Good Robert Erickson is a fantastic maker

I have never had a custom anything made for me. I've had stuff tailored and modified to suit my tasted but nothing from the ground up. I followed the custom kitchen knife for sale forum for quite a while always eyeing the custom pieces made there and sold. I have nice kitchen knives but I wanted something that felt magical to use.
I cook almost every single meal for my family. That's saying A LOT during this pandemic. My current set is a combination of Henkel and Tojiro. My Gyuto is a Tojiro and my most often used knife. It's 3 layer clad VG-10 It's super thin and slicey but fragile. I'm sharpening out chips all the time. I asked my wife not to use the VG-10 knives as she tends to be rough on them, enter the Henkels. They are TOUGH knives. The edge retention is meh, but they are stupid easy to sharpen and get really sharp.
I have come to a point in time in my life where I wanted a better chef knife. All the ones I have or had had issues I didn't like. It could be edge geometry, shape or edge retention, I discussed it with my wife and made it clear to the family (very politely) this was not to be used by anyone else. There is a full set of everything else for them to use.

After many knives passed through I reached out to @Robert Erickson as his style really caught my eye. He was awesome in helping me decide what style of chef knife i wanted based on how I like to cut and Made me think about what other knives I have and how they are used. I picked a steel I love and think is suited to my gear in the kitchen. I chose 20CV, as it and it's family, seems to be a perfect stainless for my kitchen. I can't do carbon, there is just too strong of a risk that it gets wet and not treated properly and eventually gets ruined.

After seeing some of Robert's hybrid handles and his craftsmanship I decided I wanted to reach out to him and see what he had to say. He, as I said, walked me through the different types he made. I read up on each style and though about what I have in the block. I decided on french chef in 20CV with a hybrid burl handle. It's exactly what I hoped for. Literally, I have been cutting onions and other veggies better because of the style change and shape benefits. He was awesome to work with, he sought out the materials for my piece, and didn't collect ANY MONEY until after I gave the final sign off. I have read enough custom horror stories to know that bad things can happen if you are asked to pay up from. There was a projected 6 week wait, but it was done quicker than that. I can't recall exactly but it went quick. Now the p0rn:
Hi BF,

 

Wow that is nice. Eventually I'm going to have him make me a boning/filet knife in aeb-l. I keep handling it for no reason in the kitchen.

 

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Eh, it's a kitchen knife, it's gonna lose the finish anyway LOL. Just bust out a non poisonous polish and get to it!

 

I love that cutting board. The purple heartwood really sets off the other colors well!