Ethan Becker first invited me to come visit his house when I met him at BLADE Show 2015. David had just introduced us, and I felt a bit strange in taking him up on it. Time passed, I got busy with the guide season and the whole parenting thing, and I didn’t follow through.

At this year’s show I was caught unaware when Ethan snuck up behind me, put is arm around my shoulders, and said with a grin, “What happened? You never call, you never write…”

Well, I didn’t make the same mistake twice. Today I made good on Ethan’s invitation and made the short drive down to Vonore, TN and spent a wonderful day talking about knives and food, a little politics, and perusing Ethan’s tremendous collection of knives – or his “reference library” as he refers to it.

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Ethan evaluating the PeachSmith Chimera

We started by having a cup of coffee on his back patio. One of the things I wanted to discuss with him was his mental process when evaluating a new knife. I will break down the process in a later, stand-alone post, but it was fun to show him some of the blades I had brought with me.

Ethan and I share a fondness for the novelist W.E.B. Griffin. My favorite Griffin line is “the mark of another man’s genius is how much you agree with him”. I admit to being quite pleased when Ethan highlighted many of the same points I have made in my reviews or have noticed in the course of my testing.

Some of his observations include…

Peachsmith Chimera:

“talk about a step into the past”, “presents well”,  “a little steep in blade geometry, but not as bad as a lot of modern knives”,”this is quality goods”

LT Wright Canadian Belt Knife:

“the most comfortable Russel I have ever held”, “really nice little bird knife”.

Big Chris Steelhead:

“I like the (teardrop) shape of this handle, this is really comfortable”.

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Big Chris Wolverine:

“People are going to either like or hate the size of this handle…I like it”, “This is a really slicey knife, great balance”.

Will Woods Kraken:

“Interesting handle configuration”, “I like the multiple grip options”, “nice heft”

“A really useful knife” (on the Kim Breed H-1)

Kim Breed H-1:

“This is a really useful knife”

After he had finished his coffee it was Ethan’s turn to play show-and-tell. We made the short walk up to his workshop, which is just one of many locations where his “library” resides.

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Ethan’s workshop

After showing me dozens of blades out in the shop, mostly kukris, parangs, and machetes, we went back to the house where he showed me more still. While I saw plenty of really amazing pieces, it was getting to hold an honest-to-goodness OSS Commando stiletto from WWII that was the biggest treat.

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A WWII OSS stiletto. I’m holding a piece of history.

After spending some more times looking at some more knives stashed in random places throughout the house and at momentos from his extensive travels, Ethan made lunch.

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Ethan made us a fantastic lunch as well.

For those of you who didn’t know, in addition to being a legendary knife designer, Ethan is also the Editor and Co-Author of The Joy of Cooking, one of the most popular cookbooks of all time. We talked some more as he prepared a delicious meal of pan-fried hamburgers with a port and soy-sauce reduction, a cabbage and arugula salad, and a fresh fruit salad for dessert. It was fun to see this other side of Ethan in action.

Ethan is a true Renaissance man, equally at home in the woods or a 5-star kitchen. I am truly honored that I had the opportunity to spend the day with him. The thing is, it is hard to be star-struck around Ethan – he is such a gracious and approachable guy. I left feeling like I spent the day with an old friend. It is a day I will long remember. Thank you Sir.

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