Report from the 14th Annual Sharpener's Jam in Atlanta, GA

This is the report that will be appearing in Jim O'Donnell's "On The Edge" publication.

Rolling Tool box Table Wins the 14^th Annual Sharpeners Jam Best Idea Award

Every Sharpener’s Jam awards and prizes are given to the sharpeners with the best ideas as voted on by their fellow sharpeners. Last year’s winner of the Sharpener’s Jam was one of the country’s most experienced sharpeners, Jim Turner, with his “Red Neck Scissor Hone.” This year’s winner by contrast went to one of the least experienced sharpeners. Roberto Rodriguez learned to sharpen just 4 days before the Jam. The sharpeners attending chose and voted for his easy lightweight design of converting his rolling tool box into a sturdy work table. Using PVC board and industrial Velcro he was able to quickly place a platform to hold his Scimech machine and other sharpening tools. Roberto won a one of a kind Bonika Sister Twister Shoto valued at over $900.00.

The second prize winner was from Steve White, a sharpener just south of Atlanta. Steve passed down his grandfather’s trick of removing rust. Using a simple carpenter’s pencil, Steve demonstrated how quickly and easily the graphite point of the pencil scratches off rust without marring the surface of the metal.

In third place was a previous year’s winner, Ron Ellis from Panama City, FL. Ron enjoys using his multi shear discount but doesn’t always need or want to order 10 shears from Bonika to get his discount. Ron’s suggestion was to pre-pay for your shears before you order them by putting $1000.00 on your account with Bonika Shears and order shears at the 25% off discount until your balance is used up then send in another $1000.00. Ron uses his discount to buy other items as “give-aways” when customers buy shears.

Other notable ideas included Steve Pailet’s honorable mention for his idea of using a vise grip to keep consistent pressure on clipper blade springs. Marketing ideas came from Robert Lonski gets customers visiting smaller towns and Jim Martin gets customers utilizing text messaging to set appointments as well as Jay Hunter and his successful way of pre-scheduling appointments. Screw repair was a topic. Billy Hime explained how he uses Teflon tape for fixing loose screws. There was a  “Cracker Screwdriver” invention by Harry Megowan to tighten the screws on Rusk Scissors and Ian Pettinger who had the distinction of coming the longest distance to the Jam, (he’s from Cyprus … the island, not Cyprus, FL) demonstrated yet anther way to fix loose screws.

The day of sharing will be edited and made available as a DVD from Bonika Shears. Previous year’s Sharpeners Jam DVD’s still available.

A survey gathered information from the Jam attendees with 50% of the sharpeners part-time and 50% full time. Sharpeners on a scale of 1-5 rated the ideas presented as useful as 4.7. the average Jam Sharpener had attended the Jam at least 3 times with approximately half as first time attendees. On the same scale their enjoyment of the Jam and likelihood of coming again was 4.8 and 4.9 for recommending the Jam to other sharpeners. The friendliness and helpfulness of the Bonika Shears staff garnished 5 out of 5.The average sharpener had been sharpening 6.8 and took 12.21 minutes to sharpen a shear. Although Jim O’Donnell when asked how much to charge for sharpening was to quip, “As much as you can get!” is the right answer. It might be helpful to compare yourself with the pricing by other sharpeners. Shear sharpening averaged $21.56; clipper blade sharpening was $6.62 on average and knife sharpening $3.44 per knife.

Learning about Modern Abrasive Technology from Harrelson Stanley

Harrelson Stanley (“Hap”) challenged and shook the thinking of many sharpeners about burs and edges when it comes to sharpening.  Hap lived 12 years in Japan, and apprenticed in traditional lacquering for 9 years there. His experience is primarily in the aspect of sharpening woodworking tools and the Japanese mentality of striving toward perfection of an edge. He is now the importer for Shapton Stones from Japan which seems to be the current waterstone of choice among Jam attendees. Hap was able to show live on a projector with a digital microscope the crevices and burs found on the edges of a shear and how honing was able to change and improve the edge, creating a more perfect line. Hap was able to clearly illustrate the importance of correctly and frequently flattening your stone using copious amounts of water while working the edge on the stone.

