Full-time Knife Sharpener and Sales

We are looking for knife nuts with personality. You must enjoy talking with customers. 

 Knowledge or interest in knives, a cooking background or Japanese language skills would be beneficial but not necessary. Experience is not necessary as we will train. The desire to learn is mandatory.

Our Calgary retail store has 1 position available:

· full-time knife sharpening with some sales responsibilities

You will receive an in depth knife sharpening apprenticeship in the Japanese knife sharpening style. We sharpen our knives by hand on waterstones, the most precise way and with the best results. Learn a dying art.

Knifewear staff enjoy a fun and professional working environment, a healthy discount on knives, and the love/admiration of chefs, foodies and knife nerds.

At Knifewear we sell the finest handmade Japanese kitchen knives available. Most of our knives cannot be found in Canada, many of our knives are not seen outside of Japan. We work with 25+ Japanese knife makers who we consider to be the top blacksmiths in the world.

Be cool, become a Japanese knife expert at Knifewear.

Submit resume along with cover letter explaining how awesome you are to kevin@knifewear.com

Compensation:

$10/hour increasing to $12-$15/hour after training

generous profit sharing program

great employee discount

possible Japan trips

We are looking for excellence!!

Maskage Tour 2012

Masakage Blacksmiths in the House

OK, most days at the shop are pretty fun for us and our awesome customers, but every now and again some days are funner. 

August 4 and 5 are funner this year. Kato san, Yu Kurosaki san, Makato Kurosaki san, Tamura san and  Shibata san of Masakage knives are coming for a visit. Not only that, but they will be making knives in the street right in front of the shop with coal fire, sledge hammers, anvils, sparks, smoke and danger! How cool is that?

Kato san

"Making knives is delicate work with many considerations."

In 1935 Hiroshi Kato san's father became independent from his Sensei. After finishing high school Kato san began his apprenticeship under his father. It's amazing that after over 50 years as a knife maker he's still inspired by thinking of people cooking with his knives. He always considers balance when hammer the steel, keeping in mind where a knife needs to be thin and where it needs to be strong.

Kato san makes Masakage Hikari, Kiri, Yuki and Koishi. All available at the shop.

Shibata san

"I want to supply knives that touch people's hearts."

Traveling across America is when Shibata san realized his deep love for Japanese craftsmanship. After careful consideration he made the decision to start Masakage Knives and bring hand crafted Japanese knives to the world. Shibata san is seen as one of the top knife sharpeners in Japan and he takes pride in the fact that he hand sharpens each Masakage knife before it is sold.


Shibata san will be sharpening Masakage knives in the shop on Sunday Aug 5. He'll get to as many as he can.

Kurosaki san

"Temperature control is essential when hammering steel. Too cold or too hot will make a poor knife."

  Kurosaki san began his blacksmith work in 2002 when he started working in Kanehiro-uchi-hamono. He claims he was not a natural blacksmith from the beginning and wanted to quite many times. We are very pleased that he continued. He got a huge confidence boast when he sold his first knife and his customer loved it. Now, he always wants to make knives that make his customers as happy as she was.

Tamura san

Peach Legs Rock!!!

Toru Tamura san has left the building, but his bass guitar lives on in our shop! Tamura san was living in Canada to experience something new and to practice his English language skills. He was living in Vancouver, but moved to Calgary to take the job at our shop. We were super lucky to have him at the shop for almost a year. Sharpening knives every day, sometimes for hours a day, he realized that he wanted to become a professional knife sharpener and knife maker. Now apprenticing under Kato san in Takefu, Toru is living the dream. We will always miss his legendary mega sharp knives and strange humour. I hope he still plays with his band Peach Legs now and again.

Steel and coal and fire

So, Kato san and all will be making knives in front of the shop. When I say making knives I mean they will be using techniques from 200+ years ago. Currently they use spring hammers like the kind you find at Heritage Park in Calgary, but for this demo they will use the strength of the younger blacksmiths and their sledge hammers. As far as the Blacksmiths know and the Prefectural Government, this is the first demo of this kind outside of Japan. In fact their local Government has sponsored the trip as an important cultural exchange.

Knife evolution.

You can see a few of the steps to forging knives. The red steel is obviously hot like crazy, but don't fool  yourself, the black knives on the left are still crazy hot too. 

Insane temperature is key

SAIT Polytechnic will be supplying the equipment. Thanks to Andy Semak and Brian Dorn. These demos will be part of Inglewood Sunfest. 30,000 people in the streets and red hot steel, fire, sparks, sledge hammers....what could go wrong??

Masakage Koishi knives in the raw.

The demos will include constructing san-mai steel (3 layered steel for knife making), hand forging knives to completion, constructing the tang, thinning the blade and hand sharpening.

All in a days work for Kato san.

The demos will start around 11pm and go till 4pm. We will let Kato san dictate the speed and timing for the demos as he is in his seventies and it is hard work. We will have a schedule posted at the forge on the morning of the event.

