I had the pleasure yesterday of listening to Alex tell us fascinating story of the evolution of the Carrboro farmers market. This guy is the real deal, not only a champion of local food but one of the reasons we enjoy it the way we do in the Triangle. Coincidentally, this article across my feed today and I thought it was worth a read.
By popular demand, we are going to give the knife sharpening service a go, starting this Saturday, with the intention of running it weekly at both market sites! This is a service for kitchen knives, kitchen scissors, and personal knives (e.g., folding knives) only. Not machetes, lawn mower blades, hedge trimmers, chain saws, hair clippers, etc. - if you don't cut food with it, we don't sharpen it.
A note on SAFETY! No running with scissors, ha ha! Seriously, you need to safely transport your knife/knives to market. Use, good common sense, but make sure THE BLADE IS COVERED. Throwing your naked knife into your market bag is not adequate. See the pictures below for a suggestion of how to use an old box and some tape to transport your knife safely.
The service will be run by Jim Pellegrini, aka the Muddy Dog Coffee guy, as a d/b/a under Muddy Dog LLC, so it will be a legitimate, standalone business with liability insurance that meets the market's requirements. This business is currently intended only as a service to onsite market customers, though it will be possible to drop off your knives at the market and pick them up at Muddy Dog during the week, if the service can't be completed at the market. Service time will depend on demand - intention is to do it all at market. You may have to linger a little while, or come back, depending on the queue.
Jim has invested pretty substantially (given that this is a highly questionable business venture) in dedicated, professional, low speed, water cooled sharpening equipment. This is not a guy dragging your knives through a cheap, universal sharpener he got at Target for $19. So if you ask why it costs $10 to sharpen a knife, it's because there are thousands of dollars worth of equipment and a professional using them.
Here is the current pricing:
Carbon and Stainless Steel Blades Only
No ceramics
No serrated
Folding knives ($2.00 ea. add. blade) $5.00
Fixed blade knives (up to 6") $6.00
Fixed blade knives (6” - 12") $9.00
Scissors $9.00
Fixed blade knives (12" +) $10.00
Cleavers $12.00
Broken tips $4.00 extra
Blade chips/nicks $1.00 extra
Annual Subscription – up to 2 knives per week $249
All fees are subject to current Wake County sales tax, as described on NC DOR website www.dornc.com/taxes/sales/salesrates_4-17.html (currently 7.25%)
Market shopper bonus – spend at least $100 at market in one market session, get one free knife sharpening (any knife). You must bring the knife on the same day, no deferred rewards. In other words, bring your knife and PLAN ON spending $100.