Episode 1447
Steelport Knife Company: Handmade here in the USA
STEELPORT Knife Co. is reintroducing heirloom American forged carbon steel cutlery. Proudly crafted in the USA we sit down wiht Eytan Zias, Co-Founder and Bladesmith.
Eytan Zias’ career began as a busboy, and he rose through the kitchen ranks in New York City, before moving to Scottsdale, Arizona. His love of the art and craft of cooking guided him to start sharpening knives for himself and friends, and then to open up a sharpening and retail shop in 2007. He channeled his passion for knives into learning forging techniques and has pursued the art for the last 10 years. As an expert in the field, he guides chefs to the best knives and has heard all the shortcomings of available knives. STEELPORT has been the culmination of all the best features a chef would want in their ultimate kitchen tool.
This is that old school craftsmanship that used to be common in the US. Now it is back. For more information head to: https://www.steelportknife.com/
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Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
[00:00:26] Eytan Zias: Um, and, uh, you know, we met. Knives, he was looking to get in the knife business. Um, I was, you know, looking for a way to go full-time, uh, in this. And then we started talking and looking around the, the market and, um, most of these things were just kind of a pipe dream when we, when we started. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know the, we got you coming.
[:[00:00:55] Eric Goranson: to the Around the House Show. This is where we. Everything around your home every single week. Thanks for [00:01:00] joining us today. We're going a little bit of a different direction today, which is so exciting to me. Aton Zs from Steel Port Knife. Welcome to Around the House, brother.
[:[00:01:12] Eric Goranson: Good to see you, man. And you guys got my attention because I like tools and I like well crafted stuff. And I saw what you guys are making here in the US and quite frankly, it's close to my house, but. Dude. Beautiful, beautiful kitchen knives.
[:[00:01:34] Eytan Zias: Yeah. We're doing things a little bit differently that it kind of started with the question of why isn't anybody making. This kind of knife in the US and then trying to bring it back here.
[:[00:01:58] Eytan Zias: Yeah, that's a big, uh, that's a [00:02:00] big feather in our cap. Uh, we've been, uh, yeah. I mean, I, like a lot of other people have been obsessed with Japanese knives for, you know, 20 plus years now and just, uh, sure. Have knives go that way. It's pretty amazing. It's like if we were making prosciutto and. Sending it to Italy and it was well received.
[:[00:02:30] Eric Goranson: But these knives and I've, I've held them in my hand when I came down to visit you in the shop and this is beautiful. It is. Not just something pretty to put on the wall. It is something that is so finely crafted and balanced. It's gorgeous too.
[:[00:02:50] Eytan Zias: You know, we like, you know, we like a knife to be good looking and, you know, um, well made, but we're all about the function side of it. [00:03:00] So, um, steel port, we're on a mission to reintroduce people to carbon, steel knife and tradit. Knife making. Um, so two things that just we think we should never have strayed from.
[:[00:03:30] Eytan Zias: Um, and everything is just dominated by the Japanese now. Before that, it was the Germans. Um, so yeah, we are, uh, we are, uh, rare in, uh, the fact that we are actually forging carbon, steel knives, um, from Rod stock. So the main reason to forge a knife is for, uh, strength controlling the grain and making a knife that is all one solid piece where you don't have to use any, um, Any pins.
[:[00:04:20] Eytan Zias: So none of the cust, you know, none of the companies are willing to do that kind of work. Uh, but yeah, there's 65 Rockwell on the edge. Yeah. Which is, you know, ex I mean, not, not only harder than any other American knife out there, but it, you know, exceeds most of the Japanese stuff and the actual, the manufacturer specs for the steel.
[:[00:04:53] Eric Goranson: Well, I love that you guys have that, uh, that dual heat treatment on that knife blade because, you know, knifes, [00:05:00] anybody that's watched like the Forged in Fire series and all that stuff out there, you have that fine line that you're walking between something that is super hard and brittle and soft and doesn't hold an edge.
[:[00:05:25] Eytan Zias: And there's, you know, they don't function well except for durability. And then you have the Japanese knives, uh, which are just laser thin, super hard, sharpen bowl. Hold an edge. But we'll chip, if you just look at them. You know, so, um, in the years I've done that to mine, we've, I haven't, I've went, yeah, yep.
