KUALA LUMPUR: Sparks flew as Yip Yoke Lin, 74, held the Chinese chef knife she was sharpening at a 30-degree angle off the bench grinder.
After operating the blade just a few occasions with the grinder, she examined her work by gingerly operating her thumb alongside the sting.
“This is the ‘rough’ portion. Once it’s satisfactory, then I’ll put it on the workbench and whet the blade with those sharpening stones,” she stated.
Her elder sister, Yip Ah Moy, 84, bent from age, was already doing the identical factor with one other buyer’s knife, drawing the blade throughout the stone in easy motions from the deal with finish of the blade to the tip.
Yip Ah Moy, 84, hunches over her workbench to work on a kitchen knife. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
Occasionally, Yip Ah Moy would cease and dip her sharpening stone in a bucket of water positioned subsequent to her bench to wash away the swarf (waste materials) and re-lubricate her stone.
In the background, stylish music performed in the cafes and open-concept meals court docket at REXKL’s floor flooring, a former cinema turned arts and tradition hub alongside Jalan Sultan in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown space.
Occasionally, curious guests would wander over to the Yip sisters’ nook to watch them work, whereas some dropped by to hand over one or just a few kitchen knives for them to sharpen.
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STARTING OUT BY THE ROADSIDE
The device sharpening enterprise was began by the sisters’ father again in the late Nineteen Forties in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, alongside Petaling Street.
In reality, Yip Ah Moy recalled that her father first arrange store in entrance of the Fung Wong Chinese confectionery maker, a Petaling Street establishment which has lasted for 4 generations.
Yip Ah Moy stated the enterprise had all the time been primarily based across the Petaling Street space, they usually not too long ago moved into REXKL when the brand new proprietors allowed them a small house to continue their craft.
They additionally function out of a morning market in Cheras.
“Our customers did not just come from the nearby shops, but also from other parts of the town looking for us to sharpen their tools,” she stated.
Yip Yoke Lin (left) palms over sharpened knives, which have been wrapped in newspaper, to a buyer. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
Some have been operating meals companies, whereas others have been tailors and cobblers.
“Even people who cut the smoked rubber sheets last time, they’d come to look for us as well,” stated Yip Yoke Lin.
Learning the craft was a matter of trial and error for the sisters.
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“We learned from our father,” stated Yip Ah Moy, including that she started sharpening knives alongside their late father in her late teenagers.
“How did we learn? He would pass us a simple knife to sharpen. After that, he would test how well we had sharpened the blade by cutting some items.”
“If it didn’t cut well, or we had to push to cut through, like kitchen knives, then that means we didn’t sharpen it properly,” Yip Ah Moy added.
The Yips’ work set-up is easy – the bench grinder and a workbench every, the place a small plank is propped at a slanted angle, with a small catch to maintain the sharpening stone in place.
Each sister has her personal work course of.
The Yip sisters’ work set-up is easy, with sharpening stones propped at an angle and a bucket of water to dunk the stones in to eliminate the swarf (waste materials from sharpening the blades). (Photo: Vincent Tan)
Yip Ah Moy prefers to immerse her sharpening stones in the water to lubricate them and wash off the swarf, whereas Yip Yoke Lin scoops up water along with her hand and drips it over the blade she is sharpening each as soon as in some time.
“The electric bench grinder is the newest piece of equipment. We also used bench grinders in the past, but those were pedal-powered which you had to sit on,” Yip Yoke Lin stated.
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BUSINESS IS NEVER CERTAIN
Feast or famine could be the suitable description for the Yips’ sharpening enterprise.
“Business is never certain. Sometimes, we can sit the whole day and get no customers. And then you have days like today, we’ve been working non-stop since we opened up at 2pm,” she stated.
At one level, Yip Ah Moy lastly took a break from work to tuck into her lunch – a packet of chee cheong enjoyable (rice noodle rolls), along with her sister serving to to pour the packet of chilli sauce everywhere in the dish.
A few kitchen knives lie ready to be labored on, alongside a sharpening stone and the Yip sisters’ device field at REX KL. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
After finishing an order, every knife could be individually wrapped in newspaper and both woman would write the job’s value with a marker.
“Prices depend on the size of the knives or the tool like scissors. We can do knives from RM10 (US$2.43) to RM15, especially for the bigger, heavier knives.
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“Scissors, too, up to RM15 for the large ones which tailors use,” she stated.
While there have been now fewer folks making or ordering tailored garments, Yip Yoke Lin stated weeks in the run-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri have been busy for them.
“Many tailors are sending their scissors for sharpening as our Malay compatriots get ready for the fasting month and Hari Raya after,” she stated.
Yip Yoke Lin says sharpening scissors is a bit more troublesome in contrast to kitchen blades. The sisters typically get repeat enterprise from tailors and different craft shops to sharpen. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
While the signal on one pillar states that the Yip sisters work at REXKL on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, they normally come to their Jalan Sultan spot every time there may be demand for his or her providers.
“Otherwise, we usually work at the morning market in Cheras, and whenever people call us up because they have implements to sharpen,” Yip Yoke Lin stated.
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CHILDREN NOT KEEN TO TAKE OVER
The two girls stated their kids didn’t take up the household enterprise, they usually understood their selection.
“It’s a pity, but you can’t raise a family with a spouse and two children on the money you earn from this line. It’s a sunset job.”
Yip Yoke Lin runs a finger alongside the sting of a Chinese chef’s knife to test her grinding, earlier than doing finer work with the sharpening stones on the workbench. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
“For us, we do it to keep busy, and also to earn our spending money,” Yip Yoke Lin defined.
They additionally had to compete with the house sharpening kits.
“Those work well enough if you just need a knife to prepare your ingredients, so the owners don’t need to look for someone to sharpen their knives,” Yip Ah Moy remarked.
A long-time buyer palms over cash for his kitchen knives, which the Yip sisters have completed sharpening at their weekend house in REX KL. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
“Then at the same time, there are also people who just buy new knives after their current one goes dull!” she laughed.
“But actually, there are still people who do this for a living, younger than us, but they work on higher-end, more expensive blades, so the fees are also much higher,” the youthful Yip sister added.
Read this story in Bahasa Melayu here.
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source https://infomagzine.com/we-do-it-to-keep-busy-elderly-sisters-continue-knife-sharpening-trade-in-kuala-lumpur/
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