James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Kitchen shears usually look and work like ordinary scissors. The only feature that makes them kitchen shears is that they come apart easily for cleaning. This pair of poultry shears from Chef’s Choice beats that old paper-cutting design handily. The 9-Inch Poultry Shears cut meat, skin and gristle, and snip small bones. For the kitchen, this works much better than paper shears.
Built more like surgical tools than scissors, the slender curved high carbon steel blades slip between joints when butchering whole poultry. The all-metal design eliminates most places food bits and bacteria could hide, but for a thorough cleaning, the scissors disassemble and reassemble easily. The spring-loaded handles do provide a little challenge if you haven’t done this before, but with practice, it’s a snap.
The spring keeps the jaws open in the resting position, which makes starting a cut simpler than finishing one. Most manual tools take some getting used to, and your hands may ache the first few times you use these shears. That’s pretty normal for clippers and shears, and the spring does ease the other ache you get from opening shears without that help. The lack of padding makes extended work tougher on the hands, but any rubberized sealer on scissor handles works loose quickly anyway. In the kitchen, that makes cross-contamination a problem — a clean build like this is safer.
One more perk — for safe storage, squeeze the handles together and latch the blades shut with the stainless steel safety catch. It saves fingers as well as blade edges by closing the cutting gap. Store these cutters in the shears slot of your knife block for even better protection.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
The Diamond Edge Pro knife and scissors sharpener from Smith Abrasives combines electric and manual sharpening systems for quick and accurate refurbishing of knives...
Kitchen shears usually look and work like ordinary scissors. The only feature that makes them kitchen shears is that they come apart easily for cleaning. This pair of poultry shears from Chef’s Choice beats that old paper-cutting design handily. The 9-Inch Poultry Shears cut meat, skin and gristle, and snip small bones. For the kitchen, this works much better than paper shears.
