[00:00:00] Eytan Zias: It's around the house. 2019, I got, you know, uh, really deep back into forging again because, you know, my business was doing all right without me. And, uh, then I met my business partner, Ron Cormay. Um, most people know him from, uh, fine cast Iron Fame. He's the co-founder of that. And, uh, he was looking for a new project.

[00:00:26] Eytan Zias: Um, and, uh, you know, we met. Knives, he was looking to get in the knife business. Um, I was, you know, looking for a way to go full-time, uh, in this. And then we started talking and looking around the, the market and, um, most of these things were just kind of a pipe dream when we, when we started. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know the, we got you coming.

[00:00:53] Eytan Zias: This is around the house. Welcome

[00:00:55] Eric Goranson: to the Around the House Show. This is where we. Everything around your home every single week. Thanks for [00:01:00] joining us today. We're going a little bit of a different direction today, which is so exciting to me. Aton Zs from Steel Port Knife. Welcome to Around the House, brother.

[00:01:10] Eytan Zias: Thank you. Good to see you.

[00:01:12] Eric Goranson: Good to see you, man. And you guys got my attention because I like tools and I like well crafted stuff. And I saw what you guys are making here in the US and quite frankly, it's close to my house, but. Dude. Beautiful, beautiful kitchen knives.

[00:01:32] Eytan Zias: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it.

[00:01:34] Eytan Zias: Yeah. We're doing things a little bit differently that it kind of started with the question of why isn't anybody making. This kind of knife in the US and then trying to bring it back here.

[00:01:45] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. I mean, and, and I saw in a news story that you guys are actually, you know, shipping knives over to Japan, and so when a US company is shipping US made knives over to Japan, that's something different.

[00:01:58] Eytan Zias: Yeah, that's a big, uh, that's a [00:02:00] big feather in our cap. Uh, we've been, uh, yeah. I mean, I, like a lot of other people have been obsessed with Japanese knives for, you know, 20 plus years now and just, uh, sure. Have knives go that way. It's pretty amazing. It's like if we were making prosciutto and. Sending it to Italy and it was well received.

[00:02:16] Eric Goranson: So perfect example. Perfect example. And you guys are doing it well and let's dive into it cuz I know there's a lot of people out there that are going, what are you guys talking about with this steel port thing? Let's talk about how you guys craft this stuff. Cuz then we'll get into kind of your background here as well.

[00:02:30] Eric Goranson: But these knives and I've, I've held them in my hand when I came down to visit you in the shop and this is beautiful. It is. Not just something pretty to put on the wall. It is something that is so finely crafted and balanced. It's gorgeous too.

[00:02:46] Eytan Zias: Oh, well, yeah. Thanks again. Uh, but yeah, we're, we are definitely about both.

[00:02:50] Eytan Zias: You know, we like, you know, we like a knife to be good looking and, you know, um, well made, but we're all about the function side of it. [00:03:00] So, um, steel port, we're on a mission to reintroduce people to carbon, steel knife and tradit. Knife making. Um, so two things that just we think we should never have strayed from.

[00:03:11] Eytan Zias: You know, um, we can make really good knives in the us We're really good at making, uh, folding knives and hunting knives and tactical stuff. Uh, but no one seemed to really care about kitchen knives and mm-hmm. , um, everybody is just making them overseas. You know, most of the, you know, most of what people think are US maiden knives are actually made in China.

[00:03:30] Eytan Zias: Um, and everything is just dominated by the Japanese now. Before that, it was the Germans. Um, so yeah, we are, uh, we are, uh, rare in, uh, the fact that we are actually forging carbon, steel knives, um, from Rod stock. So the main reason to forge a knife is for, uh, strength controlling the grain and making a knife that is all one solid piece where you don't have to use any, um, Any pins.

[00:03:57] Eytan Zias: There's no weak spots, there's no, you know, uh, [00:04:00] soldering and welding in any of that stuff. So, uh, yeah. So we're making a knife at 52, 100. Rod Steel, um, forged into a solid piece construction, integral bolster, integral endcap, uh, differential heat treat on it, uh, which is a very unique feature to us because it has to be done one by one.

[00:04:20] Eytan Zias: So none of the cust, you know, none of the companies are willing to do that kind of work. Uh, but yeah, there's 65 Rockwell on the edge. Yeah. Which is, you know, ex I mean, not, not only harder than any other American knife out there, but it, you know, exceeds most of the Japanese stuff and the actual, the manufacturer specs for the steel.

[00:04:37] Eytan Zias: Um, but yeah, so our goal here is just to make a knife that is, you know, um, you know, very sharpen, holds an edge for a long time and is still durable, uh, which are all kind of competing ideals there.

[00:04:53] Eric Goranson: Well, I love that you guys have that, uh, that dual heat treatment on that knife blade because, you know, knifes, [00:05:00] anybody that's watched like the Forged in Fire series and all that stuff out there, you have that fine line that you're walking between something that is super hard and brittle and soft and doesn't hold an edge.

