10 if it is very coarse. It is also one of the strongest natural fibers on earth and the cuticle is one of the hardest. If the edge of the shear is smoother than the smallest hair, then it won’t hold it so it cuts clean. But, if the edge is too coarse it can tear or fray fine hair. Wet hair and chemically treated hair can be cut with a smoother edge because the cuticle of the hair has been opened creating places the smooth edge can get into or stripped off making the hair finer.
As the angle at the edge goes down, the force needed to close the shear goes up. As the angle at the edge goes down the edge needs to be rougher as the hair gets coarser. There are exceptions to these fundamentals. Davi Wayne-Disney of Cut Right Sharpening in Texas offers more tips in the May and June issues of Sharpeners Report. Here is an excerpt.
POINT CUTTING
Point cutting is where the hair is held out from the head and the shear is inserted into the ends and closed. Sometimes the stylist will pull the shear out of the hair as they are closing it. This technique was developed to mimic razor cutting. It has two main variations.
Point cutting for texture. Probably 50% of all stylists do some of this. Since the goal is for the cuts to be visible, the shear needs some tooth so the hair doesn’t slide or push out. 6-9 micron edge finish and 35-45 deg angle. The shape isn’t particularly important. (There will usually be increased wear at the tips of the shear.)
Point cutting for blending. Here the goal is to not show the individual cuts. This means the shear should have considerable push. 6 or less micron edge finish and most stylists that do a lot of this will prefer a longer CHG shear with thin blades. This is a more advanced skill and maybe 20% of stylists will attempt it. Many more could do it if they had the right edge but they won’t try because they once stuck 3 inch’s of shear blade into the bottom of a hair cut and the edges grabbed a big chunk causing the stylist to discover that they have made a client very unhappy. So, the stylists try to get by with a fine toothed thinning/blending shear. (During your analysis of a CHG shear you will likely find fairly even wear on the ride lines on both blades mostly in the 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch at the end of the blade.)
SLIDE and SLITHER CUTTING will be covered in the June issue of Sharpeners Report. BLUNT CUTTING was covered in the May issue. Subscribe to the Report for more articles!

Dear Readers,
I am struck by the passing of Dick Clark, TV host of American Bandstand and producer. There was a man whose body of work changed with the times to stay relevant among six generations of fans. He entertained us from studios in Philadelphia, LA and NY. Dick Clark stayed passionate about his hobbies and business interests, continuously demonstrating a keen interest in how to connect with his fans. S.R. appreciates your time as we stay relevant and connect with professional sharpener fans. We also value the suppliers who have stayed relevant and responded to the challenges faced by professional sharpeners like you.
S. R. Most Wanted: Answers any of these Questions from sharpeners. We post answers in the next monthly issue for subscribers:
Q: What is the most unusual blade you have sharpened?
Q: What phone app do you find most useful for biz?
Q: Poll: Who are your favorite abrasive suppliers?
Best Regards,
Judy Brenner, Publisher

Normally “V” shaped tooth circular saws and handsaws are filed. The “HOOK” or “U” shaped tooth circular saws are ground. Very seldom is there a choice. A “V” tooth circular saw or handsaw would be very difficult to grind on a manual grinder. The Foley 1000 automatic works well, but you should watch it. These same saws are easily done on an automatic filling machine such as the Foley 387. Most saw shops do have a filing machine. A “HOOK” or “U” shaped circular saw is usually face ground and gummed on a manual grinder, and the tops are finished on a belt grinder or saw filer. The tooth configuration of a “HOOK” or “U” shaped tooth makes it very difficult to file by any method. (Except the tops.) When filing “V” tooth circular saws, a single cut file is recommended. The single cut file leaves a slightly round gullet as opposed to a sharp gullet left by double cut files. This helps prevent cracks developing when the saw is in use. Using the Foley 1000, it’s likely to do 3 per hour.– ©Dicaire & Skoglund, 1982. Sharpeners Report© 2012 wants to know what works for you! 

If you have a beauty salon customer who gives you a shear that is already at a 40-45 degree, has been Convex Hollow Ground (CHG), is 59+ hardness, and is at least 5.5 inches in length, then a multi-purpose shear can be produced. The cutting styles still available mean 60 to 70% of stylists can use this shear for all of their cutting, with a few exceptions.

The Twisted Edge

From an equipment standpoint, sharpeners using the Kuda, the EZ-Vex or free handers should have no problem at all since the key skill is to be able to make a twisted edge. Ideally, the final ½ inch to 3/4 inch at the tip is about 40-45 degrees and smoothed to about 9 micron outside while the area at the 1/3 to ½ point (midpoint where most sliding, slicing, slithering is done) in the blade is at 50-55 degrees and smoothed to 3 micron outside and the ride line is all 3 micron or smoother.

Finish the whole blade on the hard paper with 9 micron diamond to make a nice shiny finish and then work down to 3 micron on all of the blade edge except the final approximately ½ to 1 inch at the tip before knocking off the original burr. This smoothing/polishing, even on the hard pressed paper requires a very light touch at the edge. Too much pressure, especially at 9 micron, will take the entire burr off and round the edge because even the hard pressed paper can be compressed and take off the inside of the blade dulling it. At medium speed, one can watch for the burr, looking for when it starts to thin or flake off.

