Sunday, January 17, 2010

My Family & Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick

Happy New Year Everyone!
I'm back from a lovely visit with my dear family where I watched marathon episodes of the Dog Whisperer with my pop, talked food with grub-enthusiastic mom, slurped noodle soup with kid bro, and drove a leg of family roadtrip while we sang along to Barry Manilow. It was awesome.

Besides spending time with the ones you love, I can't think of a better way to ring in the new year than to learn something new and today I learned a skill that's been confounding me for ages: how to sharpen a stinking knife. As one who appreciates good tools, nothing's worse that using a dull ass knife. Back in Missoula, I used to take my knives downtown to a Ray the Knife Guy. A Missoula institution, Ray could be found seasonally setting up shop twice a week at the local Army surplus store where he would charge a buck a knife. In good weather he'd be outside drumming up business inquiring passersby with a "Gotta knife that needs sharpening?" Apparently, a lot of Missoulians carry knives on their person. Rather than find my Portland version of Ray (I have no doubt one exists) I thought it was high time I taught myself how to fish.

On Youtube I found a bunch of tutorials and finally settled on a technique (I was convinced when the guy demonstrates the effectiveness of his method by sharpening a knife on a cinder block). The cast of characters: Edo's sorely neglected Arkansas stone, oil, and a bunch of dull knives.

The results? Bliss.
It was such a epiphanal pleasure to use my resharpened knives. No longer will I suffer the injustice of dull knife. I tried taking photos of the actual sharpening process without any luck as the procedure involves both hands but I hope to make a video. Stay tuned.

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