A few weeks before Thanksgiving 2022, a friend posted a PSA on Instagram that Henry Rogers, a 19-year-old from Central Arkansas, sharpens knives from the trunk of his car with a belt sander perched on a vintage bench that was once part of his great-grandmother’s dressing table. “He comes to you,” reads the caption. “Get your kit ready for Thxgiving. Tip: Ask for a demo and tip your local knife grinder.”

In an Instagram video on Rogers’ business page (@rodgers_sharpening_services), he speaks directly to the camera about his business model while using a kitchen knife to smoothly and repeatedly cut a piece of paper he is holding with his other hand. .

Since starting the business in 2022 — a side job to his full-time job at Hobby Lobby — Rogers, now 20, has become a knife grinder at several Central Arkansas restaurants: The Fold Botanas & Bar, Cache Restaurant, 42 Bar & Table. , Boulevard Bread Co, HAM Market and Café Bossa Nova. In addition, he sharpens special hook knives for a window company and scissors for several local barbers.

metal childhood

Long before he sharpened knives, Rogers was already making them out of random pieces of metal when he was still in elementary school. A longtime fan of medieval weapons and armor, he grew up watching movies and TV series such as The Lord of the Rings, Forged in Fire and Great Giant Swords.

One day his mother, Pearl Zebert, asked him if he would like to take up metal work with his neighbor Julian Kress, the son of painter Kevin Kress. Using an angle grinder, they made a saber-shaped sword out of an old, disused stop sign. He was on the hook. Shortly thereafter, he found a way to make a cheap do-it-yourself forge on the Internet, and he and his father went to Home Depot.

While other kids spent time playing sports, music or video games, he and Kress collected old school iron crutches in the woods near the White Water Tavern to forge knives from them.

The forging method used by Rogers and his friends involved a metal bath filled with heated coal. They supplied oxygen to the fire with a hair dryer connected to a pipe. When the metal was red hot, it was placed on another metal plate, known as an anvil, and shaped with a hammer until it needed to be heated again. They ended up replacing the hair dryer when they realized the power of the blower.

“He used to tire me out going to the charcoal store,” said his father, Brian Rogers.

When Rogers’ collection of materials and tools eventually outgrew his home, his grandfather, a carpenter, built him a metal workshop in his backyard when he was about 11 years old. Neighbors were probably not happy with the result, Brian Rogers said.

“They’ll be sitting there and if you don’t make them leave, it could be around 10 o’clock in the worst noise you’ve ever heard,” he said.

During the summer, Rogers and Kress spent time at the Arkansas Historical Museum learning blacksmithing from blademaster Lin Rea. Rogers said it ended up being like an informal internship that went from just watching Rhea in his shop to doing some hands-on work that was worthy of a school loan.

Rogers’ home forging became more serious, and perhaps more dangerous, after his grandmother moved from a remote cabin in the Ozarks and no longer needed a huge butane tank to heat the house. Rogers and his father cut off one end of a smaller empty butane tank and filled it with refractory concrete insulation material. They drilled a hole to fit a burner that attached to his grandmother’s tank, creating a burner to heat any metal that Rogers and his friends worked with. Rogers’ father described the process as somewhat horrifying.

“When he burned massive aerial fire, it got a little scary at times.”

Zebert said that her confidence in him was so strong that she never worried.

“He was straight,” she said. “When he gets into something, he does his best and learns as much as he can.” She said he gave her the first knife he made, which was “rudimentary but very cool”. And he made her iron handles for the sliding doors of her back shed.

Sharpening your skills into business

Rogers learned the process of professional knife sharpening from a locksmith named Bob Means. Means sharpened kitchen knives at Bruno’s Little Italy downtown. Sebert was Bruno’s chef at the time and asked Means if he would show Rogers what was going on. Rogers trained under Means and soaked up as much knowledge as he could, and Means gifted him the equipment he now uses right out of the trunk. For several years, Rogers didn’t do much with the skill other than sharpening knives for his mom and a few cooking friends, until a friend asked him about eight months ago why he hadn’t made a career out of it.

“I really thought about it and realized that there is no other reason than that I just didn’t go for it,” Rogers said.

He started going to local restaurants and advertising himself. He then made some business cards and launched an Instagram page. He has been in the process of setting up an LLC for the last month. His first three attempts to get a company name have already been made. He previously called his company The Better Blade before changing the name to Rodgers Sharpening Services.

The Rogers process includes a belt sander and four different grades of high grit sanding belts. He sharpens each side of the blade to the tip with 600-grit tape and then 800-grit, 1000-grit, and 2000-grit belts. He finishes each knife on a polished leather belt to give it a razor-sharp edge.

Rogers said that when a knife is sharpened correctly and skillfully, the blade will reflect and even shine from top to bottom.

Part of his offer to restaurants, aside from the dazzling paper shredder display case, is that he can get the job done in an hour or two, and restaurant knives never have to leave the premises. He can sharpen knives from his chest or just go into the kitchen.

“There are a lot of big national companies, but they will either force you to ship the knives or they will take your knives and you may not get them back for a week,” he said.

Rogers charges $1 an inch and has a $30 minimum if he drives to the location. Customers can drop off and pick up their knives without a minimum fee. He recently sharpened a single penknife for a client.

“We sharpen knives ourselves and still do it, but [Rodgers] made life in the kitchen easier by sharpening most of the otherwise overlooked knives,” said Boulevard co-owner and chef Sonia Schaefer. “He comes every six weeks and he does a good job.”

Rogers said The Fold makes him come every two weeks. He also visits HAM Market every six weeks. In between, cooks use steel to keep their blades sharp.

“Knife sharpening is becoming a forgotten art,” said HAM co-owner and operator Tim Bryant. “We are delighted to see the young man showing such interest. It’s an invaluable tool in the restaurant industry, and just because you use a knife doesn’t mean you can sharpen it well,” Bryant said.

Rogers met with us right after he finished sharpening knives for HAM Market. When he arrived, he opened his suitcase to find an antique makeup bench and what appeared to be hundreds of pieces of shredded paper scraps.

“I need to clean it up a bit,” he said with a laugh. “I always check them and make [paper] demo for the client every time,” he said. “It’s a little showy, but it really shows that the knife is sharp through and through. If there are places that are not sharp, then it will be cut, and then torn. If it’s not sharp enough, it won’t even cut paper,” he said. Rogers has a cool zen demeanor and didn’t flinch when Arkansas Times Creative director Mandy Keener told him that she was very concerned that his shoulder-length hair might get stuck in his belt sander.

I learned the hard way how important it is for Rogers to go straight to the customer. Without much thought and without practical sense, I decided to transport my three knives in a thin reusable grocery bag. As I left, I walked down the street acting as if I were carrying a sack of feathers, and when the tip of one of the knives plunged into my leg, I felt the effectiveness of Rogers’ good work. Back home, I used one of the knives to cut the lemon, and the knife cut like a new blade. It’s a refreshing feeling when your personal kitchen knife gets its groove back.

It’s natural to fear a sharp object more than a dull one, but dull knives are actually more dangerous for cooks. According to the Health Encyclopedia of the University of Rochester Medical Center: “A dull blade requires more cutting pressure, which increases the likelihood of the knife slipping with great force behind it. A sharp knife cuts through the surface more easily. The chefs know this very well.

Rogers’ goal is to get about 50 clients and continue working with metal.

“I think if I have about 30-50 clients I can make it a full-time career,” he said.

You can cut your knives like knives again by connecting with Rogers on Instagram at @rodgers_sharpening_services or by calling 501-516-6826.

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