The Altadena man whose home was burned in Eton Fire has his family heirloom restored thanks to a knife sharpener supporting the community.
John Susa can sharpen his knife every day at his shop in Altadena. He not only restores knives, wood and steel to his profession, but also hears stories related to the items he is working on.
“This community, I would not be here unless people had brought me all the knives,” Sousa said.
Among his clients is Earl Beadle, who has lost his home due to a devastating flame. He recalls the urgency he felt in finding a knife handed to him by his family.
“My grandfather probably bought this for him in his 20s or 30s,” Beadle said.
Beadle’s family had a thriving cafeteria along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. The knife he returned after the fire became a heirloom from his family’s eatery. He received it after his grandmother passed away.
“I started pouring the kitchen after the fire. I said, ‘We’ve found these knives. Let them be there,'” Beadle said. “And of course, the handles were still burning out. They were there, and they just looked like beasts.
Susa works on the knife for free and does so for others affected by the fire. In addition to working on the victim’s cutlery, he is donating knives to those who have lost everything.
“It was a way of giving back to the community and it helped me to be very successful,” Sousa said.
You can follow Sousa’s business here.