Thanks to Joe Strummer for the great design!

As always we have a killer shirt to remember the day they will be for sale, $25. We've made a limited run of 25 so get 'em while they're hot. BTW all our shirts are made by Food On Your Shirt. Check them out for rad foodie shirts!! We'll also have stickers of the same design for $2 as usual.

Saturday August 4, 2012 

11am-4pm 

Knife making demonstrations 

Sunday August 5, 2012 

12pm-4pm

Meet the knife makers in the shop 

Shibata san will sharpen your Masakage knives

Knifewear, Inglewood

1316 9 Ave SE

Calgary, AB

Knife Flavoured Beer

Top secret Tongue Cutter IPA recipe

You've probably heard about Knifewear Tongue Cutter IPA by now since we've been banging on about it for a couple of months now. We're just excited. This is the top secret recipe for our new beer. 

2 Row - Rahr Malting --Alex Alberta

Crystal 70L- Hugh Bairds Malting -England

Munich 10L - Canada Malting-Canada

Start of Boil Hop addition -Folcners Flight  50 IBU's

Mid Hop addition - Folcners Flight 20 IBU's

End of Boil addition- Folcners Flight  10 IBU's

End of Boil gravity 1.061

House yeast

Dry hop in Fermenter Zythos Hops

Dry hop in Maturation Zythos Hops

21 days aging beer in cooler

This is where the magic happens

Brewster's Brewpubs have been making awesome beer in calgary for 16 years and have made a kick ass new IPA for us. Thanks to Brewer Rob Walsh we will all drink well for a couple of weeks.


You can learn all about the brewing process here:


http://brewsters.ca/brewery/

How do we make a beer taste like steel knives? And you thought it was clever use of too many hops. Don't tell anyone our secret.

I'm a lucky boy or free labour. Either way I was super honoured to add the first three of five rounds of hops to our brew. I wish you were here to smell this. It was heaven for any hop lover. I'm told that the early rounds of hopping add bitterness and backbone to the beer and the later rounds add aroma. Awesome!

Robert Walsh Super Awesome Brewer

Robert Walsh is the mad scientist of brewing at Brewsters. He's been a brewer for over 20 years and has been with Brewsters from the beginning. He learned his craft from a German brew master, so he understands attention to detail. Robert has told me throughout the brewing and aging process how excited he is to make this IPA. I can't wait to hoist a glass with him. Thanks for being awesome, Rob.

If you have the chance, try his Blue Monk Barley Wine. It is killer.

The first bottle

The beer will be available in pints at all Beer Revolution and all  Calgary Brewsters locations starting February 21. 

500ml bottles will be available for off-sales so you can also enjoy this at home. Only 20 kegs were made, so this beer will not be around forever. Maybe 2 weeks?

Bold American style IPA

in your face 

overly hopped and overly malted

not for everyone

6.2% ABV 

80 IBUs

BTW, every pint of Tongue Cutter gets you a free knife sharpening coupon.

Masakage Zero

We have the great privilege  to introduce Masakage Knives newest line: Masakage Zero at the beer launch. They will be for sale at Beer revolution. Cool huh?

Specifications:

Handmade by Yuu Kurosaki san

Aogami Super (Super Blue Steel) clad with stainless steel

Kurochi (black) finish with Tsuchime (hammer marks)

Estern Iron wood handle with mosaic pin and brass bolster

Look cool get a shirt

We will also be flogging the Knifewer Tongue Cutter IPA shirts at the launch party. Regular price $25, but special launch party price will be only $10. We have dudes and chic sizes. One must look good when drinking beer. Super cool logo by Pierre Lamielle. We might even have some beer soap available too.

Adding the secret ingredient to the Mash Tun. Sssshhhhh.

Beer Revolution is great new addition to the beer drinking culture in Calgary. The beer menu changes constantly and the selection is superb.......also the pizzas are super tasty. Try the Hot Wing pizza. Thanks to Beer Revolution for hosting the launch party.

Knifewear Tongue Cutter IPA Beer Launch Party

Keg tapped at 5:30

Tuesday February 21, 2012

at Beer Revolution

1080 8 St. SW

Calgary, Alberta

T2R 0E5

403 264-2739

• 
  

Let's Beer!

What goes better with knives than beer? Clearly we need a beer and knife party. 

We were thinking what would make our awesome knife shop even awesomer and came up with the idea of Knifewear Beer. The good folks at Beer Revolution have a great brewpub and were just as excited as we were about the idea. Sooooo as a collaborative effort we have brewed an IPA that is so hoppy it will be reminiscent of the flavour of steel. Strong enough to cut your tongue.

6.2% ABV

80+ IBU

It will be available in pints at Beer Revolution and all Brewsters Brewpubs in Calgary. Also might be available in the downtown Edmonton Brewsters. 500ml bottles for off-sale will be available at Beer Revolution. Only 20 kegs were made so Tongue Cutter won't be around for long, maybe 2 weeks. Get it when you can.