Sharpened this way, the shear will push badly in the mid area (which is what it must do to be able to dry slide without fraying or tearing the hair) but blunt cut with no push at the tip on all but the coarsest hair. This means it will work very well to:
• Slide, slither, and slice in the mid area of the blade on wet or dry hair.
• Blunt cut at the tip on any wet hair and on medium to fine dry hair.
• Point cut for texture very well.

But, the blade sharpened in this manner won’t be suited for:
• Blending point cutting since the tip edges would not allow the hair to slide out easily;
• Chipping, again because the hair won’t slide at the tip

This article, written by Davi Wayne-Disney, can be viewed in its entirety in the April 2012 issue of Sharpeners Report.

Sharpeners Report readers say these methods work to clean sap, tar and other dirt from chain saw chains before sharpening them:

• I clean all my saw chains before sharpening with Simple Green (environmentally friendly). I spray them and let them soak for a few minutes, then scrub them with a toothbrush on both sides–that usually gets the gullet clean as well.  Then I rinse them in water and air-gun them to get moisture out of the nooks.  For stubborn resin build-up, I might also soak them in Pitch & Resin Remover available from Rockler. – John Ashbrook, The Sharp Shop of Merryville
• Try this product: Citrus Kleen, from National Chemical Lab Co., in Philadelphia. I bought 5 gallons, and it was expensive but it lasted 5 years with the dilution 1:5 water. I do hundreds of dirty chains a year. You soak it for 30 min., brush the blades off, and it is safe for the environment, too. –Mike Calovich, Alaska
• We use two Speed Sharp machines, one for the cutters, and the other for the rakers. A key piece of equipment is our cleaning tank. It’s a salvaged, none-working 2 compartment deep fat fryer from a restaurant. The tanks are thin, deep and stainless steel with a ball-valve in the bottom for easy clean-out. We soak them for an hour, or overnight in Lye (drain cleaner), purchased in a can, dry powder form at a hardware store. Next, we scrub the chain on a flat surface with hot water, dish soap and a coarse brush. Rinse, pat dry, and sharpen the cutters. The rakers are checked for height and ground down, if necessary. When finished, the chain is dipped into the 2^nd tank containing cheap motor oil. Once drained off, it’s put in a zip lock bag and billed out. The system works well as we see a lot of chain business. – Bruce Wyman, former owner of Henrick Brothers Sharpening, Sioux City, IA

Many sharpeners I talked to say their basic marketing mix includes signage on windows, on vehicles, and some paid advertisements in phone books, along with an Internet directory listing. All of the above are fairly low cost with the exception of one-time signage investments, and all can work to maintain business levels. Yet more sharpeners are finding the value in building a web site, using Facebook and offering direct mail specials. Word of mouth goes farther when you reach customers that use technology to spread the word on your good service. That generates profitable traffic in your shop and along your routes.

As a sole marketing strategy, relying on word-of-mouth can be risky, and requires a commitment to over-the-top customer service. It can even hurt your business, if the word on Main Street is negative or simply mediocre. If you are not going to invest in marketing, then your service must be better than the next guy’s. Give people a reason to say, I trust XYZ Company. They always do a good job,” or “It is such a pleasure doing business with them.”

Rose Pelletier, of Rene P’s Sharpening, LLC, Nashua, NH, p. 90,000, built up word of mouth by marketing investments of her time and effort. They face two major competitors: a small shop in town, and a large company 70 miles north. Rose started by attending meetings at the Chamber and the Small Business Association. “We also advertised in the phone book, and sent letters of introduction to the construction and wood products manufacturing companies with a summary of our services,” she said. “Now we enjoy a very devoted customer base.”

Cold Calling for Hot Leads
Ken Lancaster of Precision Knife & Tool in Ft. Collins Colorado, p.200,000, has 4 employees, and “we beat the streets. We have a different route each week, visiting our regulars and looking for new customers. When I see duct work from a vacuum system on a building, I find the woodshops and go talk to them,” Ken says. His word of mouth selling strategy: “Be honest, have the knowledge, and back up everything you tell them.”

Advertisements Work
Like many successful sharpeners, Jim Copeland of CMF Sharpening in Springfield, IL goes beyond word of mouth, and places small ads in phone books around the state and in the newspaper. Bill Wadle of Back to the Grind in Ackworth, Iowa, p15,000, (about 20 miles from Des Moines), places ads in the weekly shopper. EverSharp Knives in Minneapolis, p380,000, places ads in the “Taste” section of the daily paper from time to time.

Publicity Hits
Gaining the attention of local and larger market newspapers, magazines or radio stations also works for sharpeners to create a buzz. Ken of Precision Knife and Tool was featured in the Spring 2010 Tools magazine. The PR cost his time: free sharpening of tools that the magazine was testing. While it takes time to be interviewed, the pay back can be sweet when readers in your service area or your eager to see shipments of sharpening orders. Don’t be shy to call up your local paper to announce a new hire, an equipment addition, or just an open house tour. Journalists love having a story handed to them if the news day is slow.

