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Edge of the Wedge · Since 2021

A small business built one sharp edge at a time.

I started Edge of the Wedge with my dad. The local business put me in direct contact with customers throughout my community. It has grown year over year and now receives orders from across the Seattle area. Running it taught me how to balance work with baseball and school, work closely with customers, and save patiently for long-term goals, including my first car and future investments.

Visit Edge of the Wedge
Dash and Clara wearing Edge of the Wedge aprons beside the secure knife drop-off lockers
Clara and me at the Edge of the Wedge drop-off lockers on Mercer Island.

The business

5 yearsCo-founded in late 2021
$25.3K2025 revenue
$31KProjected 2026 revenue
~6,800Tools sharpened, 2022-25
24 hoursGuaranteed turnaround
4.98/5Across 41 Google reviews

How it started.

I started Edge of the Wedge with my dad in 2021 as a way to earn money to buy my first car. From the beginning, customers could book online and use a secure locker to drop off and pick up their knives. All orders were ready within 24 hours, making the process simple and reliable.

As word spread, the business grew year over year, from customers on Mercer Island to orders from across the Seattle area. I learned how to manage the day-to-day responsibilities of a business, promote it to new customers, and build strong customer relationships by answering questions, understanding what people needed, and making things right when a problem came up.

Balancing the business with baseball, school, and homework taught me how to manage my time. Saving what I earned also showed me the value of delayed gratification: I eventually saved enough to buy my first car and began setting money aside to invest in my future.

Edge of the Wedge donates 5% of its proceeds to Breakthrough T1D. The mission is personal to our family because my sister Clara lives with Type 1 diabetes and serves as a Youth Ambassador for the organization.

Growth and operations

A better system, one year at a time.

Growth came from making a local service dependable. Customers book online, pay by credit card through a custom Square checkout, check in by QR code, and use nine secure lockers for 24/7 drop-off and pickup. We monitor each order and text customers when it is ready.

Revenue and sharpening volume by year
YearRevenueYear-over-year growthApprox. knives and tools
2022$10,800Baseline full year~1,000
2023$15,57044%~1,500
2024$18,35518%~1,800
2025$25,30938%~2,500
2026 projected$31,00023%~3,100

1,770+

Customer orders served from 2022 through 2025.

35.3%

Of 2026 orders were from repeat customers through July 6.

~9,900

Projected cumulative knives and tools sharpened by the end of 2026.

9 lockers

Built into our 300-square-foot home workshop for secure, around-the-clock customer access.

Customer reputation

Trust earned in the details.

Edge of the Wedge grew mostly through word of mouth, Google and Google Maps, repeat customers, Yelp, Nextdoor, and the public website. Today, 41 Google reviews average 4.98 out of 5.

Reviews consistently point to the same things we work to get right: easy booking and locker access, quick turnaround, clear communication, strong sharpening results, and responsive customer service when a knife needs extra attention.

Inside the edge

Six stages, visible under a microscope.

For more than 90% of the kitchen knives we sharpen, the edge moves through six increasingly fine stages. A digital microscope lets us see the burr and scratch pattern change, while an Edge-On-Up tester measures how much force the blade needs to cut a standardized filament.

790 gStarting edge
155 gBefore the final strop

Lower force means a sharper edge.

  1. 01

    Set the bevel

    80-grit ceramic belt

    Removes damaged steel and rebuilds the cutting angle.

  2. 02

    Refine the edge

    240-grit abrasive

    Replaces the deepest scratches and brings the test reading to 255 g.

  3. 03

    Fine sanding

    600-grit abrasive

    Makes the burr smaller and more uniform, reaching 210 g.

  4. 04

    First polish

    Medium finishing wheel

    Smooths the scratch pattern and lowers the reading to 190 g.

  5. 05

    Fine polish

    Fine finishing wheel

    Leaves a nearly burr-free edge measuring 155 g.

  6. 06

    Final strop

    Diamond-loaded leather

    Polishes the edge and removes the last traces of the burr.

Digital microscope view of a ragged knife edge before sharpening
BeforeRagged edge · 790 g
Digital microscope view of a knife edge after 600-grit sanding
After 600 gritSmaller, uniform burr · 210 g
Digital microscope view of a polished knife edge after stropping
After the stropPolished and nearly burr-free
Explore the full six-step breakdown