The accent is fake. It’s part of his schtick.
He’s not Canadian. He moved from Michigan to San Diego, CA!
He keeps making references to living in Kanukistan, and speaks French to his daughter. In the About section it says Location: Canada. I think you must be confusing him with someone else.
That’s awesome. I’ve wanted to get into knife making for a while. But I’d like to take some classes. Sadly there aren’t really any in my area, and most of the good ones in the US are in New England or on the West Coast. And almost all of it is focused on collectable outdoor knives and folders.
I wanna make kitchen knives. At some point I should just start learning the hard way. But there’s that whole tool aquisition thing, almost major tool I have access to is for wood.
He does make up fake olde-tymy sounding expressions for fun, but that’s part of the shtick.
About the only major tool you ‘need’ is a 2" belt grinder. Especially if you’re willing to work from flat stock rather than forging. A disk grinder is cheap. There’s a S1 Forged in Fire where the “shop” of the guy who wins is his NJ backyard BBQ with a hair dryer blower, an anvil, and a disk grinder. Just do it!
And the ‘best knife’, like the ‘best camera’, is the one you have with you. My son filleted a pike in the Boundary Waters with a Mora.
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Mora’s are amazing knives though. And filleting fresh water fish is a large part of what they’ew for. My general outdoorsy camping knife is a heavy duty mora.
You also need space. I have access to a family members already overloaded garage workshop. But I’m not exactly welcome to install things like belt sanders. Otherwise harbor frieght is a thing. Its just one of those things where I’d like to, but its at the bottom of a long list of things my money needs to go to first.
Have have you asked? Seems to me most of us tool hoarders would be happy for someone to gift us with something as all around useful as a 2" belt. My 1" is probably the most used tools in my shop after the drill press.
I have been specifically told not to buy any more large things that go in the garage or basement. I’ve also been asked nicely not to buy anymore kitchen knives.
Its pretty bleak, I’m thinking of ending it all. Or using all those woodworking tools I have access to to make some cutting boards.
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He is hypnotic… and slightly mental. Cool.
Just bought a Mercer 7" Santoku. I’m a little dissapointed, it’s thick like a euro blade, not thin like our Globals. Seems like a reground 10" chefs. Our knife board is now officially full, and new ones can only replace retirees.
I don’t have any truly nice kitchen knives, some cheap stuff that works for what i need them for but i do not-so-secretly wish for nicer ones. I just don’t have the means to do so in the near future. Some day
I’m not a true believer, the Globals were an extravagant wedding gift 22 years ago. That Mercer was $30, we have an Ikea paring knife and a $10 Cuisinart 5" Santoku that we’re perfectly happy with. Get what feels good in your hand and keep it sharp. In fact, the reason for the Mercer is we hate the Henkels 7" chef my mother got me when I got my 1st apartment 35 years ago. Name is not everything.
The ones i currently have do need a good sharpening but i still hate them 
hoping next time i save up a little bit i can replace them.
Me too. And not just the accent, mind you:
“She understood it was a piece of crap. That’s why she got it for me.”
Love it!!
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For sure, but skookum is a word:
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Any euro brand selling a santoku is going to be like that. They’re hybrid knives, intended to replace a general purpose chefs knife. So they’ll be thicker. Where as the more traditional Japanese ones are dedicated vegitable knives so they’re lighter and often more fragile. That’s the real difference between Japanese and Western kitchen knives. Japanese ones are highly specialised. Where as Western ones are designed to handle a wide variety of tasks.
The other issue is going to be Mercer. They make some decent knives for the price. And I think they’re too often left out of the conversation. They’re often the default student knives at culinary schools these days.
But most of what they make are industrial knives. Restaurant grade beaters. They’re good ones. But that style of knife tend to be heavy and softer to cope with abuse and aggressive use. I used to open big steel cans with a 10" mercer back when I worked in kitchens. And it kept its edge after.
Even their higher grade knives, which can be quite nice. Especially for the price are going to tend towards being thicker and heavier than fine cutlery because that’s the pedigree.
Retire the mercer and get one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Messermeister-Seasons-Kullenschliff-Santoku-7-Inch/dp/B002KKC2NQ
Messermeister beaters are best beaters.
Now that would be silly. If I were going to replace it, it would be with a thin blade version more like a Global. I relied on this review when I purchased it, but in retrospect I guess they like heavier knives.
They don’t neccisarily like heavier knives. Both the MAC and Tojiro are (or are closer to) traditional Japanese style knives and very light.
SE they tend not to reccomend rediculously expensive products, or rigidly traditional japanese blades that may be of limited use to home cooks. In terms of a budget pick, the Mercer is a really good pick. Without looking at Asian restaurant knives, which tend to be a bit harder to source and identify, it’s about as good as you’re going to get sub $30
The Messmeister is going to be thin and light and take a very sharp edge. About as much like the global (which aren’t particularly traditional Japanese knives to begin with), as you’ll get in that price point. But its still going to have some generalist qualities that make it a good general kitchen knife. More rocker on the blade for wester style chopping skills, the tip is a little more pointed to give it broader use. And its not going to chip if used on bone.
I’ve used one. I’d take it over the global any day. $40 bucks is a great price. They list at around $60.
That’s all assuming you want to keep it cheap. Cause there are far better knives in the world.
If you wan’t Japanese their sugestion of the tojiro is a great one. But they usually require some grinding out of the box to perform the way they should. They’re frequently on sale too. Should be as thin or thinner and lighter than the global. Same flat edge. More comfortable handle.
