No Idea What It Was… Until Now.
April 28, 2025
Source: Reddit
Rooting around in my shed one day for an extension cord, I found a strange, red, wall-mounted thing. “It was like an alien contraption. It was, on closer inspection, a tool sharpener mounted on the wall.
And honestly? It’s kinda brilliant.
This Little Device Was Hiding in Plain Sight
They’re just not the kind of thing you threw out when they dulled, back then. They’d grab their wall-mounted sharpener, make a few quick swipes and get back to work. No Amazon Prime. No new purchase. Just fix it and move on.
There, you jam a blade into the V-shaped slots, pull it through and receive a sharper edge. It’s good enough for backyard projects, no doubt.
How This Thing Works
You insert the blade in between the slots and pull down. The offset guides on the inside hold everything in place.
It’s mounted on the wall, so it doesn’t move around. No slipping, no trying to chase it around the workbench.
This Was Garage Royalty
You would not have walked into a grandpa’s garage in the ’70s or ’80s without seeing one of these. Red or gray, often faded, always scuffed from use over the years. It likely put an edge on everything from hedge clippers to butter knives.
Discovering one that was still bolted to the shed wall made me feel like Indiana Jones — if Indiana donned Crocs and combed through garage relics.
Why These Sharpeners Disappeared
At some point, somewhere, people decided it was easier to throw things away. Blame it on cheap imports or the “buy new” culture. Electric sharpeners appeared, but they are expensive, noisy and soulless.
There’s just something about pulling a knife through an old-school sharpener that feels right. It’s like belonging to a secret club that still knows how to fix things.
Some Love, and It’s All New
And if you see a bench or wall-mounted tool sharpener out there, don’t just walk on by. Clean it. Check the sharpening edges. Most still work.
Even if it doesn’t, leave it there. It’s a bit of history. A reminder that not everything needs shiny and new in order to be awesome.
Final Thoughts
I’m keeping mine. I might sharpen a shovel or two. It’s at the very least a neat conversation starter.
Dust off that wall-mounted tool sharpener that’s stashed in the garage. Give it a try. You may come to love solving things the old fashioned way.