We will also have the Masakage Zero knives for sale that night for the first time ever.

Knifewear Tongue Cutter IPA launch party:

February 21 at 7:00pm


Beer Revolution
1080 8 ST SW

Welcome Mike

If you've been into the shop recently you would have noticed a new face. We are proud to announce that Mike Wrinch has joined the Knifewear Inglewood team.

Mike, our third kilt wearer, has been a chef for the past 15 years and has been a knife aficionado for most of them. His love of Japanese knives began, coincidentally, when Kevin started selling them. Mike decided that it was time to get out from behind the stoves and hanging out at Knifewear wasn’t paying the bills so he hired himself. Mike loves to talk about food and cooking as well as knives.

Knifewear Kelowna and Vancouver

Well, the rumours are true....at least we think they are. We plan to open two new Knifewear shops this year. One in Kelowna and one in Vancouver. 

Our Kelowna store, in the heart of Canada's wine country, will be in the steady hands of Mark. We are gonna misss him and his legendary sharpening skills at Knifewear Inglewood, but, hey, Kelownites are gona have way sharper knives now. Personally I'm looking forward to summer visits.

We are planning to open Knifewear Vancouver. How cool is that? Expect sake classes at the Vancouver store as well. 

Knifemakers in the House

This summer (maybe June?) we are having the coolest event ever. We will have 6 blacksmiths from Takefu Knife Village demonstrating old style knife making techniques. Ya, amazing huh? Fire, anvils, sledgehammers, the works. Oh, and traditional white kimono.

The blacksmiths will be Kato san, Anryu san, Kurosaki san, Saji san, Tamura san, Ikeda san. AWESOME!!

Masakage Zero

Masakage Knives are launching a new line caled Masakage Zero. The knives are made by Yu Kurosaki san of Takefu village. He's a young, but awesome knife maker who trained under Kato san. The blades are made with Aogami Super (Super Blue Steel) core and clad with stainless steel.  Tsuchime (hammer marks) are added after forging the blade for good looks and so the balde will slip through food easier. The western iron wood handle has a sexy mosaic pin through it for a bit of extra awesomeness. For those who like a heavier blade Masakage Zero will blow your mind. Launching at the Knifear IPA party on February 21.

Best Videos of the month

Shonen Knife Blitzkrieg Bop

Ok, I have a total weakness for Japanese punk rocker chicks. Especially doing Ramones covers. Shonen Knife, written in Japanese characters as 少年ナイフ, which transliterates as Shōnen Naifu, literally "Boy Knife. I remember see them years ago at the Republik and I think they were actually rightened of the fans. I was slightly scared that night too.

Tying a Fundoshi

Not just fun to say, but super sexy. Fundoshi (褌) is the traditional Japanese undergarment for adult males, made from a length of cotton. Before World War II, the fundoshi was the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males. However it fell out of use quickly after the war with the introduction of new underwear to the Japanese market, such as briefs and trunks.  It's instructional and ....well, you'll see. I think this video may appeal to some more than others.

New Knifewear stickers/shirts

A Pierre Lamielle/Mark Puttick image

So, what do ya think? The plan is to make shirts and stickers that say what we've always wanted to say.

Food Trends for 2012

What's in store for 2012. Easy.

Obviously I think that chefs and home cooks will become more interested in Japanese knives. The more that people use them they realize that a lighter, sharper knife is a great idea especially when it stays sharp longer. Also people will start looking for super high performance cooking gear, even if it’s not dishwasher safe. Think hand hammered copper pots.

Bincho-tan charcoal is the future.

Super pure Binchō-tan char coal from Japan will create a major buzz this summer.

Right now everybody is braising with red wine, garlic, bacon and bold rich flavours, smokers are being used to maximum effort and fatty charcuterie is de rigour. I think that food will lighten up and clean up flavour wise. Think Japanese food based on raw or gentle cooked fish with very few ingredients based on miso, soba noodles, dashi and yuzu. Also Spanish food will continue it’s rise with simply grilled fish, olive oil, nuts and fresh herbs.

Paleo Diet is hot. BTW Pierre Lamielle was the kid in this film.

Eating habits will continue changing toward lower carbohydrate diets. Look at the popularity of #Paleo diet on Twitter and among the CrossFit crowd (biggest workout trend for the next year I predict) and Gary Taubs book “Why We Get Fat”. Carbs are tastey and awesome but looks like they are not terribly healthy after all. Sorry to bring you the bad news.

Sustainable fishing. Yum yum.

Meat and fish is gonna be even more popular in the coming year, but properly sourced. Customers will be asking questions of their meat’s provinence (health, free range, local, drug free, properly fed). Of fish people will be looking more and more for sustainable catching practices and heavy metal levels. I know this is happening now, but it will become almost a religion I hope.

Gluten free will be the new cholesterol free.

Fresh pomegranates will finally get the respect they deserve.