Meet Troy Bedford. An ex-chef and now the owner of A Wicked Edge Mobile Sharpening, Troy knows his knives. The well-reputed knife sharpener has been a friend of the Koi Knives team for the past 18 months, and like us, appreciates a beautiful and of course, wickedly sharp, knife.
Located just outside of Brisbane, Troy doesn’t work your average 9-5 desk job, with each day taking him to see a range of different places and faces. Many of his days are on the road visiting a wide variety of clients from professional chefs, large businesses, the Gold Coast Casino, to people at home wanting their kitchen knives or tools sharpened.
Troy initially started off providing a dry grind sharpening service, but now does water cooled sharpening. This process involves water running on a belt to keep the steel cool which prevents it from overheating and annealing (softening) the steel. This will cause the knife to become blunt more quickly.
Troy grew up in Bridgeman Downs, about 8km north of Brisbane. After finishing school he began an apprenticeship as a chef. Troy worked as a chef for about 25 years and in that time settled in Alderley with his wife Gillian, where they had their two sons Kyle (now 15) and Cody (now 10).
Troy said working as a chef “had its ups and downs like all trades do.” However, eventually tiring of the “long hours” and “stressful conditions” around bringing up a young family, Troy decided enough was enough. After taking a break from the cooking industry, Troy decided to start up his own sharpening business, specialising in knives, scissors and selected tools.
“It was one of those things,” explained Troy. “I wanted to stay in the game… I didn’t want to throw away the trade, I wanted to stay in the trade.”
Like all new business owners would appreciate, Troy put in a lot of hard work in the early days of starting his own business. Yet it has definitely paid off, with business rolling in steadily, and a much better work/life balance.
“My days are booked out three weeks ahead,” said Troy.
Troy starts his day about 8am, and now finishes in time to pick up his boys from school.
“I go from job to job, pick up my kids from school or music… then I get home and do dinner.
“I have weekends, I can manage my time. Business is good.”
As a well-known knife sharpener in Brisbane, Troy is also a representative for Koi Knives in the Sunshine state, taking a selection of the Japanese style knives with him on his travels.
Troy said his favourite type of Japanese knife was an IO Shen Santoku.
“It’s a good general knife to use and not too big,” he said.
“But I find myself using the Koi Petty knife and Gyuto more often.”
An experienced chef, Troy said he would often use the Koi Knives Petty knife for general food preparation, but his favourite in the Japanese knives range would be the Gyuto.
Both good ‘all-rounder’ knives in the kitchen, they would certainly suit the diversity of dishes Troy said he enjoyed cooking.
“I like variety, I get bored if I’m not doing different things,” he said.
To get in contact with Troy visit www.awickededge.com.au or see what he’s up to by following him on Instagram @awickededge
