A good knife is just a sharp knife, no? No, says Joel Bukiewicz, who as Cut Brooklyn makes knives at his storefront shop in Gowanus. He gets poetic. “The stroke of a well-made knife will feel tight and efficient on the cutting board, not mushy and all over the place,” he tells us. “The edge will move with little effort through food of varying size and type: it’ll have the power to easily take apart oversized parsnips, and the finesse for salmon crudo. You’ll be steering, not powering, the knife—you’re taking corners on a Ducati, not slogging uphill on an old Huffy. It’s balanced properly, so that it feels far lighter than it really is. In your hand it’s fast, efficient, and powerful. It’s sexy, and you want to spend more time with it.” Each knife takes 10 to 12 hours to make; he’s asking about $500 each for the two presently available on his website, a high price willing to be paid by both professional cooks and home chefs. “When they’re passionate about their time in the kitchen, they fall in love with great knives,” Bukiewicz tells us. His own passion lies not just in knives but also his neighborhood, where he first set up shop in 2007 because it was close to his sister’s place in Windsor Terrace. “I became part of a community here and fell hard for Gowanus’ hunchbacked charm,” he tells us. “When I needed more room I wasn’t going to leave unless I had to. I’ve been in the storefront on Third Avenue for three years, and it’s an awesome spot—better than I ever imagined I’d have.”
