Rock Falls man carries on family blade-sharpening tradition

ROCK FALLS – Rick Clark learned his trade at his father’s knee, and he’s been sharpening his skills ever since.

Richard Clark Sr. started Clark’s Sharpening 45 years ago; Rick Jr. began working with him several years ago and took over 3 years ago come November.

They often talked about what would happen to the business when Richard Sr. no longer could manage it. Rick promised his dad that Clark’s would go on, and he took the business phone number as his cellphone number. It’s the same number he learned as a kindergartner.

He’s a gregarious man who likes people and likes to chat with his customers – woodworkers, carpenters, tree workers, farmers, mechanics, quilters, and homemakers.

“I love to meet people from all the trades. I’ve met lots of nice people,” he said.

His wife, Geni, laughs as she explains his perpetual tardiness for meals. “He’ll come in an hour and a half late. We just set his plate aside and he heats it up in the microwave. He’s been out in the shop visiting!”

Geni helps, too, picking up parts, or making deliveries, because Rick has another full-time job: helping his son-in-law at Stewart’s Heating Service in Dixon.

Rick’s skills are many. He sharpens all kinds of tools – kitchen knives, scissors, axes, chainsaw blades, newly created knives, woodworking tools, saw blades, chisels, ice augers, planer blade, lawn equipment, mower blades and more. He rents kitchen knives to several area restaurants, sharpening and delivering 72 knives a week. It’s a service his dad started years ago when Walgreen’s had deli-counters in their pharmacies.

He’ll sharpen any size chainsaw for $5, and offers price incentives for repeat customers and churches or other organizations.

Another service he provides: giving advice.

Rick teaches folks how to properly attach mower blades (an inaccurately balanced or attached mower blade can ruin the motor); tells them to keep chain saw blades from dipping into the dirt (“It’ll dull that blade in no time at all!); and cautions them to keep their household knives on a magnetic rack, in a wooden rack or with protective covers for the blades (“Throwing them in a drawer is the worst thing you can do for them.”)

He also sees restaurant workers using a chef’s knife as a cleaver, or using knives to pry apart or frozen foods, which can permanently bend tips, nick the blades or cause other damage.

He also recommends using a good wooden cutting board, one that is built from blocks of wood, not glass or stainless steel, and buying good saw blades – they’re a bargain in the long run, because they can be sharpened for about $10, and usually eight to ten times before they need to be replaced.

MORE INFO

Clark's Sharpening Service is at 1504 Seventh Ave, in Rock Falls.

Call 815-625-6919 to make a service appointment.