EverSharp Knives in Minneapolis enjoys publicity often, and was featured in the Nov. 2010 issue of Family Handyman magazine, the Twin Cities Metro magazine blogged about the sharpener store, and a story on their restaurant knife sharpening service appeared in Food Service News. The Star Tribune has a bargain column and EverSharp publicized its Sept. sale prices. “We are a destination for some chefs. We may be the largest Wusthof Authorized Knife Sharpener in the world,” says sharpener Joe Gamache. He also puts up free-standing signs on each end of the block to increase visibility locally.

Social Media and Internet Marketing
No doubt many sharpeners have web pages, and a few started exploring social media. Check out EverSharp’s Facebook page, where the knife sharpeners posts its upcoming knife skills classes, links to publicity, and sales. Manufacturers also have a presence on Facebook. Check out Cook Industrial Tool, Inc., RKO Saw, and Federal Saw on Facebook. Watch for Sharpeners Report’s Facebook page this fall.

There also are on-line coupon opportunities, similar to GroupOn TM. EverSharp found a “Steals and Deals” e-coupon service that brought in 150 people that never heard of the sharpener before. “They came in over 90 days, so it was much easier to handle than a one day sale,” Tom said.

County and State Fairs
When a bakery called EverSharp to do a knife skills class at their booth during the Minnesota State Fair, they quickly agreed to snatch the two-hour slot. They’ll be there in late August slicing up more word of mouth advertising with charm. Look for County Fairs and even local parades and festivals where your business could sponsor an activity or participate at no cost but your time.

Being the good business neighbor also can work. “We sometimes get asked to offer a silent auction item for a charity event. The payback comes from word of mouth. New business generated recovers our cost and allows us to pay for a newspaper ad. The ROI in marketing is evident for us,” says EverSharp’s owner, Tom Jensen.

Marketing on Price
Offering the lowest price is not a marketing strategy. That is a pricing strategy, and it can work to gain volume, or maintain volume if the local market is saturated with competition in your service radius. But as the economy takes its toll and shrinks your customer base, there is less volume to chase while you’ve squeezed your margins. If you generate a buzz touting low prices, you may be locked in at those levels or risk disappointing a customer base. Then, it becomes difficult to raise prices in response to higher gas, insurance and material expenses. It can also devalue your brand (name). The “get what you pay for” is not the word of mouth any sharpener wants to hear echoing.

If you have a marketing tip, let us know!
Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the August 2011 issue.

The coming GrindTec 2012 being held this month, March 14-17, in Augsburg, will impressively show how high the demands made on a modern tool-grinding workshop are nowadays. As we saw, when the economy was booming, customers were more inclined to buy a new tool instead of regrinding the old tool. However, the regrinding business is getting better, partly influenced by the reliability and short delivery times of the grinding workshops.

One of the problems the sectors sees lies in the new cheap tools made from carbide metal, such as, for example, circular saw blades. Prof. Wilfried Saxer, General Manager of the German association FDPW, sees the solution in the leading technology in the high-tech tool-grinding workshop: “We must turn to new technologies, of which not everyone is in command. This means that in future diamond fitted or coated chip cutting tools will become much more important, in particular when it is necessary to cut aluminum, wood or plastic. High-tech applications and specialized know-how are the conditions in order to form or sharpen these tools.

Another example for the necessary highly qualified work in tool grinding workshops is the manufacture of specially prepared cutting edges in order to optimize tools and to make them more stable. The Grind Tec will be a platform for the sector at which all these forward-looking technologies will be presented.

Vollmer will be an exhibitor at GrindTech 2012. Switzerland once again dominates the list of foreign companies participating, with 44 % of the foreign companies coming from there. In second place is China, with 8 participating companies, followed by Italy with 7 companies, then Austria and France. For the first time, companies from the US, Israel and Korea will be there. The two companies from the US are: Diacut Inc, Palmer Lake, and Third Wave Systems, Minneapolis. In total, 450 companies from 25 countries are meeting in Augsburg.

The International Saw and Knife Association (ISKA) Winter meeting kicked off today in Sarasota, FL with a Family Business focus thanks to speaker Mike Trueblood, Director of the Family Business Council at Mihaylo College of Business and Economics. His talk, titled, “Best Practices for Family Firms in Today’s Economic Environment,” touched on the following tips:
- Define the vision of the family business. Visualize the future and plan for it.
- Determine the shared values of your family. What is the most important to everyone in your family?
- What are the traditions of the family firm? Keep what makes your family special alive through your business practices to continue the legacy.
- Develop a set of HR specific policies that apply to family as well as non-family employees. Prepare yourself with plans and protocol for these situations.
- Mentor the next generation of family members for leadership. You have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about your industry, your company and your family. Who better to benefit from your experience than your family?
25+ attendees representing 8 knife and saw companies are at the ISKA meeting this week. Check back soon for more updates, and see the March issue of Sharpeners Report for the full schedule, plus new products debuting and a carbide pricing report.