It's a Wonderful Knife

I am not the kind of girl who buys new.

Probably this is a throwback to the days in which I could not afford new, a pragmatic raised eyebrow at the thought of spending $15 on a mixing bowl when one could be had for $3 at Goodwill. I have a very strong emotional response to not-new; I am more at home with objects that have a past, with things that are weighted with a silent history. New is reserved for things like underwear, and socks, and things that will go out of date five seconds after they leave the store with me, still in their box. And knives. I was very adamant about this with myself: I wanted them new, I wanted them sharp, I wanted to season them with the sweat of my own labor. And so far I have kept to this, buying my knives new, one at a time.

Until today.

Value Village has been kitchen central lately. I've gotten a nice cutting board, a heavy ceramic bowl, and a decent stockpot there in the last two weeks. And today, I hovered over this set of knives. I'm not certain what drew me in, because I. am. not. interested. in a butcher block set of knives. I want a very functional set of knives, and I don't even care if they match. Right now I'm using Forschners, but I'd snap up a Wusthof in a heartbeat. I don't care -- new and sharp, that's all I ask for. And this set was definitely not new, and definitely not sharp. Maybe it was the decorative metal plate. Terribly, terribly interesting.

I pulled all the knives out and looked at them. They look like sturdy, excellent tools, something favored by an angler, maybe, or a small game hunter. They weren't sharp, of course, but they could be sharpened. The butcher knife in particular had a nice heft.

I went home without them.

I searched the internet for a reference about this knife company, but the only links I could find were to eBay auctions. I sat on it. I sat on it for about fifteen minutes, and then I thought, I really want those knives.



I have a feeling I either got an amazingly good deal, or I was just swindled out of twenty bucks.


It was the butcher knife that finally swayed me. The blade is thick. It is, quite frankly, a beautiful knife, and if it alone turns out to be a good find, it is well worth what I paid.

They need, badly, to be sharpened, and I don't have the skills to do that without ruining them. I'll have to wait a while to see if this was a good purchase. I'm excited.