[00:05:11] Eytan Zias: Ab, absolutely. Yeah. And you have, you know, so a lot of people like the German style knives because they're just tanks. You know, you can, you know, split a chicken with them mm-hmm. , and then go about your business. But they're thick, soft blades and they wedge and they don't cut well and they don't hold well.

[00:05:25] Eytan Zias: And there's, you know, they don't function well except for durability. And then you have the Japanese knives, uh, which are just laser thin, super hard, sharpen bowl. Hold an edge. But we'll chip, if you just look at them. You know, so, um, in the years I've done that to mine, we've, I haven't, I've went, yeah, yep.

[00:05:41] Eytan Zias: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a, I'm a, you know, I've been a professional knife sharpener for the past 15 years and I've seen every, every type of damage on a knife on a daily basis. So, you know, so that's kind of where, you know, it's, that's a lot of where this knowledge comes from. Um, but yeah, I mean, it, we've been making, uh, uh, we think better [00:06:00] knives in the us.

[00:06:01] Eytan Zias: Uh, than a lot of these other countries because we didn't have this tradition that we're stuck to. Uh, so in the US we're able to just learn and take the best attributes of all these different, um, of all these different traditions and, uh, performance aspects, and we're able to combine them into one. You know, uh, the problem is people, you know, we have, we, we make excellent knives here, but they're all made by individual custom makers, uh, who can produce one or two knives a week, maybe big waiting list, big, you know, uh, price tags, uh, to, yeah.

[00:06:37] Eytan Zias: Um, so the idea is how to take that American tradition and, um, and make it more, um, just kind of streamline the process without cutting any corners. Our tagline is craftsmanship without compromise. And we hold very true to that. So without cutting corners, how can we just make the process better, faster, um, and get the same results just in [00:07:00] a larger format?

[00:07:01] Eytan Zias: And, uh, surprisingly we still do that with a very small team. We're about, it's about, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We are, we are under, uh, yeah, there's under 10 in the company. There's about five of us on the actual workshop. Um, so it's pretty, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm, I mean, if I may say so myself, I'm pretty impressed with our output , you know, for this smaller team.

[00:07:22] Eric Goranson: No kidding. Yeah. You guys are doing great over there. And, and what's beautiful too is that I love the finish you put on the knives cuz so many people are used to seeing, oh, this. Polished, you know, the Japanese style, which are just super polished. And then you have the German style, which is a little bit different.

[00:07:38] Eric Goranson: And I love with the carbon steel, the patina you guys put on it from the factory.

[00:07:44] Eytan Zias: Yeah. So there's a few reasons for that. So, um, you know, patina is, uh, patina's an interest, uh, interesting subject, right? Some people, they just, it's something that they just put up. Right in order to get the benefits out of using carbon steel, uh, for some people it is [00:08:00] their main reason to use carbon steel.

[00:08:02] Eytan Zias: Um, you know, I've had people that buy it just because they like the way of petinas. And the reason we, our blades is there's a couple reasons. So, you know, carbon steel, the reason we strayed away from carbon steel about 50 years ago is, uh, because it is more reactive, so it'll rust easier and it will stay easier if you neglect your.

[00:08:21] Eytan Zias: Right. Um, so patina happens naturally, uh, based on what you cut, where you cut, you know, uh, you know, proteins will turn it more like blues and purples, uh, acidic stuff and vegetables are more like grays and blacks. Um, so, um, you know, whe whether or not you like patina, it will happen. It's a necessary healthy part of using a carbon steel knife.

[00:08:42] Eytan Zias: So, We do two things to make the knife less reactive, and one is we, uh, put a full polish on our blade before patina. So, uh, if your, uh, blade is polished and there is no, um, there's basically less room for any [00:09:00] moisture to sit in. And that makes it a lot easier to keep up with. And then we pre patina and, uh, all we do is we just soak it in coffee and hot coffee and that brings out that color.

[00:09:12] Eytan Zias: So we, we we're trying to use as many natural, um, ingredients as we can. We're trying to stay away from the harmful chemicals. Normally I would use ferric chlor. When I was etching a knife. Yep. Um, but we tried everything here. Uh, you know, uh, coffee is a, you know, it's a Portland cliche, uh, that we ended up with.

[00:09:31] Eytan Zias: Yep. But we actually ended up with, because it was the best result we tried, you know, wine and teas and vinegars and everything that you can imagine that is acidic. Um, coffee had the best results. And, uh, the reason we. To etch the, the blade and apply a on it is because it is a quality check for us. So with the, um, you know, when you heat treat the blade, then you can see where the soft steel and the hard steel meat, uh, [00:10:00] but once you grind it, you really can't.

