Kenny Bill watches Pat Cartney sharpen a chainsaw chain at KD Sharpening in LeRoy. -- Photo courtesy of Ginger Holm, LeRoy/Southland Independent

People say a man needs to stay busy after he retires, and because Kenny Bill also sees things that way, carpenters, wood cutters and mowers will have a local friend in business.

Bill, from LeRoy, picked up the art of blade and tool sharpening, and will open KD Sharpening to fill the void longtime LeRoy tool sharpening business Jacobson Sharpening & Supply left when it closed.

Though Bill is still a livestock buyer at Daly Livestock in LeRoy, he plans on cutting his work days down in the next year and enjoying his new venture, which is more like a hobby.

“It’s getting easier,” Bill said about the craft of tool sharpening, which he picked up from Pat Cartney.

Bill, who can now sharpen chainsaw blades, knives and lawnmower blades, plans to acquire more equipment and sharpen his skills. That way he will be able to work on drill bits, hole saws, Skil saws, scissors and more. A trimming shears, such as for pets, is the only tool Bill is avoiding. Nearly everything else, however, will be fair game.

“Basically, anything with an edge on it, we will be able to sharpen,” he said.

Bill plans to open for half-days on Mondays through Fridays. He’ll tackle the workload as it comes in.

“It’s a little time consuming,” Bill said. “But anything you learn, it takes awhile to get onto it. But once you get onto it, it goes pretty good.”

As Bill acquires more equipment, word of mouth will land him new customers — new customers that will keep him busy.

“You have to do something when you are retired, so I thought this would be a good deal to get into,” he said.

KD Sharpening is located at Bill’s office of Daly Livestock at 10465 745th Ave. in LeRoy.