The purpose of this post is to thank a lot of good people who I met along the way and who have inspired me, trusted me and enabled me to gain confidence in what I love to do. While I started sharpening knives about 40 years ago, I don't think I became a good knife sharpener until about 10 years ago. The first 30 was filled with gaps in sharpening as well, I had a full time military career to look after too. Also, I just didn't know what I know now, I had not met the people that I have.
When the urge struck me to create a business, a business where if I was lucky enough, I could make some money to buy water stones, I lacked the confidence, so my first goal was to be better at what I did. After a full year of research, I purchased the Edge Pro Professional from Ben Dale. I had been sharpening freehand as well on King and Norton Stones and I thought I was doing well, but in my mind, I knew something was missing. (NOW, if I had the opportunity to take a lesson I would have but that was no in the cards for me).
Around this time I was also on a forum where good folks like Rob Babcock, Tom Blodgett, MadRookie, Michiel Vandhout and Ken Schwartz were people full of information that they were keen to share and I was just as keen to soak it all up. I no longer have much to do with any of those folks but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate what they taught me. Tom Blodgett of Jende Industries especially helped me understand many things and is still out there if I need him.
So the Edge Pro arrived and everything changed:
The Edge Pro, with practice, enabled me to create edges that I had never seen before, it is a precision guided device that eliminates angle control issues, stability problems vanish so the knives became sharp. (It eventually made me a much better freehand sharpener).
However, I still had no customers so I ran into the local itchen store called Paderno and met a man that changed everything, Malcolm was the Manager and when I showed him a few knives that I had sharpened he basically took me on. So the Paderno Store became a drop off and pick up point for customers and that was over five years ago, it is still there today with a new Manager who is just as nice. So Malcolm is a man that I am eternally grateful to, he was constantly encouraging me and it motivated me.
From Paderno, three more kitchen stores became important drop off and pick up points, Cucina Moderna (now closed), The Ikebana Shop and the Getaway Farms butcher.
So to speed this up a little, I will condense the story by saying that the Edge Pro did it's job but it's time was coming to a close, the overwhelming desire to sharpen freehand again was just to much for me and I delved into the fascinating world of Japanese Water Stones, I was coming down with the Sharpening Sickness.
Now that I had a business, New Edge Sharpening and I was getting customers I developed a new goal, restaurants and some heavy hitters in the culinary industry, Executive Chefs.
I got real lucky, I sharpened knives for a lady that is a friend of Mr. Bill Pratt, a retired sailor who was just opening up a new restaurant called Cheese Curds. He contacted me, I had to show him my stuff and we built a business relationship that lasted over four years. His franchise took off and I was no longer interested in doing the "house knives" but I still sharpen for some of the cooks that work for him, their personal knives.
Through Bill Pratt I met some of local Kings of the culinary industry, people who I will always be very grateful to. Craig Flinn of the famous Chives Bistro and Michael Howell, Lord of Devour Festival and extreme Executive Chef. Jason Lynch, an award winning stellar Chef and individual who owns Le Caveau in Wolfville. Luis Clavel, Ivan Chan, two more fantastic people who all trusted me with their knives. Mark Gray, another young talent and award winning Chef that I sharpen for. (Some have moved on but I still sharpen for some of these men on a regular basis.)
Because of Michael Howell's influence I was in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, a full page spread, then on the radio and then finally on Global News and I met Ron Kronstein who interviewed me and did a wonderful job on the program. I am a very lucky man to have met such great people.
I realized that my journey was far from over, I was still developing in terms of my skill level, in fact to this day I am learning and I doubt that I will stop learning.
I was meeting some very nice folks on the Chef Knives to Go Forums and Mark Richmond was kind enough to let me participate and share stories in my own section of his Forums.
However, in the meantime I had met (not personally) a man named Jon Broida of Japanese Knife Imports. I found Jon not only to be a gifted sharpener but a person who really enjoyed sharing his knowledge and is just a good hearted individual. His videos are top notched and through them alone I learned how to sharpen a Yanagiba. I still keep in contact with Jon on a regular basis, he is a man that I will definitely meet someday and thank in person.
I was retired from the Navy and going full tilt with my business, especially after the Newspaper article, I was sharpening for 10 hours a day after that for three weeks.
A highlight for me was the opportunity to meet Chef Normand Laprise and again, through Michael Howell and Jason Lynch this became a reality. Chef Laprise is an Icon in the Canadian Culinary Industry and not only did I meet him but he let me sharpen one of his awesome knives....while he watched. He sent me a very nice email when he got home which I have included in my Testimonials on my Home Page.
For me, sharpening is a lonely world, I don't know any other sharpeners really, not well enough to sit around and chat about it over a beer but I did get to meet an extraordinary sharpener named Corey in Phoenix AZ. I got to see and feel a knife he sharpened and it was just amazing, he is a better sharpener than I am and that does not bother me in the least, in fact I think it is pretty cool. It gives me something to look forward to because I know there is more out there for me to learn.
There are other good folks out there, Chefs who have trusted me with their knives and I appreciate all of them. However, it is not just the Chefs, it is the everyday home cooks, some that I have known for several years that I have come to truly appreciate. I would not have a business if it was not for them.
Another fortunate event was being contacted by Knifeplanet which has ended up with a nice man named Roberto who has encouraged me to write articles and shoot videos for his website, which I have. Now, Jon Broida is going to join me in contributing to Knifeplanet in the form of an Online Sharpening School.
I don't where I would be if I had not met the people that I have. Mr. Kevin Kent, the President of Knifewear is another important influence in my sharpening life. I had the unique opportunity to sharpen a few of his personal knives for him to critique, which he did. The pointers that he gave me were absolutely invaluable and have changed sharpening ability significantly because of the boost in confidence this advice and my taking heed of that advice did.
If I could, I would personally thank all of the people that I have mentioned and I have had that opportunity in fact. Many live far far away so I don't know if it will happen. I just hope that they know who important they are in my life, I would not be the sharpener today that I am if I hadn't met them.
I am pretty sure that I have forgotten many good people but I know that I will meet more and have another opportunity to thank them. I am very good at finding people and asking questions. I don't have a sharpening ego so that enables me to ask the questions and learn from them, from anyone, not just the "big shots". I learn from people who just make comments sometimes, they often see things I didn't think about so I just tuck the information away for the future.
Thanks all and of course, thanks to the people who read this Blog and make comments once in awhile, that inspires me to keep going.
Respectfully
Peter Nowlan
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