MirrorEdge Introduction
- This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 04/21/2016 at 1:36 am by
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Hello everyone;
My name is Eddie Kinlen (MirrorEdge), I am presently working and living in the GCC country of Qatar in direct support of the United States Military. I have been trying to find the words to introduce myself to the forum for a week now. As for my day Job, I am the Program Manager for the United States Air Force Access control program known as DBIDS in Southwest Asia (The Middle East) -CENTCOM Area of operations).
I am one of four Air Force PM’s globally performing this “Tip of the spear” duty. I have had the privilege and honor of working for and defending the best and brightest men and woman of the U.S. Armed forces in this capacity for 10 years now. I myself, prior to arriving on this post, served 10 years active duty in the profession of arms as a Security Forces specialist (Military Police) K-9 dog handler (Specializing in explosive detection).
I have a wife and two beautiful children who are presently living in Dallas Texas (Where I now call home).
As for my night job, I am presently serving our soldiers, sailors, airman, and marines by keeping them sharp. I sharpen for “free” between 20 and 30 knives per week (only accepting donations when offered) as a service to them for their service to us. Frans, we have Dutch here too. I rub shoulders with your country men and woman on a daily basis I think they arrived just this last year. I have been sharpening steel for what seems like my whole life. I started this journey by earning my “Totin Chip” in boy scouts for those that don’t know what that is, you can read all about it here (http://usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/totinchip.asp) and later earning my Eagle Scout award in 1995 which has a condition and a tradition of service and of giving back. For many of you, this too, may have been the first time you sharpened a knife or learned to wield an axe.
I, like many of you on this forum have a passion for all things “sharp” but as you have read, I have many other passions too. I love bringing all my passions together in one place (Sharpening, Photography, problem solving, computers and technology, videography, Database development and many more).
I have been enjoying my time sharing with you what I have learned on my journey in life and feel it my responsibility to give back a little of what has been given to me (Do onto others as you would have them Do unto you (Luke 6:31)). My only desire is to improve my sharpening product and help others do the same. I have aspirations of making the art of precision knife sharpening a full time job when I leave the Middle East and finally return home.
Oh, I must put a plug in for the WickedEdge… It is by far the best precision hand sharper ever developed by man. Great product Clay. I presently have a used Gen 1 and I am waiting for my new Gen 3 (Field and Sport Pro) to arrive.
I look forward to getting to know all of you and appreciate the warm welcome!
Eddie (MirrorEdge)
Eddie Kinlen
M1rror Edge Sharpening Service, LLC
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Great introduction Eddie, very well written.
As for me, I was born in New Zealand 53 years ago but I was only 6 months old when my parents moved back to the Netherlands. I have had a couple of long relationships but somehow I am a bit of an Einzelgänger. I never got married and have no children. I used to work for a Dutch fasteners and technical supplies wholesale company but unfortunately they were bought by Grainger and I lost my job as part of a reorganization.
We seem to share a number of hobbies like photography (in my case especially 3d stereo photography) computers, technology and of course, sharpening. My interest in sharpening began at the age of 8 when I asked my grandfather to sharpen my pocketknife. At that age you think that your grandfather can do everything but he totally ruined it. From that moment on, I wanted to learn how to properly sharpen a knife. In 1980 or 1981, the Lansky became available in the Netherlands and I immediately bought one and from that moment on, I was addicted to controlled angle sharpening.
For those who are interested… On my Flickr account you can find some of my pictures from a recent trip to NZ as well as (mostly 3d) photos from Dutch historic places. You will need red/cyan 3D glasses to see the 3D photos. https://www.flickr.com/photos/21863881@N05/
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Welcome to the forum, Eddie! Great introduction.
I am already enjoying your contributions a lot, so please do continue.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
1 user thanked author for this post.
Great intro both of you, I suppose I should post mine when I have time… don’t think I ever did years ago! We should make an “intro” thread and everyone can post up exactly the sort of thing Eddie and Frans did 🙂
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I think I already said it, but then I’ll say it again: welcome, too, Frans!
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
1 user thanked author for this post.
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