[00:10:02] Eytan Zias: And as a quality control, uh, we need to make sure that we got that line correct. Uh, once you etch a blade, everything, there's, there's just nothing to hide behind. So if there's any imperfections in the steel, any, you know, cold shots, soft spots, hard spots where they're not supposed to be, uh, everything shows up.

[00:10:19] Eytan Zias: Um, so we need to do that as part of the process. We decided to just do that right at the end, and that way the customer can see that we got the heat treat right, and it brings out the grain flow. So, um, a lot of people, uh, you know, uh, they ask us if it's a Damascus blade because you can see, you know, you can see steel banding and grain flow going through the, uh, blade.

[00:10:40] Eytan Zias: And it isn't, it just, it's part of the forging process. The pat and the polish bring it out. So, yeah. And it just makes the, the knife look different a a lot of people who are, who are not used to carbon steel. Yeah.

[00:10:52] Eric Goranson: It, it just makes for something dis cool and sexy and it look, looks good in the house too.

[00:10:57] Eric Goranson: Yeah. That's great. And then your [00:11:00] handles, my gosh, man, I love wood, but what you guys are doing with those walnut handles that is sexy as well, and, and how you guys treat that to, to withstand the

[00:11:09] Eytan Zias: effects of time. Yeah. So, um, you know, I think I mentioned everything, so, uh, if I didn't mention, everything we do is us.

[00:11:16] Eytan Zias: Um, the only thing that we don't, you know, we don't produce any steel in Oregon, so we get the raw material from the Midwest, but otherwise we try to keep everything in Portland. Mm-hmm. . Um, so we wanted to use, um, you know, woods that are found here, that are found here locally that are abundant, um, and are still look, you know, and still look good.

[00:11:36] Eytan Zias: Right. So, uh, we did go with the Oregon Black Walnut for our, uh, knife block. And, uh, for our, um, for our knives. Then we actually went with a, uh, big leaf maple borough, and. Wood in general, you know, these are both hardwoods, but wood in general and especially burrow woods, um, they're not always the best choice for a knife handle because wood can shrink and [00:12:00] swell and it can dry out on you.

[00:12:01] Eytan Zias: And, um, yeah. So there are a lot of issues that can happen with wood. So the way we counteract that, because nothing looks better or feels better than it wouldn't handle is, uh, we do a resin stabilization on it. So we put it in a vacuum chamber, suck out all the. Replace it with the harden resin and then we bake it hard and it doubles in weight.

[00:12:22] Eytan Zias: Uh, it's very, very noticeable. I don't know if you saw it when you were at the factory. Um, but yeah, so, um, yeah, so it just makes it a much more durable product. It polishes better, it holds up better, less, you know, it's less, much less likely to shrink and swell and it's still a natural product and looks, you know, and looks pretty.

[00:12:40] Eytan Zias: Yeah,

[00:12:41] Eric Goranson: I mean, it's just, it's just gorgeous, you know. How did you get into this man? I mean, you're the co-founder here of this. Of this beautiful company. How did you get into, into forging knives and, and get into this? Did it come from the

[00:12:53] Eytan Zias: kitchen? Yeah. Came out of, um, so my interest in knives in general just came outta necessity.

[00:12:58] Eytan Zias: Um, I'm not of, [00:13:00] yeah, I'm not into, uh, I'm not into, you know, folding knives or swords or any of that, you know, tactical stuff, you know, I use them. I carry a pocket knife. I was in the military, you. Um, but, um, I did, um, cook for a living and, uh, I went to culinary school, um mm-hmm. , I worked mainly in, uh, New York City.

[00:13:18] Eytan Zias: Did that for about 10 years and just got really into, uh, knives. And I realized that, uh, the main reason that I like going to work is so I get to use my knives, uh, and, uh, knives are not fun to use unless they're sharp. So I, you know, so I started, you know, learning about sharpen. Uh, it's a great, you know, uh, old school Japanese knife store in New York City that we would all go to and watch the sharpener, and then we'd go and we would just mimic him.

[00:13:43] Eytan Zias: And so I just, yeah. So I, I started sharpening while I was cooking, started collecting knives while I was cooking. And, um, yeah, after about 10 years, I have what I, um, I had what I call my early midlife crisis at 30, and, uh, decided I wanna get outta the kitchen. I wanna work for. [00:14:00] and I started, um, knife sharpening.

[00:14:03] Eytan Zias: So I started a knife sharpening. I was living in, uh, Phoenix, Arizona at the time. Um mm-hmm. that turned into, you know, selling, uh, you know, Japanese knives. As far as I know, we have the largest collection of Japanese knives in the us. Um, you know, chef uniforms, just all around. Just, just, just working with the same community that I was when I was cooking, uh, just in more of a.

