About Knife Helper
Hello & Welcome to Knife Helper.
My name is Jamie Smith. A firefighter by profession, seasoned hunter and a cook.
There isn’t a single day I don’t use a knife because I use it to cook food at home, prepare meals for my colleagues at our fire station, perform emergency tasks in my job and of course, hunt with it whenever I get off from my duty.
I created a Knife Helper for those who face difficulties while choosing the right knife, use it properly and maintain it. With my expertise of close to two clades, I’ve been planning to build a platform like this for the past few years and I was able to do it in the initial part of 2026.
My Background & Education
My father has been in the military since I was born and being from Sitka, Alaska, my dad loved wildlife and has been hunting since he was 18 years of age. Whenever he used to come back from the military for a break, which is usually in the spring, he used to go hunting twice a week. His favorite things are big games like black/ brown bears.
When I was 10, my father asked If I wanted to come hunting with him and I said YES. This was the beginning of my hunting journey. When he hunts down big names, he asks me to help him do things like field dressing and skinning that obviously requires a good knife and that’s how my interest in knives began.
For hunting, my father usually kept a fixed-blade knife, to be specific, a bowie knife because he hunts down big games usually. Occasionally, he uses his folders to teach me how to process small game such as rabbits and squirrels. As I began exploring various knives, my interest in it grew further.
Occasionally I would help my mom in the kitchen to learn cooking and try different types of knives such as chef knife, paring knife, serrated knife, boning knife etc.
When I was 11 years, I hunted my first small game, a rabbit and it changed the course of my hunting journey. As I was born in 1996 (after 1986), the state of Alaska requires us to complete hunter education and I completed the course after hunting my first game to enhance my knowledge and get the license easily in future.
As my father comes for a month or two for a year, I convinced my younger brother to come hunting with him during school holidays, usually on the weekends and I slowly moved to other games such as waterfowl, Wolf and Wolverine in the next 3 years.
When I turned 15, I wanted to try big games but Alaska law states that we need a supervisor with a valid licence for that. Luckily, my father came back from the military and he helped me try a big game for the very first time and it was a Brown Bear. With my fixed blade knife, I did field dressing, skinning and quartering. All by myself. That was one of the best feelings of my life at that time.
When I turned 17, I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to spend my time outdoors hunting so I moved to Fairbanks to study A.A.S., Fire Science in the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
At the age of 18, I got the Certificate in Fire Science and got the job in my hometown in the fire department. On the first day of my job, I learnt that we have to cook our own food. I was a bit shocked but it didn’t bother me much because I have already learnt some basic cooking skills with my mom over the past few years.
At that time, I only know a couple of recipes such as:
- Quick Potato Corn Chowder.
- Lamb Stew.
- German Beef Rouladen.
Since then, I’ve used different types of kitchen knives for food preparation at work and home.
Whenever I get a leave during my weekly schedule, I go hunting with my brother who is studying to be a nurse. The same year, I applied for a hunting license and got it easily.
For a decade, I used to go hunting with my brother whenever I got the chance. One fine day, my brother suggested that I join a hunting club because he was about to leave the city for a job in another city. In the next few days, I looked up for a good club and joined one. Most people were similar to my age but they are just starting out their hunting journey. I helped many people in the group clear their doubts and they were impressed with my hunting and blade skills.
One club member, Alex, recommended sharing this knowledge online and creating a blog around it and that’s how Knifehelper was born.
What can you expect from this space?
- I write on various knife types and how to make the most out of it. For example, what is a drop point knife, EDC, Bread knife, Stilettos, Neck knife etc.
- I share the right ways to maintain knives to make it last longer. For example, how to clean a pocket knife, sharpening a pocket or kitchen knife etc.
- How to choose the right knife for specific tasks and utilize them properly. Some examples are, How to choose the chef knife, using the tomato knife or utility knife etc.
Why should you trust me?
I have spent around 17 years in the woods hunting and harvested many small to big games with different blade shapes such as drop point, clip point, Tanto, etc and I know exactly how to make the most of it with these blades.
Whether you are looking for an opinion on a fixed blade or a folder, I’ll make sure you choose the right one and maximize its true potential. I’ve a huge collection of these knives and you’ll be able to see them in the next few days on this blog.
Even though I’ve been cooking occasionally since I was a kid, I’ve been actively cooking meals at our fire station and at home for a little over a decade and used multiple kitchen knives like I mentioned above. I’ve used all kinds of knives made in Japan, Germany, France and many other parts of the world.
Right now, my culinary skills have improved further and I can cook more recipes than most of my colleagues. With my decade of experience with kitchen knives, you can trust me for choosing the right knife for your kitchen and maintaining it the right way.
My Personal
Favorites
From my collection of hundreds of knives, these are some of my favorite ones.
EDC:
- Spyderco Native 5– My Camping Companion
- Spyderco Para 3– Lightweight companion
- Kershaw Bel Air– Premium option
- Benchmade Bugout– Lightweight+ Premium
Kitchen knives
- Victorinox Swiss Classic– Budget-friendly
- WÜSTHOF Classic 8 Inch– Premium All-Rounder
- Shun Classic 8″ Chef’s Knife– Reliable Chef Knife
- WÜSTHOF Gourmet 10– – A complete knife set
Fun Facts About Me
- I’ve collected knives from all shapes and designs for close to two decades that I’ve special place in my kitchen and other storage spaces in my home to keep them safe.
- I go for a walk alone in the woods without any gadgets for an hour every now and then to relax myself from everyday chaos.
- I’m the only one from my school to be a hunter and a knife enthusiast. I boast with them whenever I get the chance. Lol!
- I can cook for my whole team at work alone.
- I like writing and reading a lot (One of the key reasons I started this blog)
- My favorite TV shows are Prison Break, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and of course, The Walking Dead.
- My firefighting job gives me great satisfaction whenever I rescue people from dangers.
- My current favorite guns for hunting are; Sako S20 Hunter and the Ruger American Generation II.
- I’m one of the most experienced hunters in our hunting club and honestly, I’m proud of myself for that.
- I put a lot of effort into creating content on this blog, mostly out of my passion to help others.
- I love my dad so much. Without him, I wouldn’t have known about the world of hunting and knives.
Original Content Written by a real person
Each piece of content on Knife Helper is written by me, a real human being. Each content is written with my two decades experience of using different knives.
Once the content is completed, I make sure to verify any factual data and do other research to ensure everything is authentic and genuine so that I don’t mislead my readers.
In the era of AI, I don’t like generic machine-generated content because it doesn’t have a personal touch that readers relate and trust. On this site, you’ll never find such content, ever. That’s my promise.
Lets connect
You can get connected to Knife Helper on any of these social media platforms:
If you have any questions you would like to ask, send a mail to Jamie at Knifehelper dot com.