[:[00:06:01] Eytan Zias: Uh, than a lot of these other countries because we didn't have this tradition that we're stuck to. Uh, so in the US we're able to just learn and take the best attributes of all these different, um, of all these different traditions and, uh, performance aspects, and we're able to combine them into one. You know, uh, the problem is people, you know, we have, we, we make excellent knives here, but they're all made by individual custom makers, uh, who can produce one or two knives a week, maybe big waiting list, big, you know, uh, price tags, uh, to, yeah.
[:[00:07:01] Eytan Zias: And, uh, surprisingly we still do that with a very small team. We're about, it's about, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We are, we are under, uh, yeah, there's under 10 in the company. There's about five of us on the actual workshop. Um, so it's pretty, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm, I mean, if I may say so myself, I'm pretty impressed with our output , you know, for this smaller team.
[:[00:07:38] Eric Goranson: And I love with the carbon steel, the patina you guys put on it from the factory.
[:[00:08:02] Eytan Zias: Um, you know, I've had people that buy it just because they like the way of petinas. And the reason we, our blades is there's a couple reasons. So, you know, carbon steel, the reason we strayed away from carbon steel about 50 years ago is, uh, because it is more reactive, so it'll rust easier and it will stay easier if you neglect your.
[:[00:08:42] Eytan Zias: So, We do two things to make the knife less reactive, and one is we, uh, put a full polish on our blade before patina. So, uh, if your, uh, blade is polished and there is no, um, there's basically less room for any [00:09:00] moisture to sit in. And that makes it a lot easier to keep up with. And then we pre patina and, uh, all we do is we just soak it in coffee and hot coffee and that brings out that color.
[:[00:09:31] Eytan Zias: Yep. But we actually ended up with, because it was the best result we tried, you know, wine and teas and vinegars and everything that you can imagine that is acidic. Um, coffee had the best results. And, uh, the reason we. To etch the, the blade and apply a on it is because it is a quality check for us. So with the, um, you know, when you heat treat the blade, then you can see where the soft steel and the hard steel meat, uh, [00:10:00] but once you grind it, you really can't.
[:[00:10:19] Eytan Zias: Um, so we need to do that as part of the process. We decided to just do that right at the end, and that way the customer can see that we got the heat treat right, and it brings out the grain flow. So, um, a lot of people, uh, you know, uh, they ask us if it's a Damascus blade because you can see, you know, you can see steel banding and grain flow going through the, uh, blade.
[:[00:10:52] Eric Goranson: It, it just makes for something dis cool and sexy and it look, looks good in the house too.
[:[00:11:09] Eytan Zias: effects of time. Yeah. So, um, you know, I think I mentioned everything, so, uh, if I didn't mention, everything we do is us.
[:[00:11:36] Eytan Zias: Right. So, uh, we did go with the Oregon Black Walnut for our, uh, knife block. And, uh, for our, um, for our knives. Then we actually went with a, uh, big leaf maple borough, and. Wood in general, you know, these are both hardwoods, but wood in general and especially burrow woods, um, they're not always the best choice for a knife handle because wood can shrink and [00:12:00] swell and it can dry out on you.
[:[00:12:22] Eytan Zias: Uh, it's very, very noticeable. I don't know if you saw it when you were at the factory. Um, but yeah, so, um, yeah, so it just makes it a much more durable product. It polishes better, it holds up better, less, you know, it's less, much less likely to shrink and swell and it's still a natural product and looks, you know, and looks pretty.
[:[00:12:41] Eric Goranson: I mean, it's just, it's just gorgeous, you know. How did you get into this man? I mean, you're the co-founder here of this. Of this beautiful company. How did you get into, into forging knives and, and get into this? Did it come from the
[:[00:12:58] Eytan Zias: Um, I'm not of, [00:13:00] yeah, I'm not into, uh, I'm not into, you know, folding knives or swords or any of that, you know, tactical stuff, you know, I use them. I carry a pocket knife. I was in the military, you. Um, but, um, I did, um, cook for a living and, uh, I went to culinary school, um mm-hmm. , I worked mainly in, uh, New York City.
[:[00:13:43] Eytan Zias: And so I just, yeah. So I, I started sharpening while I was cooking, started collecting knives while I was cooking. And, um, yeah, after about 10 years, I have what I, um, I had what I call my early midlife crisis at 30, and, uh, decided I wanna get outta the kitchen. I wanna work for. [00:14:00] and I started, um, knife sharpening.
[:[00:14:24] Eytan Zias: Um, so I was, um, so yeah, I learned to specialize in, uh, hand sharpening by Waterstone. Um, then, uh, branched out to everything from straight razors, um, you know, Japanese convict Solan, cheers. Uh, all those kind of more esoteric like. Specialty stuff. Um, but I'm still, I'm a food guy as much as I'm a knife guy, if not more.
