Entrepreneur has city’s only mobile tool sharpening

Scott Gooch knows one thing for sure — his blades make clean cuts.

Gooch owns Sharp ‘N’ It, Maricopa’s only mobile multi-tool sharpening business.

“We sharpen anything that requires any type of edge,” Gooch said.

He has a specialized wheel made specifically for him that enables him to sharpen anything from kitchen knives to lawn mower blades. 

Gooch, 42, started his business about five years ago, but turned it into an LLC in the past year. 

“We’re really coming out of our shell this year,” he said. “Before it was just a hobby.”

Gooch previously kept his equipment in a trailer he pulled with his truck, but he just moved into a new and bigger trailer to allow him to sell knives out of the back and keep his sharpening equipment in the front.

“We’ve pretty much taken all the money I’ve earned and turned it back into the business so we can have a better shop, better equipment and stuff that doesn’t get ruined as fast,” he said.

His primary goal for 2013 is to educate people about sharpening.

“A lot of people use tools that are dull and it makes their job four times harder,” he said. “When you have a sharper item, it makes your job so much easier and so much smoother, that you might take joy in doing your yard or cooking or whatever it is that you do.”

However, he said people need to be careful with sharp tools. He had one client cut her finger off while using a freshly sharpened machete to cut down a cactus.

“The doctor said the cut was so clean that he was able to sew the nerve back together,” Gooch said. “If it wasn’t sharp and she did that, she probably would have lost her finger forever.”

In the 30 years he’s been sharpening, Gooch said he has only hurt himself twice.

James Porch, the former chef at Southern Dunes Golf Club’s Grille 109 restaurant, said he has used Sharp ‘N’ It for his knives for more than a year.

“Scott is very precise in what he does,” Porch said. “He’s like a craftsman in his field and I totally respect that.”

Porch said he has tried other sharpeners in the Valley, but Sharp ‘N’ It is one of the best. 

Gooch said clients save money by having their tools sharpened instead of throwing dull blades out and buying new ones. 

He charges $3 to sharpen any size kitchen knife and $4 to balance and sharpen a lawn mower blade.