The survey results of Hap’s presentation was on the scale of 1-5 his presentation was rated a 4.3 and the content of his information 4.4. 4 out of 5 attendees indicated that they would like to hear him speak next year. The DVD of his talk and demonstration will be available soon.

T.E.A. Tension, Edge and Alignment was the theme of Casper Kiser’s Classes at the Sharpener’s Jam

Casper Kiser, Oster plant supervisor from McMinnville, TN had a theme in both his small hands-on work shop and his presentation before the full group. Casper hammered away how the triangle of edge, alignment and tension all affect each other and the weakest part of the triangle will determine the cut of the shear.

In the hands-on workshop Casper explained how these three elements work in texturizers, curve shears and lefty’s. His explanation of sharpening these shears covered a unique way of edging the rides on the curve shears by utilizing the clamp on their sharpening equipment to level the blade and create a consistent rideline. His powerpoint presentation covered the basics of shear sharpening and how they differ when specifically sharpening curves, leftys and texturzers. 5 out of 5 attendees said they wanted to hear Casper speak next year and all the surveys rated the usefulness of his information and manner of presentation as 5 out of 5. Comments about Casper’s class was “Fun,” “Innovative,” “Exceptional!”, “Excellent,” I appreciated his willingness to answer questions off the cuff”

By popular demand Casper has agreed to come back to the Jam next year and focus more on helping sharpeners understand Alignment which seemed to be the most confusing and difficult aspect of the T.E.A. triangle. As another note to Casper Kiser’s illustrious credentials, he showed himself an expert at Laser Tag coming in first in every competition at the QZar Laser Tag outing.

Clippers, Clippers, Clippers Classes

Both experienced and beginners attended classes on Clipper Blade Sharpening with Bob Schiessl and Clipper Blade Repair with Jason Sturm. Bob Schiessl as always has a popular class, however, this was the first year Jason Sturm presented at the Sharpeners Jam. Jason’s clipper repair information included some smaller trimmers and smaller clippers that was of particular interest to those sharpeners in the beauty industry. The DVD that will result from the class will be a nice supplement to the current clipper repair DVD’s on the market which primarily show work on large clippers. This year the clipper equipment and clipper parts were in their own separate vendor room which made the main vendor room more spacious and the clipper area quieter and more conducive to learning. Both Bob Schiessl and Jason Sturm have agreed to be back next year. Jason’s clipper repair class will be extended to a full day class with plenty of hands on practice and clippers to diagnose and work on.

Will Jim O’Donnell Be Back for the Jam Next Year?

Jim O’Donnell will be back next year if the requests of the sharpeners have their way. Every survey received indicated that the sharpeners said they would like to hear Jim speak next year. Jim’s topic was “Making Money with Industrial Shears.”

Sharpeners hit hard by the recession and competition saw a whole new avenue for making money put before their eyes. Jim began by passing out a long small typed 3 column list of businesses that need sharpening. Other sharpeners suggested additional customers of theirs who needed sharpening.

Jim gave demonstrations on the Twice As Sharp equipment and the Cor-rugator that would be useful equipment for those pursing industrial sharpening. He answered questions on sharpening from tiny embroidery scissors to long paper cutters. One sharpener commented that “anything out of the box” makes for a great class and discussion in finding new revenues.

Knife Sharpening on the FlatHone …A New Way to Make Money without Buying New Equipment

Jason Sturm gave an organized presentation on the ends and outs of sharpening knives safely using the Flathone equipment most shear sharpeners currently use. He had the hands-on class hold their blades at an 18% angle working the bur over with finer and finer grit until the final bur was buffed off. This was a beginner class and had the distinction of Jason’s son Zach sharpening his first knife on his father’s Flathone machine. It was interesting how the different sharpeners discovered their own way of keeping the blade at a consistent angle. Jason’s patience with those of us who were angle-challenged helped everyone in the class achieve a sharp, straight, smooth knife edge. This class received some of the highest ratings of all the classes on the surveys. It was presented in such a way that the DVD when it comes out should be sufficient to help sharpeners get repeatable results.

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