Cutting his way to success

Solaegui, 56, runs Perfect Edge with his daughter Tara Solaegui-Ransfer, 34, at 1640 Palm Ave. in San Mateo. A large part of their shop is kitchen supplies and other items for sale to both professional and amateur chefs, but the bulk of Solaegui's operation is focused on knife sharpening and selling. This is evident by the large number of German, Japanese and other knives on the walls, as well as Solaegui's custom-designed sharpening machines in the back room workshop.

At his father's butcher shop in 1962, Solaegui began his sharpening trade as an apprentice responsible for the needs of some 30 meat cutters.

"I had to sharpen everyone's knives and scrub the walls besides," said Solaegui.

After learning the butchering trade, he opened a meat market in Stockton. It stayed open for nearly 20 years before he sold it to one of his clients, a meat-packing business in the Midwest. While he worked in his shop, he would deliver meat to his local clients and sharpen their knives at the same time.

After his business sold, Solaegui moved to Moss Beach and "horsed around," by, among other things, trying out abalone diving. He eventually found his way into commercial real estate and, doing some scouting for a client one day, checked out several cutlery stores. This rekindled his knife-sharpening memories.

"It reminded me of how good a business knife sharpening was," said Solaegui. "Within a week after, I started knife sharpening."

Starting out in the back of a station wagon, Solaegui's focus on technique, as well as the custom sharpening machinery he used, quickly gained him several big-name hotel chefs as clients.

His business has "taken off like a meteor from there," he said.

At the center of Solaegui's business model is what he describes as a very high attention to detail, a superior degree of pride on the work he does and an unwavering focus. Mechanically speaking, he and those he has trained do all of their sharpening by hand, which is something all of his clients are willing to pay for.

"The trick to a good cut is being able to cut with a rocking motion instead of a sawing one," said Solaegui. "A perfectly sharp knife doesn't need to saw."

As Solaegui explained, when a knife is bought from the store it has a certain degree of angle on the edge. As it is used, it wears down and becomes blunt. He takes the worn-down knife and tapers each side of the blade by hand until a sharp edge is reformed.

Solaegui's business today has taken on monster proportions, servicing 3,000 commercial kitchens in five regional markets. His fleet of service trucks is up to nine vehicles. There's also the retail operation and a shopping-oriented Web site. Things are so huge that his daughter works alongside of him full-time to keep their accounts in order.

As with any business with such a reputation, unusual and difficult requests are not uncommon. One of the most challenging came in 2000. Solaegui was responsible for preparing the steak knives for the U.S. Open in Pebble Beach. The day before it was to begin, a mix up in communication resulted in a last-minute request to sharpen 1,800 knives.

"I told them I needed two helpers," said Solaegui. "It took 12 straight hours, but I got it done."