Interesting thread.

I've been thinking about starting a side business (Saturday garage or farmers' market) doing this for consumers. Kitchen knives, pocket knives, basic scissors, pruning shears, axes, and garden tools -- all done while you wait. There is a real demand, and I've been doing it for friends and family for years.

The commercial sharpening outfits focus on volume customers (restaurants and butcher shops for knives, and scissors for hair salons). Talking to them, they make a tidy profit. But almost none of them want the fiddle factor of dealing with individual consumers.

I find it more satisfying to sharpen by hand (diamond really kicks). But for a viable business proposition, there just isn't time for that. People bring in "sticks" that take a lot of work to turn back into "knives." I'm starting off with a 1" belt grinder, and may get a couple of Tormek paper wheels for my old bench grinder.

Serrations are a big problem. AFAIK they have to be done by hand. That takes a lot of time and fuss. But a lot of blades have them now. Any thoughts? There's an electric sharpener at Cabelas that claims to handle serrated edges, but I'm leery of running somebody's Spyderco through one of those.

Another contentious topic is the preferred type of edge: "toothy vs. polished smooth." Personally, I prefer a somewhat toothy edge for most kinds of work, but they don't last as long as a polished/stropped edge. Will consumers care all that much? I would be curious about everyone's perspective on the subject.