[00:14:24] Eytan Zias: Um, so I was, um, so yeah, I learned to specialize in, uh, hand sharpening by Waterstone. Um, then, uh, branched out to everything from straight razors, um, you know, Japanese convict Solan, cheers. Uh, all those kind of more esoteric like. Specialty stuff. Um, but I'm still, I'm a food guy as much as I'm a knife guy, if not more.

[00:14:49] Eytan Zias: And I just love knives as they relate to food. So, um, the more you, I think any business that you get into, the higher up you get, the less you get to do of it. Right. So I [00:15:00] got outta cooking because I didn't, I didn't get to to touch food anymore. I had, you know, I was presented with the clipboard. Not moving up.

[00:15:08] Eytan Zias: Right. Um, so exactly knife sharpening was a way for me to get my hands dirty again. But then the more I was successful with knife sharpening, uh, the less knives I got to sharpen, you know, because then, uh, I'm, I moved here to Portland in, uh, 2004 and opened another shop in. Next thing you know, I'm doing more managing and, um, so I didn't get to sharpen as much.

[00:15:30] Eytan Zias: Um, I've been forging on the side as a hobby for about 10 years, and, uh, always had the dream of going full-time, but Nice. I had the very, uh, very fortunate situation of, uh, just I was stuck doing what people wanted to pay me to do, you know, which is, which is not a bad place to be, you know, as, as long as someone was willing to pay you.

[00:15:50] Eytan Zias: No, no. But yeah, so I just, I, I always wanted to. Yeah, I was, wanted to make more knives and, and, uh, do that more. And it was just a way for me to blow up some steam. [00:16:00] And, um, 2019 I got, you know, uh, really deep back into forging again because, you know, my business was doing all right without me. And, uh, then I met my business partner, Ron Cormay.

[00:16:12] Eytan Zias: Um, most people know him from, uh, finance cast iron fame. He's the co-founder of that. And, uh, he was looking for a new project. Um, and, uh, you know, we met, started talking knives. He was looking again in the knife business. Um, I was, you know, looking for a way to go full-time, uh, in this. And then we started talking and looking around the, the market and, um, most of these things were just kind of a pipe dream when we, when we started, like, can we pull off, you know, a integral.

[00:16:46] Eytan Zias: An integral, bolstered, forged knife on this, you know? Yeah. On this level, you know, uh, the differential heat treatment. Like it was just like, can we do it? Can we figure out how to do this? Um, but yeah, [00:17:00] so it was just, um, you know, uh, again, I'm, you know, as, as you can tell, I'm, I'm kind a talker, but, uh, I've been holding a knife in my hand for 25 years and I feel like everything is just kinda led up to this and this is the end result.

[00:17:13] Eytan Zias: Yeah. Yeah. So this seems to be just, just a natural ending point.

[00:17:19] Eric Goranson: Yeah, it's great. And think about this, I mean, I sit here and look at this and go, you guys started in 2019. It's still the end of 2022, and you guys are just at the infancy and doing such huge things out there. It's, it's fascinating to me to see how new and how far you've come.

[00:17:38] Eytan Zias: I'm as surprised as anybody. Uh, lemme tell you, , you know, and not even 2019, we met in early 2020 and this was, uh, started as a pandemic hobby. Um, but yeah, I mean, I've been trying to get into the New York Times food section. Uh, that's been like my, uh, it's been on my bucket list for 15 years and now we've just been in it three times.

[00:17:59] Eytan Zias: [00:18:00] In one year, uh, you know, two different journalists, um, you know, um, yeah, I mean, you name it. Um, so we've been, uh, yeah, yeah. I'm as, I'm as surprise as anybody. I mean, we've been, we've been, you know, working ours off, so, Um, I'm, I'm just glad it's well received and we're just trying to, we're just trying to keep up at this point.

[00:18:21] Eric Goranson: Oh, yeah. And I, and you've got such a great collection of knives. It's not like you've got a a thousand of them where you walk into the knife store. You have the, the basics that are right there, but they're so beautifully crafted with, you know, the, like the eight inch chef and the six inch chef, and a pairing knife and a bread knife, and then that beautiful slicing knife.

[00:18:41] Eric Goranson: Oh my gosh.

[00:18:44] Eytan Zias: That's the one for you, huh?

[00:18:46] Eric Goranson: Oh, that thing is amazing, man. That's, that's, that's that. I just see like hitting a roast with that. I, I'm in, you know, I'm in

[00:18:54] Eytan Zias: with that. Right on. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Believe me, I get it. . Yeah, we, we, we [00:19:00] didn't want to have any, again, we are, you know, we are pretty limited as far as, you know.

[00:19:04] Eytan Zias: Uh, staff and production capacity, and we just didn't wanna waste time on just a million different knives. You know, when you go and you buy a knife block somewhere, um, you know, there's, there's always knives that you don't need in there. Uh, you might be missing knives that you do need. And, you know mm-hmm.

