My Knifemaking Journey

A little over 10 years ago I made my first knife. It was made with simple tools and was created through the process of tremendous heat which is cooled quickly with a quench to produce a hardened tool. Since that time I have made close to 150 knives. For the first few years I made many different styles of knives, including kitchen knives which were my main interest because my family and I use them daily. I knew I had finally gotten somewhere when my wife finally started using one of them to prepare meals. Since that time I can say that she uses many of my knives, as well as do many other folks, many of them repeat customers.

The first knives I made in 2013 before I had a grinder. All bevels shaped with a file.

I got the idea to make my first knife back in 2013. I’ve always had an interest in recycling materials, from scrap steel to wood to whatever I find around or that is left over. I had some scrap steel and experience in building furniture, along with welding and doing basic metal work. I was looking at ways to recycle the smaller parts of leftover steel and started to turn them into bottles openers. I used flat stock and cut and filed and drilled them into bottle opener shapes. I can’t remember what came first, but at some point I built a crude forge and used it for shaping bottle openers but also the idea to make a knife popped into my head: I think you just need to quench the steel, right? I watched an online knife making video, ordered a piece of high-carbon steel and grabbed my files and that’s when I started and I probably haven’t gone a day without thinking about making knives since! I really like how basic the process is: Just some hot fire and a grinder and you can transform carbon steel into a functional knife. At a basic level it is really that simple.

Some bottle openers I’ve made.

When I started I didn’t know anybody who made knives, nor had I ever seen a handmade knife in person. I searched the internet and found a few pages of makers that had online knife portfolios. I also found a few “how to” videos. One of them by a maker called Trollsky showed how to make a knife with very simple tools. I used the knowledge from those sources to make my first knives. And from that point on I was on a self-taught journey. I bought a grinder and went from there. It was just practice over and over: make something and learn and keep improving. My initial goal was - and still is - 100% function. The knife had to cut well. It might not be the best looking piece. It might have some cosmetic blunders. But it would do the job it needed to. Over time, from observation of other knives and my own, I would see how to improve the design, both in cutting ability and also comfort, weight, balance, finish, and overall composition.

Some of my early kitchen knives still used daily. 7 to 8 years of patina.

At some point I discovered that there was another knifemaker in Raleigh. I searched him out (Duncan Stephenson of Horn & Heel) and talked knife making a handful of times. Specifically he showed me how to build the handle of a hidden tang knife. He had been making knives maybe a little longer than me and definitely produced more than I had. He had a good run making EDCs (everyday carry) and chef knives for many folks in Raleigh before he moved to Nashville, where he continues to focus on making amazing chef knives.

I finally felt good enough about my knives to give them to family members and to a few chefs around town. I got good feedback and continued to try to make improvments. Since around 2018 I started selling my knives at a holiday market and by word of mouth. My reach hasn’t been very far out of my social circle and the local markets, but I have had nothing but positive responses and many repeat customers. And the great thing about getting knives in more hands is that you get more feedback about performance, you get to maintain them and sharpen them, and see how they stand up over long periods of time under many types of use. I always ask folks about the knives they got from me and how they are doing!

Some of my latest kitchen knives made 2023-2024.

The fact that folks to this day tell me that my knife is the only knife they use, or that it’s their favorite, has me feeling good about my knives, but I had never had the feedback of a professional knifemaker until recently. In 2023 I signed up for a 4-day forging class with master bladesmith Jason Knight. The focus of the class was forging with power equipment, but on the first day of the class he asked if anybody had knife making experience and if they had brought any knives. I showed him a few of my knives and while he didn’t go into much detail, he remarked that all my blades had good blade geometry. I’m sure there may have been other things he could have spoken about, but for a functional knife, the blade geometry being good is a major key to the performance. Getting even this small nugget of validation from a master meant a lot to me. I had always felt that my knives performed well and the blades were profiled appropriately, but it helps to hear it from a well respected maker who has made knives for over 30 years. My second meeting with a master was at the Blade Show in Atlanta in June 2024. I signed up for a knife critique with master bladesmith Bob Kramer. Bob has spent a career, first working in kitchens, then sharpening chef knives professionally, then making professional chef knives for the last 40 years. He’s one of the most respected makers of kitchen knives in the world. I presented him with a recently made kitchen knife, one from my Moby Dick series: PEQUOD. Bob remarked that on all counts, from the blade geometry, to the handle, to finish, that it was a really good knife. He pointed out a few improvements he thought I could make. He has a no-nonsense functional approach to kitchen knives, and considers them a consumable product, preferring a flat-grind due to the ability to re-sharpen over and over until there is no knife left! This comes from his experience as a professional sharpener and from many hours using knives in commercial kitchens. I was lucky to have a handful of other makers review my knife at the bladeshow, and they all gave positive reviews. And I asked for honest feedback.

Some camp knives I’ve made recently.

I’m excited to continue on my journey, to continue to learn, and to get my knives into more people’s hands.