Local Write Ups

Quotes from a Minneapolis Star Tribune South article about the Strop Shop® in the Wednesday, January 17, 2007 issue

The Strop Shop®, owned by Ronald A. Green of Burnsville, is a sharpening service for home and business. “If I don’t accomplish another thing, I want to make certain the folks who reside in the Twin Cities know mine is a service designed to make it easy for them to get their knives or scissors or any other items around the house—or business—sharpened”, says Ronald. He continues, “When you make the decision to have something sharpened, you have a right to expect it will be done properly and quickly and when you use it for the first time after it has been sharpened and a little smile of satisfaction lights up your face, that’s my confirmation I’ve done my job right”.

Quoting an article authored by Sarah Lemagie, slemagie@startribune.com, 612-673-7557 and photographed by Jeffrey Thompson, jthompson@startribune.com, published in the Star Tribune South on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 on page S5and entitled, A retirement that’s anything but dull, “Sharpening knives is a surprisingly quite activity, even on the collection of sharpeners and grinders in Green’s basement. The electric sharpener he uses for lawnmower blades, shovels and other rough work produces a moderate hum, but knives he usually sharpens on a precision hand-operated device that makes little more than a snik as blade slides against one of a set of Japenese water stones.

“Green uses several stones on each knife, moving from rougher to smoother grits to sharpen, hone and strop it.

“Green said he works on an average of 40 knives a week, but that’s fine by him, especially in a business where the sky’s the limit. Everyone ‘but maybe one or two’ of the households in the country has knives, he said, and that means one thing.

“I’ve got a long ways to go before I get them all sharpened.”

A lot of folks ask why he named his business The Strop Shop® and his answer is, “Stropping is the final stage of the sharpening process and the stage that polishes the sharpened edge so it will gleam in the light and that’s a noticeable difference”.

You can learn more about how The Strop Shop® sharpens knives and other utensils and tools in The Strop Shop® Newsletter, Second Quarter 2007 edition.