One Fancy Knife

September 15th, 2008, 9 Comments »

While in Calgary, Julie visited Knifewear. They’re a knife shop. In fact, they’re a knife shop that only sells Japanese knives. Talk about specialization, eh? She bought this knife:

Ohishi Tsuchime Knife

According to the accompanying documentation, it’s an ‘Ohishi Tsuchime’. That doesn’t return any results in Google, so maybe it’s spelled incorrectly?

In any case, it’s hand-forged in Seki, Japan from VG-10 high carbon stainless teel and laiminated on each side with 15 layers of stainless Damascus steel. The unique Tsuchime style–the dimpling on the back side of the blade–is from it being hand-hammered. Apparently that prevents food from sticking to the blade. The handle is made from rugged mahogany with “a full tang and welded bolster”, whatever that means.

It wasn’t cheap, but apparently it’ll last the rest of our lives. How many purchases can you say that about?

I know I’ve been on a bit of a West Wing kick, but I can’t mention fancy knives without citing another of my favourite episodes: ‘Shibboleth‘:

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A Favourite Bit From ‘The West Wing’

September 10th, 2008, 10 Comments »

I grabbed a couple of West Wing DVDs to watch on my way to and from Toronto. On my way back, I watched the excellent episode from season two, “Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail”. It’s the second time the show’s creators deploy the Big Block of Cheese Day dramatic device, in which White House senior staff meet with fringe groups that otherwise wouldn’t get their attention. In this scene, C.J. and Josh learn about alternative map projections:

Both the comedic writing and acting are so tight and underplayed–it’s terrific work all around.

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