[00:19:21] Eytan Zias: there's no reason to have, you know, oh, there's, you know, three different sized pairing knives in there and, uh, you know, three different sized slicers and like, you know, like nobody needs that, right? So, you know, we just looked at what are the core knives. You know, we started out for the, for the first year, we only had our eight inch chef.

[00:19:37] Eytan Zias: Um, because that is, you know, that is the most important knife. So that's, that's our flagship, that's what we want to launch with. Um, and then we looked at, okay, what are the other, you know, what are the basics? That you need, like what are the knives that you can do everything with? So we ended up with our five piece set.

[00:19:53] Eytan Zias: Um, I think my favorite knife is actually the bread knife. Because I've never seen anything [00:20:00] like it. Uh, people don't respect the bread knife. Yeah. People don't respect the bread knife people, you know, people don't realize that on edges and edge, it still needs to have the same aspects. You know, it still has to just be, you know, sharpen and, you know, hard steel and everything that you're looking and.

[00:20:17] Eytan Zias: In any other knife. Um, yeah. So I feel like people, you know, the people who know how to make this type of knife aren't able to do the er and the people who can do the ration are not able to make this kind of bread knife. Um, so it's just something that you just don't see, you know, or the people who have the skills just don't care enough to do it.

[00:20:35] Eytan Zias: Um, so I think, yeah, the, the bread knifes turned out to be my favorite just cause it's the most unique in the bunch. And it's something that, well, that edge you put on

[00:20:43] Eric Goranson: that thing. That edge is beautiful.

[00:20:46] Eytan Zias: Uh, uh, thank you. Yeah, it's, and it's, and it's definitely functional. So we chose a, um, we chose a wavy ration pattern, um, as a point to your, as a opposed to your pointy ration.

[00:20:56] Eytan Zias: So, um, it cuts [00:21:00] hard stuff just as well as any pointy ration, but it can also cut more gentle. Items. Right? So if we're talking about bread, it'll cut your crusty as sour dough or your, you know, softest like, you know, brioche, right? Or father mm-hmm. . And so it's less crumb and then it's more gentle on your cutting board.

[00:21:17] Eytan Zias: And then, uh, if you use it as something more off purpose, you know, uh, we have a lot of barbecue guys that buy the slicer because it's great for brisket, you know, if you have a oh yeah, you know, a properly. You know, smoked brisket that has that hard bark on the outside. Really juicy on the inside, really hard bark.

[00:21:37] Eytan Zias: Uh, if you have a fine edge, it just, it, it just slides on there, right? So you're looking for something that can get through that bark, but is not gonna destroy all the meat inside. Um, so again, that's, that's, that's where the wavy serration comes in. So we find a lot of bakers, a lot of barbecue guys.

[00:21:52] Eytan Zias: Brilliant. Just a lot of just people like me who, I don't bake at home, but I eat a lot of

[00:21:55] Eric Goranson: bread, so . Ah, same here man. I, I, my wife bakes, I [00:22:00] barbecue, I, we do a lot of bread here cuz she's Italian, so that's just how that works, you know, that's how that works. But I love woodworking as well, man. And you guys built that, that knife block is sexy.

[00:22:12] Eric Goranson: I'm using sexy a lot in this talk, but you know, it's, it, it is. And I've got this dark Japanese style block that has a thousand pieces for a thousand knives I'll never own, but this actually puts it on display and, and makes it where you can actually use it without hurting the edge.

[00:22:28] Eytan Zias: Um, yeah, you know, same care went into the knife block that did into our knives.

[00:22:31] Eytan Zias: So again, everything, everything's us, made local woods and, um, it is a, um, it is some would say overbuilt. It is a 15 pound knife block. It is a pretty serious, you know, piece of equipment, but, uh, it's not something that you carry around with you. So we felt fine with that. Um, but yeah, so it, it, it has, you know, again, we think it looks good and it showcases your, your knives, right?

[00:22:53] Eytan Zias: If you have knives that you don't wanna hide, um, that's a good, you know, that's a good block for that. But mainly the [00:23:00] functional aspect is, uh, because of the fold on the steel. It's an easel style block and the fold in the back, it just allows you to just reach in and. Grab the knife naturally. Um, and it's not restrictive like other blocks.

[00:23:12] Eytan Zias: So most blocks that you get, they're, you know, um, if your blade is a little too wide or a little too long, or you have, you know, let's say you have all chef knives, you know. Yeah. Uh, blocks are always made. You have your one slot for the pairing knife and your one slot for this, and maybe one, you know, two chef knives that you can put in there.

[00:23:31] Eytan Zias: Um, so this, you know, you can put everything, I mean, you can put you. 20 pairing knives or three Chinese cleavers. Right. It's up to you.

[00:23:41] Eric Goranson: Yep. Yeah, it's, it's amazing. And I, what I like too is I always feel when I'm putting my knife into a slot and a knife block that I'm not doing any justice to the edge of that as well, especially with the, the thinner knives.

