CHEF'S
CHOICE - AN AMERICAN SUCCESS - "I am basically an inventor," says
Daniel D. Friel, Sr., "I have tried to apply entrepreneurial and inventing
talents to everything I have done. And I have always wanted whatever I create
to be the very best of its kind."
Friel
founded the EdgeCraft Corporation in 1984. How he built an enterprise, that
in only a few short years has become the world leader in cutting edge technology,
is a true American success story.
As he
neared the end of his 40-year career with the DuPont Company, Friel inventoried
his skills.
"I decided I wasn't going to play golf," Friel says, with
a laugh, of his retirement. Instead, he began constructing a list of possible
second careers and evaluating them in relation to his skills, limitations, required
energy and time, potential for success and compatibility with his family interests.
Always
enthralled by knife sharpening, Friel included in his list the invention of
a truly effective electric knife sharpener that would work on a wide variety
of knives, particularly, fine quality gourmet knives. He rescued a 20-year-old
set of Gerber knives from a closet They were a present from his wife June, and
to his great frustration, he had never been able to put a satisfactory edge
on them.
With fierce determination and a personal deadline of three years
to show himself adequate progress on the project, Friel set to work in a basement
laboratory and then sought the assistance of other professionals. "They
were the nucleus of the EdgeCraft team," recalls Friel. He created thirteen
prototypes before he came up with one that satisfied him. Soon after its introduction,
the Chef'sChoice® Diamond Hone® Sharpener earned the acclaim of food
experts and chefs worldwide, including Pierre Franey, Jacques Pépin and
the late Craig Claiborne.
Friel compares the day he left DuPont to follow his second career
to the day he walked away from Johns Hopkins University after earning a bachelor's
degree in chemical engineering."Unlike the day I left Johns Hopkins, when
I left DuPont I could proceed with the knowledge and confidence gained from
some 40 years of hands-on experience," Friel recalls. "I saw a need
and I had the confidence that I could deliver."
All products
that carry the Chef'sChoice® name reflect EdgeCraft's fundamental commitment
to create the world's best. You can be sure EdgeCraft® products are created
to perform superbly, last a lifetime and be a pleasure to own.
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