Sharper Harper

Harper Keehn, owner of Sharper Harper, swears it’s pure coincidence her first name rhymes with her chosen profession. “No, my parents didn’t know that I would end up doing this for a living,” she said, referring to her knife-sharpening business. For that, she credits her grandmother, who gave her a penknife when she was 4. “The salesperson almost didn’t sell it to her when she found out who it was for,” Keehn added. But grandma prevailed and the young carver was soon whittling away.

As a participant at this summer’s farmers market in Cambridge’s Central Square (visits are slated for Sept. 11 and 18) and Somerville’s Davis Square (Aug. 30 and Sept. 6), Keehn stands out for other reasons as well. Her offerings aren’t so much products as product improvements: In about the same amount of time it takes to tour the market tables, she expertly sharpens a small collection of kitchen knives, sending even the most exacting of cooks off to enjoy more efficient food preparation.

Keehn didn’t really take up sharpening until an extended leave from college. “I worked on a ranch in Colorado when I was in my early 30s” that raised and butchered livestock, and Keehn said she made herself useful by learning how to work and repair some of the equipment. When she returned to the East Coast – to complete her degree at Yale after stints at Hunter College and Deep Springs in California – a friend managing a farmers market in New York suggested she make some extra money by selling her newly honed sharpening skills there. “Everybody has knives, and there’s not many sharpeners, so there was a fair amount of demand,” Keehn said.