Hosted at STEELPORT’s Portland factory space (NE 36th and Sandy Blvd), every student will be provided with the sharpening equipment and practice knives to use during class. Students are welcome to bring their own kitchen knives from home if they’d like suggestions from Eytan for best sharpening practices specific to their knives. Every student will progress at a different pace and some might be able to sharpen their personal knives while in class. The focus of this class is for culinary knives but the skills acquired can be applied to any other edged tool.

This class is taught by STEELPORT Knife Co.’s Bladesmith and Co-founder, Eytan Zias. In addition to knife making, Eytan has been working as a professional sharpener for the past 15 years with a focus on hand sharpening Japanese and high-end Western culinary knives by waterstone – but also including high volume commercial kitchen knives, hunting and outdoor knives, kitchen tools such as mandoline blades, straight razors, and shears ranging from craft and barber to convex Japanese salon shears.

Eytan has taught at culinary schools, professional kitchens, and at his shops has held classes for everyone from home cooks to professional chefs and even knife makers. In addition to making and sharpening knives, he is also a trained chef with a culinary degree and 10+ years of experience, so can advise on choosing the proper knife for the task and correct technique if needed.