Daily AncestorKnife grinder
A knife grinder sharpened knives, scissors and other edged tools on a grindstone, often going through the streets offering the service.
Wandering knife and scissors grinders worked in Europe from the Middle Ages, many of them from a few regions of northern Italy and northwestern Spain. They moved through towns offering to sharpen and repair blunt knives and scissors.
The trade name is also written knifegrinder or scissors grinder. Sharpening grinds the blade against a hard, rough surface, usually a stone.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1870 to 1930 census
Giov. Rossi, 41, Knife grinder, Italy
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Daily Ancestor. "Knife grinder." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/knife-grinder. Last checked 2026-10-10.