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Valerian Skopczynski. The Cutlery Specialist, Montreal.
So, I had the pleasure of purchasing a bunch of straight razors locally from a gentleman in Montreal. Two Puma 91’s in 6/8 and two World-Masters 177’s in 5/8. I kept one of each for myself and sold the other two.
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The razors were new old stock from a now defunct cutlery shop called “The Cutlery Specialist” located at 1241 Bleury on the corner of St Catherine street in Montreal’s Entertainment district. It now appears to be a vacant lot. The owner was his godfather, Valerian Skopczynski, a master cutler who learned the trade in Germany.
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According to his godson, he would sharpen knives and razors the traditional way, and was praised for the quality of his work. He was able to put on a great edge without grinding off too much metal. This gave him an edge over the competition.
He was very experienced with straight razors and would regularly hone razors for customers, including the factory edges which were not always shave-ready.
Sadly, I never visited his shop before it closed in 2000. He passed away on June 4th, 2001 at age 92.
Here is a newspaper article about his business as appeared in the Montreal Gazette in March 25th, 2000.
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Valerian Skopczynski (right) has been running his cutlery shop with (from left) son-in-law Czeslaw Bobko, daughter Eleonora and wife Ursula.
End of the Daily Grind
At 90, European-trained cutler Valerian Skopczynski is calling it quits
SARAH DOUGHERTY The Gazette
Valerian Skopczynski's business gives new meaning to the expression "old economy" On a frayed stretch of Bleury St. below Ste. Catherine St. W, his store shares a faded awning with the sex shop next door. Inside, an old-style upright cash register presides over a collection of glass cases filled with knives, scissors and obscure-looking tools.
But the plain look of The Cutlery Specialist hasn't deterred loyal customers from coming back for years.
Skopczynski, now 90, is one of the few remaining craftsmen trained in the European master-apprentice tradition as a cutler - a specialist in making and maintaining cutting instruments of all sorts.
His training enables him to work on specialized tools that larger competitors can't handle - and make customized knives from scratch.
But his customers, who include chefs, barbers, horse-groomers, manicurists, tailors, carpet-cutters and furriers, will soon have to entrust their treasured instruments to someone else.
Skopczynski suffers from diabetes. He comes to the shop only occasionally with his wife of 66 years, Ursula. His son-in-law, Czeslaw Bobko, who is 64, has taken over the cutlery work. Daughter Eleonora Bobko, 61, mans the cash and assists customers. Czeslaw's brother also helps out.
MIGHT CLOSE
The store's lease expires at the end of April and Eleonora says it may be time to call it quits.
"We do not know if we can continue at another location," Eleonora said. "My father is ill and Czeslaw may be ready to retire, so it might be a good thing to close."
Word has begun to spread among customers that the store is closing and they've been coming in all week to get things sharpened and restored. Czeslaw spends time with several of them, showing them how to use a stone to keep their knives sharp.
"It's very sad to see it go," said Sylvain Wagner, a chef from the Casa Blanca restaurant, across the street. "I bought my first knife for chef's school here 15 years ago."
"Customers who are now gray-haired have been coming in, saying they remember coming here as teenagers," Eleonora said.
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Skopczynski checks knife's edge.
Skopczynski didn't always have such a large clientele or varied inventory. A war refugee from Europe, he started off 50 years ago in a store around the corner with just six scissors.
Skopczynski learned his trade helping in his father's cutlery workshop, where he swept the floor and observed his father at work.
At 16, he started apprenticing elsewhere in Austria and in Romania.
At 21, he received his master-cutler diploma. He then started his own store in Romania, but it was confiscated by Russian troops during World War II. The second store he set up, in Stuttgart, was confiscated by the German army.
At that point, Skopczynski decided to get out of Europe. He fled with his wife and three daughters, the youngest of whom was born in the woods outside Berlin as bombs fell on the city.
He came to Montreal, settling initially in Point St. Charles and later in Snowdon and Notre Dame de Grace, where he still lives.
"When my father first started out in Montreal, people used to throw their implements out when they got dull," Eleonora said. "So he would go and visit them and showed how he could sharpen and restore them."
Skopczynski managed to get sharpening wheels shipped by boat from Germany. And more scissors.
He now has rose-cutting scissors, carpeting scissors, paper-cutting scissors, pinking shears, material cutters, surgical scissors, buttonhole scissors, cigar scissors (for nipping the ends off Cuban rolled cigars), manicure scissors, barber's thinning scissors and factory scissors.
Czeslaw shows how scissors must be taken apart to properly sharpen them. He selects the right type of grinding wheel, one of the nine original wheels imported from Germany, now completely blackened from tailings and dust.
He adjusts a makeshift, tin-can watering system to keep the wheel moist as it turns.
He lightly touches the blade to the wheel, moving from the wide to the tapered end. Czeslaw then moves to the polishing wheel, which is covered with a buffered pad and conditioned periodically with oil.
The two scissor blades are then carefully screwed back together.
"Customers often come in in desperation after having gone to a larger commercial sharpening store," Eleonora said. "Too much of the blade has been ground away and the whole instrument has to be restored."
SIX DAYS A WEEK
The family says that once they were established in Montreal, there was never any lack of business. The shop has been open six days a week since 1952.
In all that time, Skopczynski and his wife have taken only one vacation. His children chipped in and sent the couple to Rome, where they had a group audience with the pope at the Vatican. Since Polish is one of the nine languages Skopczynski speaks, he was able to chat briefly with the pope.
Skopczynski claims that his competitors in the sharpening business just don't have the expertise to do the kind of refined work he does.
Those competitors, who include so-called gypsy grinders who travel around in trucks, would dispute that claim.
Bertoldi's, on St. Laurent Blvd., has been in the sharpening business in Montreal since 1902.
"Our equipment is more modern and faster," said Gino Bertoldi. "Mr. Skopczynski uses the old method."
Over the next few weeks, the Skopczynskis will sell as much of their inventory as possible. Skopczynski is still getting used to the idea of not having the store.
"I've worked for 75 years," he said. "It's what I like doing, so the closing does not feel good, but what can I do? I'm 90."
