The ECG was terrific.
Warren and his wife were wonderful hosts who made everything from scratch, including loaves of bread and donuts. Im surprised they didnt make the tortilla chips. A man after my own heart, his kitchen is fit for a haute cuisine restaurant. Theres an outdoor stone oven where he baked bread and a long gone giant lizard had laid Big Green Eggs everywhere. I got to meet friends, neighbors and employees who were introduced by Warren to knives. Loved the perfect weather, bucolic setting, shaded patio areas and Little Rascals dogs. Warren and his family put a lot into the ECG.
Dave was smart enough not to sharpen knives so he could chat. Great and humble guy who is going to bring my Monzaburo Wagyuto Honyaki White II Steel 240 to its full glory. He brought along cut-outs of his own knives and custom knives from the likes of Rodrique, Fowler, Ealy and Harner. I just got into Japanese and custom kitchen knives in December and seeing these in person underscores the phrase, Pictures cant do justice to the real thing.
Jon and Sarah Broida are gems. His business model is the antithesis of marketing a product to create a need. Instead of developing a production of his own brand of new knives at price points, Jon seeks out long established quality Japanese knife makers and selects the best for his customers. He has a laid back pragmatic approach to sharpening and using knive. As part of a lesson he sharpened my Carbonext 240 gyuto to its full potential and helped me fix the edge on a Tojiro honesuki which my friends thought was sharp but was nowhere close. For anyone interested in his silk knife bags, theyre gorgeous.
Delbert Ealy and Butch Harner love their work and talking about it. Delberts knives look substantial with a lot going on with the Damascus designs and spalted handles. But it all works visually and theyre surprisingly light and thin. Butch brought a huge tuna sword thats a functional work of art.
Im sure I didnt meet everyone from KKF that attended, but the folks I met were instant friends. Among them, Jim (Dont tell anyone on the forum thats my real name) obviously had no sense of humor. JohnnyChance brought Raders passaround knife, a big honkin work of culinary art, which Pictures cant
.
Unfortunately I had to leave before the smoked meat was served but thats another reason to return next year and stay longer.