A knife made by Grohmann Knives of Nova Scotia. (Jimmy Limit for Report on Business magazine)
Grohmann Knives
Pictou, Nova Scotia
When Deane Russell was the private
secretary to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King back in the late
1940s, he set out to buy a truly Canadian knife—but couldn’t find one.
Undaunted, he ran an advertisement, hoping one would turn up. A response
came in from Berta Babinec, whose father, Rudolph Grohmann, had been a
famous craftsman in their homeland—the Sudetenland, a region of what was
then Czechoslovakia. Her dad, she told Russell, would be the ideal
choice to make his knife.
The Grohmann family had come to Canada after a
Quebec retailer—tired of traveling across the ocean to buy pocket
knives—persuaded Rudolph to move his shop to Canada. The family settled
in Nova Scotia. Russell hooked up with Grohmann, and the pair consulted
with hunters in the field to create four D.H. Russell Belt Knives.
Grohmann’s current Original Design Knife is descended from these early
creations: an elliptical “leaf” shape and classic rosewood handle, brass
rivets and high-carbon stainless steel blade. Hunters say it’s perfect
for gutting, skinning and caping (preparing a trophy head for mounting).
The company—which also designs kitchen blades—has remained steadfastly
in Pictou. While president Mike Babinec admits it can be a challenge to
find craftspeople and suppliers in the company’s small-town location, he
has no plans to decamp from their picturesque spot, overlooking a
serene harbour. The pros, he says, outweigh the cons—and the former
include the pride of being a Canadian manufacturer, the pleasure of
maintaining close local connections with friends and family, and the fun
of sharing their craft with thousands who come across on the ferry for
the factory tour. /T.J.
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