After a trip to an artist community near Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the late 70's I decided to try my hand at wood carving.  Didn't have a single tool.  No supplies.  Just a few ideals and pointers some of the generous artisans had shared with me.  So I started practicing with homemade tools and found wood.  It didn't take long before I got bored with birds and flowers. 
     I remembered a fantastic artesian that was doing engraving on custom knives.  Great I thought, but I don't have engraving tools or knowledge.  So I decided to do the next best thing.  I'll do some carving on a knife handle.  The problem was I didn't own a knife with a wooden handle. 
     So...you guessed it. And that's it on the right.  That's how my adventures in knife making started. It's really just a letter opener with a wooden scabbard, but it was fun.

     The carving went away, but I've been making knives pretty much ever since.  I pretty much still make 'um the same way I did back then.  Just a bit more sophisticated technique.  The first real knife I made was 2 weeks before deer season in 1979.  I made it because all the ones I'd bought were junk.  That's it on the left.  Opening day of deer season it was used to skin my 8 pointer taken with a muzzle loader.  Within 3 days I had dressed 2 more with it.  1 for my brother and 1 for a neighbor.  All without sharpening the knife.  Testing complete, I was sold on the ideal I could do this.  I still carry that knife today on every hunting trip. 
     I was also sold on simple, water quench steels that I can heat treat at home.  I flirted with Stainless Steel in the early 80's.  Even sold several made from 440C stainless.  The knife in the second picture is a 440C knife made from that opening day 8 pointer...that was skinned with the knife above it.  How's that for history?
     But SS never delivered results I was happy with.  Now, all my knives are made from W-1, W-2 or one of the high carbon 10** series steels that I can home heat treat.  I've yet to use some of the more exotic oil quench steels, but those are on the way.  They'll be showing up in the gallery before long. 
     I really hope you enjoy my work.  I love making knives.  I think knife making and collecting is still so popular in this electronic age because the real value of a good hand tool is inherited through our genes.  No...I don't mean your grand pappies Lees.  I think on a primal level, all people everywhere understand the value of a good knife. 

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That's my goal.  No wild claims.  Just deliver to you, a tool you can be proud to own, use and pass on to the next generation of sportsman.  It's a time honored tradition that is respected by my wife, my family and me. 

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