[:[00:15:08] Eytan Zias: Right. Um, so exactly knife sharpening was a way for me to get my hands dirty again. But then the more I was successful with knife sharpening, uh, the less knives I got to sharpen, you know, because then, uh, I'm, I moved here to Portland in, uh, 2004 and opened another shop in. Next thing you know, I'm doing more managing and, um, so I didn't get to sharpen as much.
[:[00:15:50] Eytan Zias: No, no. But yeah, so I just, I, I always wanted to. Yeah, I was, wanted to make more knives and, and, uh, do that more. And it was just a way for me to blow up some steam. [00:16:00] And, um, 2019 I got, you know, uh, really deep back into forging again because, you know, my business was doing all right without me. And, uh, then I met my business partner, Ron Cormay.
[:[00:16:46] Eytan Zias: An integral, bolstered, forged knife on this, you know? Yeah. On this level, you know, uh, the differential heat treatment. Like it was just like, can we do it? Can we figure out how to do this? Um, but yeah, [00:17:00] so it was just, um, you know, uh, again, I'm, you know, as, as you can tell, I'm, I'm kind a talker, but, uh, I've been holding a knife in my hand for 25 years and I feel like everything is just kinda led up to this and this is the end result.
[:[00:17:19] Eric Goranson: Yeah, it's great. And think about this, I mean, I sit here and look at this and go, you guys started in 2019. It's still the end of 2022, and you guys are just at the infancy and doing such huge things out there. It's, it's fascinating to me to see how new and how far you've come.
[:[00:17:59] Eytan Zias: [00:18:00] In one year, uh, you know, two different journalists, um, you know, um, yeah, I mean, you name it. Um, so we've been, uh, yeah, yeah. I'm as, I'm as surprise as anybody. I mean, we've been, we've been, you know, working ours off, so, Um, I'm, I'm just glad it's well received and we're just trying to, we're just trying to keep up at this point.
[:[00:18:41] Eric Goranson: Oh my gosh.
[:[00:18:46] Eric Goranson: Oh, that thing is amazing, man. That's, that's, that's that. I just see like hitting a roast with that. I, I'm in, you know, I'm in
[:[00:19:04] Eytan Zias: Uh, staff and production capacity, and we just didn't wanna waste time on just a million different knives. You know, when you go and you buy a knife block somewhere, um, you know, there's, there's always knives that you don't need in there. Uh, you might be missing knives that you do need. And, you know mm-hmm.
[:[00:19:37] Eytan Zias: Um, because that is, you know, that is the most important knife. So that's, that's our flagship, that's what we want to launch with. Um, and then we looked at, okay, what are the other, you know, what are the basics? That you need, like what are the knives that you can do everything with? So we ended up with our five piece set.
[:[00:20:17] Eytan Zias: In any other knife. Um, yeah. So I feel like people, you know, the people who know how to make this type of knife aren't able to do the er and the people who can do the ration are not able to make this kind of bread knife. Um, so it's just something that you just don't see, you know, or the people who have the skills just don't care enough to do it.
[:[00:20:43] Eric Goranson: that thing. That edge is beautiful.
[:[00:20:56] Eytan Zias: So, um, it cuts [00:21:00] hard stuff just as well as any pointy ration, but it can also cut more gentle. Items. Right? So if we're talking about bread, it'll cut your crusty as sour dough or your, you know, softest like, you know, brioche, right? Or father mm-hmm. . And so it's less crumb and then it's more gentle on your cutting board.
[:[00:21:37] Eytan Zias: Uh, if you have a fine edge, it just, it, it just slides on there, right? So you're looking for something that can get through that bark, but is not gonna destroy all the meat inside. Um, so again, that's, that's, that's where the wavy serration comes in. So we find a lot of bakers, a lot of barbecue guys.
[:[00:21:55] Eric Goranson: bread, so . Ah, same here man. I, I, my wife bakes, I [00:22:00] barbecue, I, we do a lot of bread here cuz she's Italian, so that's just how that works, you know, that's how that works. But I love woodworking as well, man. And you guys built that, that knife block is sexy.
[:[00:22:28] Eytan Zias: Um, yeah, you know, same care went into the knife block that did into our knives.
