Comments on: Living History: If You Hear a Bell it May Be The Neighborhood Knife Sharpener

By: Tenant Check

Tenant Check — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:51:53 +0000

Nice! Thanks.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:10:35 +0000

I grew up in Indiana Harbor/East Chicago,Ind. in the 1960s. These were quite common in our city.

One afternoon,as a kid, I saw about 10 these . My dad was a cop and took me to a city storage facility called The City Barns–an antiquated name!
The brick building was full of all types of city vehicles. Street sweepers. Snow plows. Dump trucks. There, off to the side,stood a platoon of these delightful red and green knife sharpeners.I had seen them forever,but never knew where they ‘”lived.”

It’s my impression that,back then, the city would hire these out to retired steel workers for a little cash.As I said, they were not uncommon . I know my grandpa pushed one for awhile.

The City Barn is long,long gone,torn down in the 1970s, and I have often wondered what happened to that little army of machines. It’s good to see a photo of one. Thank you.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:29:12 +0000

I remember the “ding, ding dong, ding” of the scissor/knife sharpener cart coming down my street when I was growing up (I lived near Addison and Oak Park Ave.) I can’t believe there is someone who is still doing this! How wonderful! Very cool, indeed!

By: Jimboster

Jimboster — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:51:05 +0000

Ha ha! I remember the knife sharpener man and his cart in Evanston in the late 50′s early 60′s.

By: 2010: A Pleasant House Odyssey « Pleasant House

2010: A Pleasant House Odyssey « Pleasant House — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:31:40 +0000

[...] The Knife Sharpener [...]

By: bobby

bobby — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 04:02:56 +0000

i have a knife sharpener, just like the one in the pic, does anybody know the value of it. call me 630 207 7650

By: artandchel

artandchel — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:02:29 +0000

Interesting question john. I wonder if you may be able to get some info from a knife sharpening shop if you have one in your town. In Chicago, we have Northwest Cutlery which still uses sharpening wheels like the ones on this cart (they are electric though.) Many of these knife places probably started without using electricity and there could be older generations still working there. There was a place in North Beach in San Francisco that I have taken knives to get sharpened and they were still using pedal power. I’ll bet Da Vinci has some plans! Just kidding–I watched some people recreate his scythe machine and got me thinking about this–he would most likely need a sharpening cart to keep his scythes sharp. Just trying to think of some leads for plans if google fails to find any.

By: john Cwiak

john Cwiak — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:18:26 +0000

Is there anywhere to get plans to build a cart like that.

By: John

John — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:49:49 +0000

He just came down our street in La Grange! Makes one wish for old days in our country!

By: artandchel

artandchel — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:04:18 +0000

Great story Jim! Thanks!