[00:23:53] Eric Goranson: And I'm always just rubbing that on the wood every time I put it in there if

[00:23:57] Eytan Zias: I'm not careful. Yeah. Uh, I don't think it has as much of an [00:24:00] impact on the blade as much as on the. So we see a lot of old knife blocks. So, so that is a very common, you know, technically it is a hundred percent true, right? The more your edge touches something, then the more it's gonna, um, if you have a good edge and a good knife, then it's not gonna have as much of an impact on it.

[00:24:17] Eytan Zias: Um, we do, you know, just like taking a couple extra, you know, slices on your board. Uh, we do see knife blocks with a lot of just cut marks and wear marks going through the. Um, so it's actually, I feel like it's almost more destructive on your block than it is on, on your knife. And if it's not destructive on your block, it means that your knife is not sharp.

[00:24:38] Eytan Zias: You should do something about that .

[00:24:40] Eric Goranson: There we go. There we go. And let's talk knife sharpening for a second here, just to get a little off subject of, of what you guys are building. Knife sharpening is such a key, and it's one of those things that I think that the, the typical American cook. And a household doesn't take seriously enough because [00:25:00] really you should be spending some time getting those knives sharpened or really spend the time and get the tools to learn how to do it

[00:25:06] Eytan Zias: correctly.

[00:25:07] Eytan Zias: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a skill that we all used to have and we lost. You know, uh, I talk to a lot of people that have that story. It's like, oh yeah, my, you know, my dad or my, or my grandfather, like everybody has some old timer in their family that used to do the sharpening and now is not around or can't do it anymore.

[00:25:25] Eytan Zias: But it seems like, you know, that generation knew how to do it and recognized the value. And, uh, again, I, I also have a couple of, you know, knife sharpening businesses. I talk to people that they come in with three full sets of knives that they bought before they realized that they can get their knife sharpened.

[00:25:41] Eytan Zias: Even like, I'm not even joking about that. They come in and they're like, oh, yeah, well, I bought this set and I use it until I got dull. And then I bought this set. And then when I bought my third set, somebody says, why don't you just get them sharpen. Um, so, um, we see a lot of that. That's funny. We see a lot of what I call, uh, sh shame sharpening, [00:26:00] uh, around the, the holidays where if people come in and like, oh yeah, my daughter's coming to visit, or my dad's coming over and, and they always make fun of my knives, so I need to get these sharpens so I don't have to hear about it, type of thing.

[00:26:12] Eytan Zias: Uh, but otherwise they don't think about it. But yeah, I mean, uh, that's hilarious Thing is just, it's not. Yeah, it shouldn't be as intimidating, um, as people seem to think it is. Uh, it's a pretty basic skill and. I encourage everybody to do their own sharpening, right? And it's, it's the only way to have a sharp knife.

[00:26:31] Eytan Zias: Um, and the idea with, with just basic knife maintenance is not to let your knife get dull. So as soon as you don't like the way it cuts, then you literally spend a. You know, 30 seconds on a honing rod. Uh, we, you know, I like to use ceramic because you are technically sharpening and it's not a destructive process.

[00:26:51] Eytan Zias: Uh, but if you just, you know, if you just never let your knife get dull, you can go years without having it, you know, professionally sharpened or putting it to a stone. Um, so [00:27:00] once you've let it get dull, And then, then you have to, you know, okay, do I get to sharpen by a professional or do I learn how to sharpen it?

[00:27:09] Eytan Zias: But the idea, if you're starting out with a sharp knife, just, uh, anybody, not everybody can use a sharpening stone, but everybody can use a rod. You know? And the more you do it, the more comfortable you get. Uh, you don't have to, you know, like people are like, okay, this, you know, this knife's supposed to have a 16 degree edge or something, and they're like, they're so intimidated by hitting that 16 degree edge.

[00:27:29] Eytan Zias: Now, it doesn't matter if you're at 14 or if you're at 17, uh, the knife is gonna take on your angles and, um, and yeah, and, and, and then you don't have to think about it again because those are your angles. You'll, you're just gonna go to them naturally. Um, but yeah, yeah, I mean, uh, stay away from, stay away from any, um, gadgets.

[00:27:50] Eytan Zias: Let me put that out there. Uh, don't buy any of those draw through machines, any of those, you know, uh, chef choice style, electric grinders. Even if they cost, you know, [00:28:00] $150, it doesn't mean that they're good. Um, no. Yep. They're just, uh, they're very destructive. Uh, yeah. Very, very des destructive. I, I like to say that they don't, they, they don't benefit anybody, uh, but the person that sold it to you, and that's only financially.

[00:28:14] Eytan Zias: So really bad for knives. Yeah.

[00:28:18] Eric Goranson: I've noticed in, in, in just learning how to do it myself, that the only time you really have to get concerned about angles is when you're literally getting the stones out and really starting to actually like, fix a blade that's been chipped or something like that versus just, you know, sitting in the kitchen and knocking it out real quick

[00:28:34] Eytan Zias: with the steel.

