We’d heard for some years that there was at least one old-style blade sharpener who traveled the various neighborhoods of NYC offering his services, but somehow we’d never encountered one before.

But sure enough, late one afternoon a few months back, we heard the “clang-clang” of an old bell, and we looked out the window to see the Mike’s Sharpening Services truck making its way slowly down our street.

We have some old scissors we inherited from our grandfather, whom we loved dearly. These scissors are part of a set with a letter opener and we’re very fond of them, but they’ve never worked very well.

So, having spotted the truck going by, we quickly dug through our “junk” drawer, found the scissors, and went running out.

The truck carried an older man, his son, and a friendly old dog. A sign on the truck boasted that Mike (or the fellow sharpening in his stead these days) has been in operation since 1942. The two men couldn’t have been friendlier—nor kinder in fussing over and lavishing praise on Granddad’s scissors—and for six bucks, they oiled, polished, and sharpened the blades. (We wonder, now, if we shouldn’t have gotten the handles polished, too, so they would match.)

Mostly, we get a kick being able to partake in tiny ways of life as it was once led. We feel the same kind of lift when we get our shoes shined, for example, or when we’re able to take a ride on the Nostalgia Train, as we’ve done on more than one occasion.

We’ve included some pics of the truck below (a couple of them are regrettably blurry) and some pics of the scissors and letter opener (click on the images to see larger versions, if interested).