History

"For me, sharpening is a labor of love stemming from the gift at the age of six of a pocketknife from my father. He taught me how to use a knife safely for carving, whittling and having it on-hand (in my pocket, of course) when it was needed for odd jobs. Soon it became dull—all three blades—so I asked how to sharpen it and out of that the Strop Shop evolved."

When I was just six years old my father gave me a pocket knife which soon needed sharpening, and I've been sharpening one thing or another ever since. I really got serious about a sharpening business in 1992 when I purchased a set of German-made Wüsthof Classic kitchen knives. It was then I realized that, if I wanted my new knives sharpened as they should be, I would have to locate the best sharpening equipment on the market and do it myself. I came up with a precision machine that is hand-operated, microscopically accurate, very fast and uses water stones.

After I had sharpened my own knives, scissors, wood chisels, plane irons and other utensils and tools, my family and friends asked if I would take care of their sharpening needs as well. Then came acquaintances and their families and friends and before I knew it, I was operating a part-time sharpening business. To accommodate the variety of items I was asked to sharpen, I began increasing capabilities by adding more sharpening equipment to my shop. I would even buy tools at flea markets that needed reconditioning and sharpening just to gain the experience for when the real thing came along.

My Grandfather's razor strop hangs in a prominent place in my shop and it so happened that,about the time I was working on a name for my business, the razor strop caught my eye and as if on cue, I thought, "Strop Shop". That's what I'll name my sharpening business. Stropping is the last step in the sharpening process which is now done by a newer stropping technique that attaches to the same hand-operated sharpening machine I use for sharpening both knives and scissors. But the razor strop was my inspiration.

Every knife or pair of scissors I sharpen is treated as though it were my own, whether it is brand new, old, hand-crafted or mass-produced. Once the honing and stropping process is complete, your knife or scissors will perform as the maker intended and as you have a right to expect.