In the mid-1980s, Larry Mathieu was employed as an iron worker with Local 496. He was doing so many special projects for friends and family that his wife, Diane, suggested he open his own business. In 1986 he opened Mathieu’s Sharpening Service part time, working nights and weekends while continuing his iron working work, managing rental units and being a soldier in the Army Reserves.
In 1989 he decided to make a go of it full time, and by 1995 had opened a shop at the Bates Mill complex. He eventually outgrew the space as the amount and type of services he offered increased. In 2000, the business, now called Mathieu Saw & Tool Inc., moved to its current location in the Lewiston Industrial Park on Enterprise Street.
The company that began as a one-man operation mostly sharpening saws and lawn and garden tools expanded to working with large-diameter saw blades, boring bits, router bits and straight knives up to 144 inches long, such as those used in metal cutting shears. The tools they regrind are used at BIW, General Electric, Pioneer Plastics, saw mills, factories and dozens of other businesses throughout New England.
One of their niches is the regrinding and rebuilding of carbide circular saws, ranging in size from 3 to 40 inches in diameter, and metal cutting saws up to 52 inches in diameter. Technicians use computer-controlled grinders to ensure that manufacturers’ tolerances and tooth geometries are met.
While it is no longer cost effective for the company to sharpen many types of lawn and garden tools, they still offer that service, Mathieu said, because that’s how the business started 26 years ago. “We have many customers who have been loyal since we opened our doors. These tools take time to sharpen and we don’t charge much, but we feel that it is important to show appreciation to the locals who helped us get off the ground in the beginning. We do it as more of a community service — to say thank you.”
The business involves five full-time employees, including Mathieu’s daughter, Brianna Bourgeois, who is the office manager. She also takes care of customer service; she answers the phone and is the first to greet customers when they walk through the door — unless one of the family dogs runs out to say hello first.
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- Owner Larry Mathieu shows off a giant cord wood saw, also called a buzz saw, that he has in his personal collection of tools and blades. “These things are dangerous as hell, but there are loggers and farmers out there still using them,” he says. A blade is fit onto a tractor and connected by belt to the tractor’s engine, and then used to cut trees into lengths. He gets about nine every year to sharpen.
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- Scott McAuslin uses a tool and cutter grinder to sharpen a tool at Mathieu Saw & Tool Inc.
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- Teddy, the Mathieu Saw & Tool Inc. office mascot, often greets customers when they walk through the door.
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- A rack of carbide saws waits to be cleaned and sharpened at Mathieu Saw & Tool Inc.
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- Dan Pruitt uses a micrometer to measure a drill bit.
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- Various tools from a customer sit on a counter waiting to be sharpened at Mathieu Saw & Tool Inc
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- Dan Pruitt checks on the progress of the sharpening of a 52-inch segmental blade.
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- Dan Pruitt cuts off the end of an undersized drill in order to put a new point on it so it is still usable to the customer.
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- The first sign for the shop still hangs on a wall at the company’s current location.
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