October meeting – Eastern Plains Chamber
By Larry Sparks
The Oct. 1 breakfast meeting of the Eastern Plains Chamber was sponsored by Kim Anderson-Grigg of Bex Security. Kim discussed the security systems and powerful cameras offered by Bex.
BEX Security has been proud to offer top of the line security systems and CCTV cameras to friends and neighbors in the Denver and Colorado Springs areas since 2012. They were voted No. 1 in Best of the Springs for security systems in 2025! They pride themselves on their integrity and customer service. Customers are considered part of the BEX Family.
BEX Security offers comprehensive home and business security systems, including interactive security, video monitoring and automation features in Colorado and Idaho. Bex focuses on customer satisfaction and provides transparent pricing, military discounts and smart home integration.
The program for the morning was conducted by the Blade Sharpener. Erik “The Blade Sharpener,” who keeps a centuries-old craft alive. He informed and entertained the group.
Members were treated to a presentation that blended history, humor, craftsmanship and community pride. The featured speaker was Erik Newsholme, a second-generation sharpener. He is known professionally as Erik “the Blade Sharpener.” He shared the story of his craft and passion, one rooted in family tradition, shaped by history and thriving here in the Pikes Peak region.
Erik began with a nod to the past.
“The ring of the bell sharpener would run the streets of big cities from the 1900s through the 1980s,” Erik said. “That’s the sound my father remembered in the streets of Syracuse, New York, and it’s what laid the groundwork for my business today.”
His father’s sharpening career took root in Atlanta in the 1980s, eventually serving some of the top restaurants in the Southeast. Erik learned the craft over the course of four decades and now runs Erik the Sharpener, a mobile, full-time sharpening business based in Falcon, serving both residential and commercial clients across Colorado Springs and beyond.
But sharpening, as Erik shared, is more than a trade, it’s a legacy. He walked attendees through a generational journey, from the earliest stone tools discovered in Kenya to the rotating grinding stones of the Middle Ages to the iconic Italian “Moletas,” who sharpened knives across Europe and America. Erik’s own mobile unit, affectionately named “Strawberry,” is a 1971 curb master that evokes the history of traveling craftsmen.
“The tools may have changed, but the need hasn’t. Dull knives are dangerous. They cost you time, money and safety,” Erik explained. “Your knives are an investment. I’m here to take care of that investment.”
A live demonstration with a tomato made the difference crystal clear: a dull knife struggled, crushed and slid. The sharpened blade glided cleanly through the tomato with ease.
With over 10,000 items sharpened this year alone for more than 2,000 customers, Erik is not just busy, he’s also building momentum. From farmers markets and house calls to club kitchens and corporate campuses, his work spans garden tools, scissors, culinary knives and more.
Although he has sharpened for Top Chef contestants and Michelin-starred restaurants, Erik’s heart is in serving local families, educating the public and preserving the integrity of a disappearing trade. He highlighted that many sharpeners today are hobbyists or undertrained, often damaging tools. In contrast, Erik brings professional-grade equipment, decades of skill and a teacher’s mindset.
“You wouldn’t take your car to an amateur mechanic. So why hand over your $150 knife to a side hustle with a YouTube tutorial?” he asked.
The presentation ended on a poignant note with a reading from a monument in Penzolo, Italy, dedicated to immigrant sharpeners. The engraved prayer, once spoken by grinders from centuries past, captured Erik’s own spirit:
“Guide my grind wheel along your path in my work. Help me and protect me from the cuts of life. Let my faith in you be as sure as the knife … .”
“I make life better, one knife at a time,” Erik said.
