10/05/2026
One of my favorite parts of the Cowtown Custom Knife Show happens away from the tables.
My friend and fellow maker Micah Dunn and I do a short chef knife demonstration where we talk about what makes a great chef knife. This year, we covered everything from comfort and geometry to edge thickness, steel, heat treatment, and the things that actually matter when you’re using a knife in the kitchen.
It’s usually a smaller crowd, but the people who stop are genuinely interested. They ask questions, want to understand why we do things the way we do, and we get to talk about something we both love.
Today was especially cool.
A family stopped by with a friend who is a new knifemaker from Argentina. He didn’t speak any English, so his friends translated our entire demonstration and his questions for him.
And this guy was so excited to learn.
His friends told us that being at the show was like Disneyland for him. I completely understood. There’s something pretty special about walking into a room full of makers, seeing all the knives and materials, and meeting people who share the same passion.
I even loaned him one of my EDC knives so he could participate in the TKG EDC Challenge, which made his day even better.
What struck me most was how quickly we connected. We live in different countries, speak different languages, and had never met before, yet we bonded almost instantly over our shared passion for knives and making them.
I’ve always said that I don’t have any secrets in knifemaking. Everything I know, I learned from someone else. Someone took the time to answer my questions, show me a process, share an idea, or let me learn from their experience.
So I want to do the same.
I’m looking forward to hearing from him, answering his questions, and watching his journey as he develops as a maker. If I can help him learn something, avoid a mistake, solve a problem, or simply get more excited about making knives, I’m happy to share whatever I know.
We were all new once.
And sometimes the best part of a knife show is realizing that a shared passion can bring two people together, even when everything else between them is different.