Laurie Mustard / Winnipeg Free Press
After retiring from the Canadian National Railway in 1982, Eddie Noakes opened his own home business, Eddie's Sharpening.
Laurie Mustard / Winnipeg Free Press
Eddie is hard at work.
Home businesses, they’re everywhere! And there’s none more "cutting edge" than this particular gem.
I speak of none other than Eddie’s Sharpening, owned and operated by the amicable Eddie Noakes and his daughter, Linda. The business is run out of a garage at 202 Wallasey St., just off Portage Avenue.
I’ve been down that street a million times (I NEVER exaggerate) and had no idea there was a business there.
Eddie apparently likes working. After retiring from his first career — 38 years with the CNR — he opened Eddie’s Sharpening in 1982 and has been sharpening pretty much anything that can be sharpened for the past 35 years.
The U.S. had Fast Eddie and Canada has Sharp Eddie — and man, does this guy know his stuff. Not only is he a member in good standing of the International Shear Sharpeners Guild — try saying that 10 times fast without losing your dentures — but he has numerous framed certificates recognizing the training he has invested in over the years, which he is understandably proud of. I mean, this is a SECOND career!
This is one very sharp guy. And I bet he’s never heard that before. Sorry, Eddie.
Back when he started, Eddie sharpened just about anything except tongues, including hand saws, chain saws, knives, you name it. Over the years he has backed off on the big stuff and now specializes "basically on barber and beauty repairs." If you’ve ever had your hair snipped in this city, chances are the clippers or scissors used have been sharpened in Eddie’s garage at one point or another — or regularly!
Eddie’s is an authorized service centre for any and all cutting equipment the barber and beauty business uses, beauty shears and clippers being pretty much the bulk of his business. And please note that it is Eddie’s daughter, Linda, who does the lion’s share of the sharpening. She’s a pro.
Not only does Eddie’s service the barber and beauty industry all across Canada, but he is open to the public as well, so if you’ve got scissors, clippers, knives and so on you need sharpened — or are in the market for the products the B & B industry uses, from big-box-store quality right on up to elite pro — Eddie is more than ready to supply you with whatever you need. Nice man.
Now that I’ve learned of Eddie, I have a set of electric clippers I’ll soon be taking to him for a sharpening. They were used by my Dad — on me, through the first 10 years or so of my life.
Their manufacturer? Racine.
"Wow, those are really old," Eddie says, "like from waaaay back."
True, my Dad used them to cut my hair from a little after I turned two, to maybe when I was 12 or so, because my hair needed a very special touch. When I was two, coming home from Kenosee Lake, Sask., riding in the driver’s side rear seat of a 1937 Chevy, my little hand pulled the door handle on the Chevy "suicide door," which opened into the wind. I got pulled out at about 60 miles an hour or so, flipping like crazy down that very hard gravel highway till I finally stopped.
This is where most people say "Well that explains a lot." And you know, there may be some truth in that.
Mom and Dad managed to get me to a hospital in Carlyle, Sask. and the doctor said I was extremely close to having bled to death.
My scalp, having received all the damage, required 60 or so stitches to close up.
So when my hair grew back, it was through a whole lot of scars, which my Dad did his best to hide with creative trimming. He kept me looking pretty darn handsome, the scars healed and now — at the tender age of 69 and very follically challenged — those scars are pretty much gone.
Is it too corny to call the Racine trimmer a family "hairloom?" Ok, agreed — I suppose I won’t.
But I am going to get it sharpened and use it to perform the somewhat minor trimming I now require. That familiar hum brings back a lot of good memories.
Should you need a quality sharpening on some industrial or home cutting edge — maybe Grandma’s old scissors — feel free to give Eddie a call at 204-832-3999, or email: eddies@mts.net
He can even sell you the most popular grooming device used by the Boomer generation: the nose, ear and brow trimmer. Why is it when we get old, we grow hair everywhere but where we want to?
Cheers Eddie, great meeting you!
Comments or feedback, love to hear from you!
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