New service available!

Did you know that we now offer mail-in knife sharpening?


Check it out.

I think this is a neat and unique service to offer people. It's not always easy to find someone who knows how to sharpen a knife properly.

Oh ho, you say, but you can go to Kroger and get your knives sharpened. And to that I say oh ho back, because what we do is a very different sort of thing. We have a video, so you can see how Carl does things. Not only does he grind the edge, he also polishes and hones it. All done by hand on machines designed by my grandfather.


Recently, my husband and I have had to move back in with my parents. Needless to say, this has called for some adjustment on everyone's part. One of the arrangements we've made is that I cook dinner on Wednesdays, and other days as needed. What I've discovered from doing all this cooking, is that my parents haven't had their knives sharpened... ever. So I'm bringing them in with me, a few at a time, the worst ones first. The worst one was a wood handled stamped chef's knife. This poor knife has been mistreated and neglected. The tip had been broken off, the blade had some nicks in it, and I've seen butter knives that were just as sharp. Carl's official verdict: "Well, I've seen worse."

So next week I'll be bringing home a couple of nice sharp knives. And, with care, they'll stay that way for a few years. Or, realistically, until next spring when my mom has to split her hostas.

More about this coming soon, keep an eye on this spot!

State of the Store Address

There have been a lot of changes at the store in the past few months.

One of the biggest is the permanent retirement of Henry Heimerdinger, the former owner of the store (and my grandfather). He handed control of the business over to Carl in 1991 and semi-retired. Despite that, he still came in a few days a week to help with sharpening items customers brought in (mostly knives, scissors, and gardening tools). His last day was the twenty-ninth of August.

Another big change at around that time was that the clipper repair room was converted into a shipping room. The room has its own computer workstation and plenty of counter space for organizing and wrapping shipments. We've been getting enough online business that Carl decided we needed to dedicate some space to it. Never fear, we still repair clippers and supply repair parts for you to fix it yourself.

Since we lost the elder Mr. Heimerdinger's work back in the shop, we hired a new employee who has been trained in the fine skill of sharpening knives by hand. An interesting note is that some of the grinding wheels used in the shop had their design adapted particularly for this purpose by Henry Heimerdinger, who is a graduate of UofL's Speed School of Engineering. They work as well today as they did twenty years ago.