[:[00:22:53] Eytan Zias: If you have knives that you don't wanna hide, um, that's a good, you know, that's a good block for that. But mainly the [00:23:00] functional aspect is, uh, because of the fold on the steel. It's an easel style block and the fold in the back, it just allows you to just reach in and. Grab the knife naturally. Um, and it's not restrictive like other blocks.
[:[00:23:31] Eytan Zias: Um, so this, you know, you can put everything, I mean, you can put you. 20 pairing knives or three Chinese cleavers. Right. It's up to you.
[:[00:23:53] Eric Goranson: And I'm always just rubbing that on the wood every time I put it in there if
[:[00:24:17] Eytan Zias: Um, we do, you know, just like taking a couple extra, you know, slices on your board. Uh, we do see knife blocks with a lot of just cut marks and wear marks going through the. Um, so it's actually, I feel like it's almost more destructive on your block than it is on, on your knife. And if it's not destructive on your block, it means that your knife is not sharp.
[:[00:24:40] Eric Goranson: There we go. There we go. And let's talk knife sharpening for a second here, just to get a little off subject of, of what you guys are building. Knife sharpening is such a key, and it's one of those things that I think that the, the typical American cook. And a household doesn't take seriously enough because [00:25:00] really you should be spending some time getting those knives sharpened or really spend the time and get the tools to learn how to do it
[:[00:25:07] Eytan Zias: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a skill that we all used to have and we lost. You know, uh, I talk to a lot of people that have that story. It's like, oh yeah, my, you know, my dad or my, or my grandfather, like everybody has some old timer in their family that used to do the sharpening and now is not around or can't do it anymore.
[:[00:25:41] Eytan Zias: Even like, I'm not even joking about that. They come in and they're like, oh, yeah, well, I bought this set and I use it until I got dull. And then I bought this set. And then when I bought my third set, somebody says, why don't you just get them sharpen. Um, so, um, we see a lot of that. That's funny. We see a lot of what I call, uh, sh shame sharpening, [00:26:00] uh, around the, the holidays where if people come in and like, oh yeah, my daughter's coming to visit, or my dad's coming over and, and they always make fun of my knives, so I need to get these sharpens so I don't have to hear about it, type of thing.
[:[00:26:31] Eytan Zias: Um, and the idea with, with just basic knife maintenance is not to let your knife get dull. So as soon as you don't like the way it cuts, then you literally spend a. You know, 30 seconds on a honing rod. Uh, we, you know, I like to use ceramic because you are technically sharpening and it's not a destructive process.
[:[00:27:09] Eytan Zias: But the idea, if you're starting out with a sharp knife, just, uh, anybody, not everybody can use a sharpening stone, but everybody can use a rod. You know? And the more you do it, the more comfortable you get. Uh, you don't have to, you know, like people are like, okay, this, you know, this knife's supposed to have a 16 degree edge or something, and they're like, they're so intimidated by hitting that 16 degree edge.
[:[00:27:50] Eytan Zias: Let me put that out there. Uh, don't buy any of those draw through machines, any of those, you know, uh, chef choice style, electric grinders. Even if they cost, you know, [00:28:00] $150, it doesn't mean that they're good. Um, no. Yep. They're just, uh, they're very destructive. Uh, yeah. Very, very des destructive. I, I like to say that they don't, they, they don't benefit anybody, uh, but the person that sold it to you, and that's only financially.
[:[00:28:18] Eric Goranson: I've noticed in, in, in just learning how to do it myself, that the only time you really have to get concerned about angles is when you're literally getting the stones out and really starting to actually like, fix a blade that's been chipped or something like that versus just, you know, sitting in the kitchen and knocking it out real quick
[:[00:28:36] Eytan Zias: Yeah. If, if you, if you are using Core Stones or anything super abrasive, then yeah, you, you definitely have to be careful. You have to know what you're doing. Um, you know, again, with honing rod, as long as you're in the general range. And it just takes, I mean, it, it literally takes, you know, 30 seconds to teach you everything you need to know about honing.
[:[00:29:25] Eytan Zias: Um, I think it might be the combined angle, both sides at a European style knife, but 45 degrees is just, um, it is way too, you know, way too big an angle for anything besides a meat cleaver or an ax. Those are the only things that get to 45 degrees. Yeah. So if you have a knife, you know, that is gonna be in the 1520.
