Meet Lisa Johnson, Sharpener from Charleston, SC

Lisa Johnson is the owner of Diamond Cut Sharpening, LLC in Moncks Corner, SC, just outside Charleston, SC. We wanted to feature Lisa this week because she distinguished herself at the International Salon and Spa Expo in Long Beach, CA sharpening shears for the stylists and platform artists who attended the show.

Although Lisa has only been sharpening for a short period of time her dedication to constant improvement, her innate abilities and her hard work ethic has brought about a successful business in a short period of time. She know sharpens for well known hair artists such as Frances London Dubose of Charleston, SC and Ray Parker of Hollywood, CA.

Lisa sells Bonika shears as well as combs, dryers and irons. She was trained by Bonnie Megowan with advanced training as well and uses the Scimech Scissor flathone, Twice as Sharp and the Extreme Cut equipment for sharpening. She sharpens beauty shears, barber scissors, industrial scissors, groomer scissors, knives and clipper blades.

Contact information if you are in the Charleston area and need sharpening is 843-509-7263

Knife Sharpening DVD

The knife sharpening DVD shot at the 2008 sharpeners Jam is being duplicated and should be ready in a day or two. This was one of our most anticipated DVD's from this year's Jam. It features Bob Schiessl showing how the Tru-Hone works and the opportunity in knife sharpening. This DVD would be good investment for anyone considering purchase of the Tru Hone. I don't think this 35 minute DVD would be sufficient to make someone proficient in knife sharpening, but it will acquaint you with what this knife sharpening is all about and will help you determine if this is for you. I think most views will especially lie the details Bob gives on their rental knife business and the logistics and details how they put this together. Watch a short clip below of the knife sharpening DVD:

Knife Sharpening at the Sharpeners Jam

Bob Schiessl of Nebraska blades presented a demonstration on how to sharpen knives on a Tru-Hone. This was on Monday afternoon of the 2008 Sharpeners Jam. I took notes during his presentation and these are the notes that might help you in sharpening knives.

Charge by the inch. Bob could train a new employee on a Tru-Hone can train in 15 minutes. He does a rental knife business by buying up discontinued line of knives.

Tru-hone too slow if you use only tru-hone. Need to have a belt sander as well.

Chefs want a different angle on different knives. Tru-hone allows you to do both sides and keep a constant angle. The angle degrees may vary from knife to knife, but the angle must be consistent on an individual knife.

Bob charges on rental knifes $2.10 per knife.
On-site sharpening of their knives he charges about $.45 / inch

After a while wheels on the Tru-Hone become egg shape. Reverse wheels and this will prolong it. You will know wheels are out of round when the knives bounce. Number of knives before truing the wheels will be 100+ knives. Set of wheels is about $32.00.

Bob was awarded a Docotrate of Clipperology through Bonika University. His wife Linda said there would be no living with him now.