“Niagara is basically acting as the distributor for all of these players. They have a lot of the know-how and the contact network in the knife industry. They’re the glue that holds everything together and that distributes all of these grades.”

“We basically had one, the only customer for Crucible, and now Erasteel has Niagara for the knife industry. Niagara took the leadership from there. A lot of these grades had fallen by the wayside for Crucible, and all of a sudden somebody wants to make it into a knife – Niagara would find a customer, and we would fill a niche.”

“I could have gone a lot longer on what Niagara means to us, and what they've done for not only us … Bob Shabala and Niagara Specialty Metals are single handedly saving the knife industry right now, and nobody really knows that. With Crucible’s purchase and the transition of steel getting made out of Europe … the ability that Bob put his crew on the balls of their feet, and they started diversifying who they got steel from, and taking care of this broad swath of customers.”

“And they pulled out every stop for us, and they delivered, and they were fabulous, and they've kept us well supplied through all of the drama that Crucible had. They've just totally been there for us and the most amazing friendships created around that.”

“So I know you guys have had a big commitment to the knife industry. Getting steels from other companies is often challenging because a lot of times, they’re sitting around in several-inch-thick pieces. So I think it's awesome that Niagara has been so good. And the reason why we have a lot of these awesome grades is because Niagara is able to roll them and deliver them, at a good pace.”