My Bay Area Mobile Knife Sharpening Business

I operate a mobile knife sharpening service, by visiting five different supermarkets in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Friday is my 'Monday,' so Friday morning finds me at Lunardi's Bascom — located in San Jose on Bascom Avenue and Union Avenue.

My View of the Lunardi's Bascom Parking Lot

This picture is looking over my knives for sale table and out of my knife sharpening booth at Lunardi's Bascom. I set up my sharpening booth at Lunardi's Bascom on Fridays from 9am to 1pm.

When somebody wants their knives sharpened they determine my schedule and then bring their knives with them when they go shopping. Drop the knives off with me, then go into the store and shop. On the way back to the car and I will have the knives sharpened, safely wrapped and ready for the customer to pick them up and take them home.

Knife Sharpening Work Truck -- 2015 Ford F150

Here I am at Lunardi's Bascom setting up the knife sharpening booth using my rather new truck, a 2015 Ford F150 pickup truck!

Knife Sharpening at Zanotto's Family Markets Rose Garden

Friday afternoons finds me at Zanotto's Family Markets, the Rose Garden market. I leave Lunardi's at 1pm and jet over here to set up. This is a rare shot, as the parking lot here is usually so jammed tight that I have nicknamed this location 'Hong Kong.'

Sharpened Kitchen Knives Wrapped in Newspaper Ready for Pickup

I keep a supply of newspapers to wrap up the knives, if they arrive wrapped in a kitchen towel then I will use that, and either way keep it all together using rubber bands.

Sharpened Knives Wrapped Up in Kitchen Towels Awaiting Pick Up

Here the customer brought their knives to me wrapped in kitchen towels, and so after I sharpened the knives I wrapped them up nice and tight in the same towels for a safe trip home.

Lunardi's Walnut Creek Knife Sharpening Booth

Here is my Saturdays — Lunardi's Walnut Creek. Saturday is always a busy day at a supermarket, and this Lunardi's is a busy Lunardi's — so I am usually busy sharpening way each and every Saturday.

Grocery List

I found this grocery list dropped near my knife sharpening booth the other day. I thought the heavy emphasis on the one item on the list was kind of funny!

Knife Sharpening Booth at Gene's Fine Foods Pleasanton

Sundays is Gene's Fine Foods in Pleasanton. Here I set up my booth right at the front door. There is one space right at the door that is often used for different activities — like my knife sharpening booth on Sundays. On Saturday they have a barrel smoker set up here, on Sundays me and the smoker share the same space. Gene's barrel smokes ribs and tri tip Saturdays and Sundays.

Knife Sharpening at Lunardi's San Bruno

Here I am set up at Lunardi's San Bruno which, for this Lunardi's — is a pretty nice day weather wise. Lunardi's San Bruno is located in a wide open space up against the hills and often gets windy and wet foggy days. I visit this Lunardi's every Monday, weather permitting as I say. If it is too windy or wet then I may have to take a pass on that day.

My Solar Panels Set Up at Piazza's Fine Foods Palo Alto

I stop at Piazza's Fine Foods on Tuesdays. I am in the parking lot towards the store, right next to the picnic tables.

This picture shows my solar panels, and it also shows my winter time struggle of finding a good sunny spot to fit the panels. Here I have the panels just past the shadow cast by my popup canopy. 

In order to get into the sun here I need to push them out towards the 'traffic lane,' which is risky. Even with those orange cones protecting them they have been hit (at two different supermarkets) three times to date. No damage — they have just been slid along the pavement. So far anyways...

Motorbiking Wednesdays

Wednesdays and Thursdays are my weekend. Wednesdays I often go exploring on my motorcycle, as this picture shows. I'm the guy in front, my friend is in the back. A close look at my friend would show that my friend did not throw much of a shadow... Since there were just two of us we used a smartphone app called Groopic. It's a great app, sometimes though funny things happen. In this case my friend's shadow would have crossed behind me and I assume Groopic's algorithm said no.