- Brett Morse, a former Marine and chef, is opening a sharpening shop in Bloomington, Indiana, called B-Town Sharp Shop.
- He is certified as a master sharpener for hair scissors by the National Sharpeners Guild.
“Steady hands, patience, and curiosity” are what it takes to do well as a sharpener, said Brett Morse. After seven years providing services to customers onsite, at home, and at farmers’ markets, Morse will soon open a retail store – B-Town Sharp Shop – at 1025 S. Walnut St., Suite B, in Bloomington. The grand opening is scheduled for March 1, 2025.
Morse’s 30-year journey from being Marine to master sharpener took a few unexpected turns.
“I learned a lot [in the Marine Corps]. It made me who I am today,” Morse said. In the 1990s, he was stationed for four years in Quantico, Virginia. Being in Washington, D.C., opened his eyes to “the dichotomy of wealth and poverty,” he said. “I would see people sleeping on steam vents, and I would see people in the city, like in fur coats, stepping over homeless people.”
Upon returning to Bloomington, Morse volunteered at the Community Kitchen of Monroe County. That was his response to the homelessness and poverty problems, he said. Volunteering turned into a full-time job that marked the beginning of his career as a chef.
He also started to sharpen knives on his own. Since he was a child, Morse has enjoyed working with his hands, so the sharpening of a knife fulfilled him. “I would lay out the different whetstones, turn on the TV to something I didn’t have to pay much attention to, and begin working on the knives,” he said.
From chef to sharpener
His hobby became a side hustle. Morse provided dropboxes at his home for people’s knives and drove to his commercial customers to sharpen onsite. The work gave him balance between social interactions and solitude, he said.
A series of shoulder replacement and foot surgeries forced Morse to stop cooking. Sharpening became his new career.
Morse sharpens just about anything, from pocket knives to hair scissors to mower blades, according to his website at bloomingtonsharpening.com.
The intricacies in sharpening those different items can be hard to explain to someone without experience, he said. The blades of hair scissors, for example, have hollow grounds on the inside and convex edges — shapes that curve outward, like a football. The blades meet only at the cutting point, which reduces drag and allows a smooth cutting action. Their complex geometry makes sharpening hair scissors a lot more time consuming and demands a higher level of skill by the sharpener than a pair of kitchen scissors, for example.
In October of 2024, the National Sharpeners Guild certified Morse as a master sharpener for hair scissors.
He usually attends two training classes a year, Morse said. He is always looking to improve. The cost of each class is about $1,500 and lasts two to three days, not including travel expenses. “It’s worth it,” he said.
Professional sharpening in minutes
Morse sharpens with belt sanders in a 3-stage process: coarse sand, refine, and polish. He can finish a 7-inch blade in about 2 minutes. The cost is $8.
His advice to people wanting to sharpen at home? “Maintain your angle.” Though Morse does not discourage do-it-yourselfers, seeing the years it took to perfect his skills, along with the tools and meticulousness required, any wannabes might opt to leave the sharpening to a professional.
These days, Morse goes to the Community Kitchen once a month, not as cook, but as a sharpener of knives.
“This seemingly small thing makes a big difference in the efficiency and safety of our folks. Thank you!” The Community Kitchen shared in a post on Instagram.
