After years of experience behind the kitchens, Thierry Garapon had the opportunity to see them, to use them, and sometimes to rail against more or less sharp knives. He has a keen eye, of course, on these blades which sometimes give professionals a hard time in the kitchen. Today, his idea is to offer his services in roaming, in the metropolitan area. On the markets but not only. L’Affuteur Dauphinois is the name of his mobile shop. An old profession, but a need and an idea very much in tune with the times.
France Bleu Isère: Sharpener, how did it come to you?
Me, I’m a former cook, so I’ve always used blades, knives. My father gave them to me so I learned by watching him do it and so it made me want to always have very sharp blades to work with. It is more working comfort, less and less danger. Despite what you may think, when it cuts, it’s less dangerous.
It’s amazing. We don’t necessarily have that idea in mind, on the contrary. A knife that cuts very hard… we think you shouldn’t go near it.
No, precisely, we force on, let’s say, an onion. When the onion flies away… well… under the blade, there remains… the finger! So, if it cuts right away and without forcing, it’s good. No cut.
And the idea of making it an activity, of making it your business, your full-time job.
Well, it’s a bit of a turn in a career. I have a profession that is somewhat forgotten, I think, because they have merchants. I realize that yes, it exists. You can do it right away. It pleases. I’ve been thinking about it for a very long time. After a discussion with my father-in-law also, who told me that I would see him do that. Then afterwards, it was running through my head and I inquired where there was a school. So I did the training, so a school, the FCTVA, the only certifying school in France, even for me, even if I thought I knew. I learned a lot about angles and pressure. What a demanding, precision job. It takes training.
What are outlets? For a traveling grinder like you, can we imagine the markets? Not only?
I do a few markets, actually. Otherwise, my core business, I would like it to be more focused on professionals, so catering, restaurateurs, caterers, hairdressers. They are used to changing their material when it suits them more. So I have to do a lot of educational work. I am here now to trust me and your scissors will have a new, maybe two, three lives.
It’s completely in tune with the times I ask to reuse to reassign a tool that we thought was downgraded.
An ecological approach? To avoid waste, yes it’s always a drop more that we can bring to avoid making waste. A good knife can last. It can be sharpened for a long time. When a person has a knife well in hand, why change it if it is fine?
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