[00:28:36] Eytan Zias: Yeah. If, if you, if you are using Core Stones or anything super abrasive, then yeah, you, you definitely have to be careful. You have to know what you're doing. Um, you know, again, with honing rod, as long as you're in the general range. And it just takes, I mean, it, it literally takes, you know, 30 seconds to teach you everything you need to know about honing.

[00:28:55] Eytan Zias: There's just not much to it. It. You have to alternate sides. Um, [00:29:00] you have to do the entire blade and, uh, and you have to be in the general range and consistent with your angle, you know, and the problems that we see is, um, for some reason, I think if you do one of those man on the street type interviews, if yes, somebody what angle a knife has, um, Most people say 45 degrees and uh, I don't know where that came from.

[00:29:25] Eytan Zias: Um, I think it might be the combined angle, both sides at a European style knife, but 45 degrees is just, um, it is way too, you know, way too big an angle for anything besides a meat cleaver or an ax. Those are the only things that get to 45 degrees. Yeah. So if you have a knife, you know, that is gonna be in the 1520.

[00:29:46] Eytan Zias: You know, range. Um, if you do put that 45 degree on it, you're, you're basically just dulling it every time, or you're putting a very, very temporary edge on it. So that's why I always say, as long as you're in that general range, right? If you stay in [00:30:00] that, like, you know, if you don't go over your 20 degrees, uh, 25 degrees for your thickest, you know, German style knives, and then yeah, you'll be fine and, and you're not doing any damage.

[00:30:11] Eytan Zias: That can't be. Right. So worst thing that you can do, yeah. Is you put the wrong angle, you take the edge off your knife, and then you go and. Pay $5 to average sharpen and you're back in business. There you go. Yeah. Very, very crucial skill, man. I very . Yeah,

[00:30:26] Eric Goranson: it's, it is. I, I can't let you go too here without talking about those wood sheaths you guys made for your knives.

[00:30:33] Eric Goranson: This is probably the most amazing thing I've seen in knives in recent history. Out of any company in the world that I've seen of how you've built these, there is nothing more well thought out than this. I was so stunned when I saw this down at your, uh, it's your showroom factory there.

[00:30:49] Eytan Zias: No. Right on. Right on.

[00:30:51] Eytan Zias: Yeah. So that is, um, you know, so I guess in, um, yeah, in full disclosure, that is, you know, a sheath style that we did adapt from the [00:31:00] Japanese. Right. But we just made some improvements. Um, so, you know, we talked about knife blocks, uh, your, mm-hmm. , your knife has to be protected, right? So whether it's a wood covered magnet, um, you know, a traditional style block, a in drawer something, uh, it, it definitely has, you have to protect the edge so it doesn't knock into anything else.

[00:31:17] Eytan Zias: It doesn't cut you as a million reasons to to do that. Not everybody wants a knife block. Not everybody has a use for a knife block. Uh, if you're a minimalist, you just have a couple knives. You might just wanna throw a sheath on them and put 'em in the drawer. Or if you're, you know, cooked for a living and you take your knives with you back and forth every day, then they definitely need to be covered because, um, those knife rolls that you see the chefs with, uh, they're not cut proof.

[00:31:43] Eytan Zias: They're just for carrying the knives. So you still have to protect that. Um, so yeah, we decide to go with, uh, with the, uh, wooden sheath, which is, you know, um, basically a Japanese styles cover, uh mm-hmm. , but with a couple of improvements. So, um, one we used, um, you know, [00:32:00] we still use Maple. Uh, we use Oregon Maple for it.

[00:32:03] Eytan Zias: Um, and what we do is, uh, to keep it looking, um, well, to make it look a little bit better, but also keep it looking cleaner, is we toast the maple. It's a caramelized maple, so it looks like walnut, uh, but it isn't. It's just, it's a toasted maple on it. And then I guess the main thing is with the Japanese style sizes, you have a retention pin and the first thing you're gonna lose in your life is.

[00:32:28] Eytan Zias: Retention pin from, from your sheath. I mean, I know cooks that have gone through 20 of them, right. And they get sick. Absolutely. Buying replacement pins. They, you know, they, yeah, they put safety pins and, you know, uh, cut pieces off chopsticks and put that in there and, you know, and so what we did is we have, we have a magnet, um, that hold.

[00:32:50] Eytan Zias: The sheath on your knife and it's recessed and it's on the spine, so it's never gonna come into contact with your knife. It's not gonna, you know, scuff it or anything. Uh, but it is strong enough to hold [00:33:00] it on there. And then you don't have to worry about, you know, you just don't have to worry about losing anything.

