Man sharpens blades, tools and even wits

John Moore can sharpen everything but a dull personality. Moore has taken up a hobby of sharpening saws, mower blades and many other tools. He set up a booth at Washington?s farmers market Thursday and offered to sharpen any steel blade put in front of him. When he?s not at a farmers market, Moore does custom sharpening at his shop in Packwood.

Moore has lived in Iowa for more than a decade but it is not his native land. He was born in a military hospital during World War II in Pasadena, Calif. Since his father was in the military, the family never stayed in one place very long. From the ages of 6 to 15, he moved with his family all over the world. They lived in France, Spain, England, for a short stint in Germany and for seven years in Morocco.

When Moore was asked if he had to learn those countries? languages, he responded, ?I was honored to learn their language.?

Moore?s family never lived on a base. The family always lived among the locals. As a consequence, Moore got a lot of practice in those foreign languages. He is fluent in French, conversational in Spanish and speaks a little Arabic, too.

?When you go to a foreign country, you have an opportunity to learn different cultures and a different way of looking at things,? said Moore. ?To sit inside an enclave that is American, speaks only English, dishes out only American food, is an absolute waste of time.?

Moore and his family moved back to the United States when he was in high school. He joined the Navy and later got a degree at San Diego State University. He met his wife Jeanne while in graduate school at Humboldt State University in California. John said the two of them ?escaped? the Golden State and have lived all over the country.

John became an agricultural consultant, a position that let him visit even more countries. He has visited Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua. John later farmed tomatoes in Arkansas and raised horses there.

In those days, sharpening was just a hobby for John. He did it on an as-needed basis and occasionally sharpened axes for friends.

The couple moved to Fairfield in 1997. John retired two years later, and was thinking of moving again. His wife had other ideas.

?She said, ?You even bring a box in this house and I?ll divorce you,?? recalled John.

Jeanne explained, ?We?ve moved 21 times.?

John leads an active life in retirement. He has a shop in Packwood where he sharpens saws, knives, drill bits and many other tools.

?Retired is one thing, but doing nothing is something entirely different,? said John. ?I?m not built to do nothing.?

John spends most of his time working on carbide blades. Carbide is one of the hardest materials on earth, second only to diamond. It was introduced in blades 25-30 years ago. Carbide stays sharper and cuts better than traditional steel. However, John only takes his steel sharpeners to the farmers market. He leaves the carbide-cutting equipment at home.

?Now, it?s very rare that I see anyone with a steel saw blade,? said John. ?They?re almost all carbide-tipped. Router bits are now carbide. Drill bits are carbide. Anything that has a flat cutting surface can be made from carbide.?

For as long as he has sharpened, John has relied upon machines.

?A long time ago, a girlfriend bought me a buck knife for Christmas,? he said. ?The buck knife came with a stone sharpening kit. Well, I wasn?t going to sit there for six hours sharpening the knife. I took it to the belt sander and two minutes later I was done.?

John said his trade has changed little over the years. The principle of sharpening is the same as it was in ancient times. The only difference John can think of is that sharpeners aren?t paid as well as they used to be.

?In the Bible, it talks about the price that a sharpener should charge. I wish I got those wages today,? said John. ?It says a ploughshare should be sharpened for two shekels. A shekel is a silver coin. Two shekels is worth about $85. I would love to sharpen a ploughshare for $85.?

When he?s not sharpening tools, John is busy making his own knives. He finds old steel saw blades, cuts them up, and sharpens the edges until they are usable. He also makes the wooden handles and the leather sheathes that hold the knives.

?I?ve got this stack of steel blades, and what do I do with them?? said John. ?I studied up on them and found out that they are made of a sought-after steel in custom knives. I started making my own knives. I gave one to a friend, and he thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. As a matter of fact, it could slice bread.?