That’s a convoluted answer for me. I hand sharpen knives and straight razors as a hobby. Been doing it for like 30 years and have several hundreds of dollars in diamond and wetstones. I doubt there’s 500 people in the country (US) that are better than I am at hand sharpening.
The convoluted part is that I could charge people to sharpen knives. I just don’t want to.
That is so cool. I went to barber school when the curriculum was changing - we were not allowed to use reusable razors (height of the AIDS epidemic) but did have to learn how to sharpen them, and it’s helped me in general. Haircutting shears I have only ever allowed an enthusiast sharpener to touch, like y’all, an artisan.
My answer to the original question is probably food. I grow food, bake bread that would sell for $10 a loaf at today’s prices, design fantastic cocktails and cook for big enough parties that I could do it as a side job. I enjoy hospitality, it’s so satisfying, but as a job it is like a baby, relentless, no rest. The only way I would even dare is if we were so wealthy I didn’t need to make money and could hire great staff, pay them so well.
That’s a convoluted answer for me. I hand sharpen knives and straight razors as a hobby. Been doing it for like 30 years and have several hundreds of dollars in diamond and wetstones. I doubt there’s 500 people in the country (US) that are better than I am at hand sharpening.
The convoluted part is that I could charge people to sharpen knives. I just don’t want to.
Wise person. I got good at sharpening, and I ended up monetising it as a hobby, which I inevitably regretted
I got good at sharpening because I had a bunch of weirdly shaped knives, like this saddler’s round knife
Nice. This is my great uncles straight razor. He came from Germany and had a barbershop in the 1940’s around Kansas City, so it’s around 80 years old.
That is so cool. I went to barber school when the curriculum was changing - we were not allowed to use reusable razors (height of the AIDS epidemic) but did have to learn how to sharpen them, and it’s helped me in general. Haircutting shears I have only ever allowed an enthusiast sharpener to touch, like y’all, an artisan.
My answer to the original question is probably food. I grow food, bake bread that would sell for $10 a loaf at today’s prices, design fantastic cocktails and cook for big enough parties that I could do it as a side job. I enjoy hospitality, it’s so satisfying, but as a job it is like a baby, relentless, no rest. The only way I would even dare is if we were so wealthy I didn’t need to make money and could hire great staff, pay them so well.
If you’re good at something you shouldn’t feel bad about charging for it. A lot of the economy is based on trading money for skilled labor.
I’d rather not ruin a hobby by making it a job.