DailyHeights

Lo, it’s the knife grinder!

Now, I’ve never before lived in place where a knife-grinder came around, and I have some sewing scissors that need to be sharpened frequently, inconveniently, and usually at unreasonable expense. So I grabbed them and dashed outside in my slippers…

The truck itself was equipped with all sorts of clever things, like a dangling scrap of fabric to test scissors on and various implements to straighten out the blades, which had gotten a little crooked from accidental encounters with pins and zipper hardware.

Here we see the shower of sparks that accompanied the scissor-sharpening. The guy (presumably the eponymous Bob) told me that he comes by every few months. Best of all, he charged me about HALF of what I pay at a sewing supply shop in Manhattan; he only charged me a buck extra for the pinking shears! He does not, however, do saws or other things with teeth. If only I’d known he was coming in advance! Since yesterday, I’ve thought of a bunch of other things that need to be sharpened. I suppose it’s just as well I didn’t go running outside with a handful of kitchen knives. That’s a bit too “Itchy and Scratchy.”