Talkeetna Knife Shop
I mentioned during my last entry my buddy and I traveled to Alaska for vacation with our college friends. Well, two years ago only three of us had traveled to Alaska. We ended up in Talkeetna one day and found this really neat farmer's market-esque gathering of canopy tents - Alaskan Mountain Traders. The stand we were interested in had handmade forged knives. These knives were really sweet, but being fresh college graduates, we were all still pretty broke. We promised the stand owner we would be back in a few years to purchase a knife, and on Wednesday 2026-05-27 we made good on that promise.
One of our days in Alaska for this big group was a trip to Talkeetna to hike Thunderbird Falls trail, Reflections Lake, and end up in Talkeetna. We stayed at an airbnb that had a sauna and DSL internet. What more could you ask for?!
After settling in at the airbnb, we went into town to grab dinner. Before dinner, I was more focused on heading to the little farmer's market at the end of the street. I talked to one of the sons of the shop owner, and he explained the different use cases for the different styles of knives, and recommended some knives for me based on my desired use case (mainly cooking).
I ended up purchasing a Serbian chef knife, a generic chef knife, and a smaller knife that was a bit unique. The son said the smaller knife didn't really have a definitive category, but he said people liked using them for smaller kitchen jobs. The shape intrigued me and I wanted to buy one, so I did.
Jeff
The shop owner's name is Jeff Owens, and he stamps the knives with his logo - an O with a J inside of it - and the location - Talkeetna, AK.
Knife Composition
From their website, the knife blades are made of 5160 high carbon spring steel, and the handles are made from either moose bone or an exotic hardwood. My knives' handles are made from moose bones and cocobolo wood.
Knife Maintenance
When Jeff's son was finishing the prep on my knives (they had to be sharpened and greased), he explained the basic maintenance. For daily use, washing, drying and then greasing of the knives will ensure longevity. He said any food grade grease would work well, but mentioned he was greasing the knives with bacon grease. He did explicitly say to not use seed oils. It sounds like maintenance of the knives will be the same as my cast iron skillets.
When wanting to sharpen the knives, I can use any normal knife sharpening process that I would use for other commercial knives. If I want to take them to a sharpener, Jeff's son said to tell the shop to sharpen to a 20-25ยบ angle.
Venison cut with generic chef knife:
This post was written in the Anchorage, Alaska airport and while on the American Airlines flight from ANC (Anchorage) to ORD (Chicago).
Edit 2026-06-09: add pictures of stamped knives, my two smaller knives, and venison