Knifemaking

When established knifemaker Lee Williams met Donna, little did he know that he had a future knifemaker on his hands!

As husband and wife, Lee and Donna Williams collaborate on the usual things, like what’s for dinner or where to go on vacation. So why not team up on making knives?

When Lee, already an established knifemaker with a large collector base, met Donna, little did he know that he had a future knifemaker on his hands, or a beautiful and devoted wife!

In a feature article titled “Mr. and Mrs. Sharp” in the June 2015 issue of BLADE®, writer Pat Covert tells Lee and Donna’s story and shows some of the knives Lee has fashioned recently on his own, and collaborative pieces the couple has made together before and after marrying in July of 2014.

As Lee notes, “I started making knives in 2001. I had set up a small machine shop in my garage around 1996,” he recalls. “In November of 2001 I decided to make knives for my siblings as Christmas presents. Twenty-something knives later I had managed to finish knives for all of them, plus their spouses, before Christmas that year. I wasn’t completely satisfied with those first few knives and started doing a lot of research on the Internet.”

To read the rest of the story, see the June 2015 issue of BLADE. Or click here to subscribe.

The Cherub (above right) is a result of the first collaboration between Donna and Lee Williams as a married couple. (Steel Addiction Custom Knives image)

Recommended for You:

Making Tactical Fixed Blades DVD

Learn both basic and advanced knife making techniques with expert instruction from Allen Alishewitz in Tactical Fixed Blades. Allen demonstrates how to craft a double-edged tactical fixed blade knife from start to finish, and creates two knives in order to fully illustrate the knife building process. You’ll learn:

– Profiling and Drilling the Knife
– Tang Tapering on a Grinder
– Tang Tapering on a Mill
– And more!

Order here

Good for the Topeka Capital-Journal and journalist Carolyn Kaberline for covering the “Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium,” which took place in Kansas this past October and is sponsored by the American Bladesmith Society (ABS) and the Kansas Custom Knifemakers Association.

(Carolyn Kaberline photo)

One of 10 ABS Hammer-Ins and events across the country, the Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium included demonstrations by renowned steel makers and knifemakers like Jerry Rados and Steve Culver, who conducted demonstrations covering such subjects as damascus pattern makng, tomahawk forging, creating wood-lined sheaths, applying metallurgical theory, ABS journeyman smith judging standards, and even a knife photography segment taught by Caleb Royer.

Click here to read the full story.

For more knifemaking how-to, click here.

It’s always nice when mainstream media, in this case the Philadelphia Daily News, covers a local knifemaker and the knives he creates. Such was the case recently, July 24, 2014, when philly.com ran a story titled “Brewerytown Knifemaker’s On Point With His BiltSharp Products,” about knifemaker Adam Balkovic of BiltSharp Manufacturing Co.

Drew Lazor, writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, starts out:

Look at the pieces Balkovic, a native of the small York County town of Dillsburg, produces with his bare hands, and it’s easy to assume he’s been at the craft for years, apprenticing under an experienced blacksmith, or maybe an elderly Japanese blademaker.

But while the work screams veteran craftsman, Balkovic has been at this for only a few years and is entirely self-taught. Right now, in his inventory there’s a nearly foot-long chef’s knife, made from raw, military-grade 52100 carbon steel and mounted on a gorgeous polished handle of rare Southeast Asian amboyna burl. There’s a one-of-a-kind hunter’s blade … Click here to read the rest of the story.            Click here to see more quality cutlery.

Recommended

Knives 2014, 34th Edition
By Joe Kertzman, Editor

Knives 2014 provides the types of knives they make, technical information, and embellishments like engraving, scrimshaw, jewel inlay, wire inlay, carving, sculpting and etching.

Learn more
Buy now

Can you think of two more enjoyable hobbies than making knives and playing guitar? Maybe suntanning or oyster eating, but aside from that … It never ceases to amaze me that, being the Editor of the KNIVES annual book, which includes a Custom Knifemaker Directory of 2,200 makers fashioning knives by hand, I still come across knifemakers in the news who I’ve never heard or known about.

Such is the case with Mike Naylor, a knifemaker, guitar player and all-around interesting guy from Alabama, who, among other edged tools and weapons, makes hog-hunting knives for Alabamans. His full story, including how he has made knives for movie stars Sam Elliott and Tommy Lee Jones, was written by Suzy Lowry Geno, and first ran in the Alabama Farmers Co-Op’s “Cooperative Farming News,” (Alabama Farmers Co-Op photo) www.alafarmnews.com.

From the article:

“I’ve never taken any kind of class in this,” Mike explained. “God has just blessed me with this gift and I work by trial and error. A lot of times I get an idea and just make a knife from that. But many, many, many other times I do custom work. And ‘custom’ covers a lot.”

Click here to read the full story.

Click here for more knives suitable for hog hunting and other outdoors activities.