[00:33:04] Eytan Zias: That is, you know, is it is a, you know, it is a one part. Product. Right. Um, yeah. And then we have those for all our knives. Yeah, absolutely. And again, some people have the block and they still get one or two for, um, you know, for, uh, traveling. You know, if they go to, uh, Airbnb or they go stay on the coast for a week or something, uh, you know, you, you, yep.

[00:33:27] Eytan Zias: I've never seen an Airbnb with a sharp. There in my life. Um, you know, so a lot of people just take their knives with them. Never, they don't exist.

[00:33:36] Eric Goranson: Have the shef Smart. So where do you see you guys going here for 2023? I know it's December now, and we're, we're getting, you know, into the end of the year here, but, uh, what's on your plans for 2023?

[00:33:48] Eric Goranson: Anything you can

[00:33:48] Eytan Zias: talk about yet? Um, I mean, not nothing major, uh, that I could talk about. We always have plans. We're, we're always thinking ahead, right? Um, of course. But, uh, yeah, I [00:34:00] mean, we're, right now we're just trying, uh, um, again, we're just trying to keep up. So, um, I, I feel like no one has the time to like take a breath and think about it until the end of the year once we got through.

[00:34:12] Eytan Zias: You know, uh, we got, we're in, uh, we're in 60 plus retailers around the country right now, and, uh, up until now we've just been busy, uh, supplying our retailers and now we're getting all the customer orders. Um, so yeah, right now we're just kind of fighting for our lives, trying to. You know, trying to keep up, um, you know, after New Year's or so, we'll sit down, we'll, you know, have a whiskey sit around and, and figure out yeah.

[00:34:40] Eytan Zias: What we can do next. And, you know, whether it's, you know, um, adding to our lineup, um, you know, looking at more accessories. Um, uh, yeah, we don't, we, we don't know yet, but we do know that we'll be making it here in Portland and, and, um, you know, and, and still, you know, pushing. I love it.

[00:34:58] Eric Goranson: I love it. So where are the, [00:35:00] if someone's gonna go out and buy your knives, of course they can go to your website, which is, you know, the steel port knife.com.

[00:35:05] Eric Goranson: But what kind of retailers across, you know, cuz we've got people all across the country listening to this and just about every market out there, where can people find your, your. Your beautiful knives.

[00:35:15] Eytan Zias: Uh, yes, I would recommend, um, you know, if you wanna buy in person, and that's, you know, I do recommend that because, you know, all our knives are slightly different.

[00:35:23] Eytan Zias: You know, Burr Woods are, you know, uh, no two are the same. Uh, we have handles that come from the same tree that don't look like the same species even, you know? Uh, so they're all unique, they're all different. Uh, you never know what's gonna speak to you. Um, You know, um, if you have your, um, you know, the heat treatment, you know, the line looks slightly different.

[00:35:44] Eytan Zias: So if you, if you wanna pick out your own knife and if you're able to go see one of our retailers and just go on our website, uh, under retailers, there's, there's a map. And it'll, it'll give you a whole list. Um, we're at all the good specialty knife shops, uh, I [00:36:00] would say around the country. Um, and then we also have a national retailer with, uh, sab.

[00:36:06] Eytan Zias: So if you don't have a specialty store, uh, you know, you might have a sab. We're, uh, not at other stores where, at other a stores though. Uh, but again, if you go on the list and just put in your zip code, then that'll, that'll tell. Uh, definitely you're able to buy direct from us. And, uh, if you're in Portland, um, then we have, um, we have open hours, uh, six days a week now at the factory we're in, yeah, we're in Northeast Portland, 36 and Sandy.

[00:36:33] Eytan Zias: Uh, but if you go on steel port knife.com. Uh, it'll, it'll tell you all the, uh, info. We, we have a lot of events that we do too with, uh, you know, partners that we like, you know, we bring in fine and, you know, uh, Western Whiskey and Grand for brewing and, uh, a lot, a lot of other Portland makers that we like.

[00:36:52] Eytan Zias: So you'll find events on that, um, you know, sharpen classes. Um, so yeah, if you just go on their website, there's a lot of info. If you [00:37:00] just wanna learn more about knives in general, forging heat treat, we have a blog section. And, uh, but yeah, if you're, if you, if you're local, come see us. We like, we, we like talking to nice people and food people you can

[00:37:12] Eric Goranson: see.

[00:37:12] Eric Goranson: I mean, you guys are just making knives, man. There's nothing, there's no big dog and pony show. You're just making knives down there and and, uh, for everybody to see. So I love it.

[00:37:22] Eytan Zias: Hell, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it was good having you down there and come see us again too, and if you need help with your knife

[00:37:27] Eric Goranson: sharpening.

[00:37:28] Eric Goranson: All right, man. Thanks for coming on the show today. Everybody head over to steel port knife.com, take a look at it, get these things in your hands cuz I tell you what, you won't be disappointed. I'm Eric G, and you've been listening to Around the House