NEW Kramer knives vid - nuggets of wisdom and entertainment

SharpByCoop

SharpByCoop

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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In the past six or so years, Bob's work has been the focus of numerous TV bits.

His work has now elevated to the most sought after chef's knives, possibly in the world?

His target market: NOT Custom Knife collectors. They are chefs and food preparers. Non-traditional knife people as we are used to here.

[video=youtube;4x0f2b_0kn0]https://youtu.be/4x0f2b_0kn0[/video]

Anthony Bourdain makes clever repartee with the likeable Kramer. One thing that stuck out to me was how he followed an unorthodox niche/need and did it really well. In the process his renown grew further than he imagined.

I relate: As I describe my photography to new acquaintances, it's nearly the same response: Whodathunk?

Coop
 
Thanks Coop. Loved the video. It was especially neat watching the "phase change" shadow moving across the blade. I'd never seen nor heard of that before. Always fun and interesting to see what Mr. Kramer is up to. Mike
 
While his target market is indeed not custom knife collectors, that does not mean that custom knife collectors haven't taken note.

2ahvfc8.jpg


I met Bob at a seminar he conducted a few years ago, and he explained the journey that brought him to knife forging. Very interesting story.
 
I have never watched any Bourdain shows but this was posted in shoptalk a few days ago and I thought it was pretty good. Bob makes a really nice kitchen knife and has a killer shop!

-Clint
 
The Virginian said:
While his target market is indeed not custom knife collectors, that does not mean that custom knife collectors haven't taken note.

2ahvfc8.jpg


I met Bob at a seminar he conducted a few years ago, and he explained the journey that brought him to knife forging. Very interesting story.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! Congrats on scoring this rare bird.
 
Nice video.

I am not a Bourdain fan. I feel he is a pretentious jerk. But I enjoyed the video.

Bob Kramer seems very genuine, and he and his wife seem like people I would enjoy spending time with.
 
I have known Bob since 1994....sheesh...21 years now....whooo....at the time, he had a crazy Hungarian named Karoly Kovacs working with him....crazy like mess-you-up crazy, not funny-crazy!

Two years ago, Bob and I re-connected at the Seattle Show that Daniel O'Malley and Bill Burke put on.

Hadn't seen him in a while...he says " I owe you a knife, don't I"?(one of the Henckels damascus versions, don't get excited)....I say Bob, you don't OWE me a knife, but you were gonna send one, yeah......he asks for a business card, and sends me one about two weeks later.....and I use it almost daily....it's superb.

Bob Kramer is greatness. He changed the topography of kitchen knives for the whole world, and probably is responsible for single handedly resurrecting the cutlery industry in Japan.....which, as of about 8 years ago was DYING....and is now quite robust......and remains as low-key and chill now as he was 20 years ago.

You can't blow sunshine up his butt, he doesn't have much of an ego in the grand scheme...he just works his ass off and reaps the benefits, and more power to him....may we hope to see more like him!

BTW, Mareko Maumasi worked with Bob Kramer, and if you want a cooking knife that is equally as interesting, but quite a bit less costly, it's a good time to get in on the action:

http://www.maumasifirearts.com/#!about/c161y

Ken, if you own that Kramer knife, it may, in the long run, turn out to be the most valuable one of all, both in terms of performance, and in financial terms....well done!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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What a way to wake up.
Thank you, coop and thank you, Bob.
Bob- lmk if you ever need someone to clean your shop. No charge.
rolf
 
The press that lit Kramer's fire was a New Yorker article "Sharper": http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/11/24/sharper

In it he paid a lot of respect to Richtig. He's also ABS trained, that's where he got his foundation. Does he use the ABS mark on his sole authorship knives?

How did he resurrect the Japanese cutlery industry? It's an old and diverse industry, with a lot more than kitchen knives.
 
brownshoe said:
The press that lit Kramer's fire was a New Yorker article "Sharper": http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/11/24/sharper

In it he paid a lot of respect to Richtig. He's also ABS trained, that's where he got his foundation. Does he use the ABS mark on his sole authorship knives?

How did he resurrect the Japanese cutlery industry? It's an old and diverse industry, with a lot more than kitchen knives.
Click to expand...

Of course it is an old and diverse industry, but also one in trouble. Went to Seki City about 8 years ago, the downtown area itself was basically shuttered.

The "kids" don't want to work that hard in Japan with their hands anymore as a demographic....they want to leave the small towns, finish their education, move to the city(Tokyo mostly, but their are other cities, obviously) and wear suits/business outfits.

Demand from the Western world drives a LOT of business in the Japanese cutlery industry, and orders were drying up. Companies like SOG produce almost all of their product in Taiwand or China now, and all of that work was previously allocated to Japanese companies....this is just a slice, but you get the idea, right?

Ok, so Kramer did a project with Kershaw after Ken Onion.....and right before that he was featured in Cook's Magazine as making the "Best" Chef's knife of the models that were tested. It greatly led to the making of his name as "the Man". With the Kershaw models(which were made in Japan), Sur La Table started having Bob come in for "in store" presentations......This very much raised the profile of the "Quality" Chef's knife to the home cook. People started not batting an eyelid at spending $300.00-$500.00 on a quality knife, and that didn't exist before....Henckles and Wustof were the Kings, and everything else was an also ran....except those knives were really NOT quality comparatively speaking.....so now we have educated consumers looking for quality product...said product coming from Japan and previous companies that were making things like garden implements or scissors because that was what they had orders for were going BACK to making knives because there was a market for them.

The previous market was for "sporting cutlery"....and for Japanese knives, that market has been on the wane mostly because of base pricing and huge competition from China. Since a lot of Western home cook buyers have no problem spending the money, the Japanese have been able to thrive making chef's knives. You see companies like Seattle Cutlery or the Epicurean Edge that are MOSTLY selling Japanese made chef's knives because the knives are flying off of the shelves.

It's a win for everyone.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
brownshoe: Thanks for including that link. I remember a handful of folks giving me torn out copies to read.

STeven: Quite the education and synopsis I got there. Props.

To all: Thanks. I knew you'd like it too.

Coop
 
Good video, and good surrounding info. I'd like for there to be a bit more on the basic heat treatment process for the general public to see, but overall I think it was a pretty darn decent look at custom knife making.
 
Thanks again Coop for the video.
Thanks STeven for the information.
Both, much appreciated. I went to one of those Sur La Table presentations to meet Bob. Had a good time. Learned a bit and met Bob. Seems like a down to earth easily approachable person. Mike
 
SharpByCoop said:
STeven: Quite the education and synopsis I got there. Props.

To all: Thanks. I knew you'd like it too.

Coop
Click to expand...

Coop, my brother.....those of us that have the information, inside scoop and ephemera at the ready do a disservice to the community and frankly someone like Bob Kramer if we don't share it.

You will likely NEVER see a maker like Bob Kramer on BFC tooting his own horn, it's just not the way he rolls....but it is important for people on BFC to know who he is, what he does and what he HAS done.....which is a lot.....and WHILE we are talking about Bob, check out this little nugget on BFC from about 6 years ago:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...mascus-chef-knife?highlight=bob+kramer+levine

There you have a situation where I am NOT bashing anyone but the OP for taking the piss out of Bob's work without discussing it with him offline.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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