[:[00:30:11] Eytan Zias: That can't be. Right. So worst thing that you can do, yeah. Is you put the wrong angle, you take the edge off your knife, and then you go and. Pay $5 to average sharpen and you're back in business. There you go. Yeah. Very, very crucial skill, man. I very . Yeah,
[:[00:30:33] Eric Goranson: This is probably the most amazing thing I've seen in knives in recent history. Out of any company in the world that I've seen of how you've built these, there is nothing more well thought out than this. I was so stunned when I saw this down at your, uh, it's your showroom factory there.
[:[00:30:51] Eytan Zias: Yeah. So that is, um, you know, so I guess in, um, yeah, in full disclosure, that is, you know, a sheath style that we did adapt from the [00:31:00] Japanese. Right. But we just made some improvements. Um, so, you know, we talked about knife blocks, uh, your, mm-hmm. , your knife has to be protected, right? So whether it's a wood covered magnet, um, you know, a traditional style block, a in drawer something, uh, it, it definitely has, you have to protect the edge so it doesn't knock into anything else.
[:[00:31:43] Eytan Zias: They're just for carrying the knives. So you still have to protect that. Um, so yeah, we decide to go with, uh, with the, uh, wooden sheath, which is, you know, um, basically a Japanese styles cover, uh mm-hmm. , but with a couple of improvements. So, um, one we used, um, you know, [00:32:00] we still use Maple. Uh, we use Oregon Maple for it.
[:[00:32:28] Eytan Zias: Retention pin from, from your sheath. I mean, I know cooks that have gone through 20 of them, right. And they get sick. Absolutely. Buying replacement pins. They, you know, they, yeah, they put safety pins and, you know, uh, cut pieces off chopsticks and put that in there and, you know, and so what we did is we have, we have a magnet, um, that hold.
[:[00:33:04] Eytan Zias: That is, you know, is it is a, you know, it is a one part. Product. Right. Um, yeah. And then we have those for all our knives. Yeah, absolutely. And again, some people have the block and they still get one or two for, um, you know, for, uh, traveling. You know, if they go to, uh, Airbnb or they go stay on the coast for a week or something, uh, you know, you, you, yep.
[:[00:33:36] Eric Goranson: Have the shef Smart. So where do you see you guys going here for 2023? I know it's December now, and we're, we're getting, you know, into the end of the year here, but, uh, what's on your plans for 2023?
[:[00:33:48] Eytan Zias: talk about yet? Um, I mean, not nothing major, uh, that I could talk about. We always have plans. We're, we're always thinking ahead, right? Um, of course. But, uh, yeah, I [00:34:00] mean, we're, right now we're just trying, uh, um, again, we're just trying to keep up. So, um, I, I feel like no one has the time to like take a breath and think about it until the end of the year once we got through.
[:[00:34:40] Eytan Zias: What we can do next. And, you know, whether it's, you know, um, adding to our lineup, um, you know, looking at more accessories. Um, uh, yeah, we don't, we, we don't know yet, but we do know that we'll be making it here in Portland and, and, um, you know, and, and still, you know, pushing. I love it.
[:[00:35:05] Eric Goranson: But what kind of retailers across, you know, cuz we've got people all across the country listening to this and just about every market out there, where can people find your, your. Your beautiful knives.
[:[00:35:23] Eytan Zias: You know, Burr Woods are, you know, uh, no two are the same. Uh, we have handles that come from the same tree that don't look like the same species even, you know? Uh, so they're all unique, they're all different. Uh, you never know what's gonna speak to you. Um, You know, um, if you have your, um, you know, the heat treatment, you know, the line looks slightly different.
[:[00:36:06] Eytan Zias: So if you don't have a specialty store, uh, you know, you might have a sab. We're, uh, not at other stores where, at other a stores though. Uh, but again, if you go on the list and just put in your zip code, then that'll, that'll tell. Uh, definitely you're able to buy direct from us. And, uh, if you're in Portland, um, then we have, um, we have open hours, uh, six days a week now at the factory we're in, yeah, we're in Northeast Portland, 36 and Sandy.
[:[00:36:52] Eytan Zias: So you'll find events on that, um, you know, sharpen classes. Um, so yeah, if you just go on their website, there's a lot of info. If you [00:37:00] just wanna learn more about knives in general, forging heat treat, we have a blog section. And, uh, but yeah, if you're, if you, if you're local, come see us. We like, we, we like talking to nice people and food people you can
[:[00:37:12] Eric Goranson: I mean, you guys are just making knives, man. There's nothing, there's no big dog and pony show. You're just making knives down there and and, uh, for everybody to see. So I love it.
[:[00:37:27] Eric Goranson: sharpening.
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