PLAN No. 381. SHARPENING RAZOR BLADES
It isn’t every machine made for sharpening safety razor blades, or every person operating even a good machine, that can do this work as it should be done. In fact, most of the blade sharpening now being done is very poor, and only a few really know how to do it.
A Seattle woman, who had merely a little room between two buildings on a prominent street, not only knew exactly how to perform this delicate task, but also had procured one of the very best makes of machines for that purpose.
The regular charge for sharpening single-edge blades is usually 25 cents, and 35 cents for those with double edges, but she made arrangements with a number of cigar stores in different parts of the city to keep one of her showcards in the window, and take orders as they came in, on a commission of 7 cents per dozen on all blades so received. Through small ads. in the classified columns of the daily papers, asking people to mail their blades to her, she found, inside of three months, that she must remove to larger quarters and employ an assistant, in addition to the boy who made daily collections of dull blades, and deliveries of sharpened ones, at the various cigar stores.
This business, small as it may seem, brought in a net profit of $50 to $60 a week. It is often the case that the good profit is in the small articles.