Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
.....literally means "our thing".
Started collecting custom knives in 1985 with the insistent prompting of a very good friend, and took to it like a fish to water
When I got out of the U.S. Navy in very late 1990(three days before Christmas or so), moved to Seattle and became a full-time tattoo artist and a part time college student.
In 1992, the man I was working for in tattooing, Peter A. Stephens agreed to become a partner in a knife business with me. We started doing every gun show in the Western Washington area. We purchased a collection, and made a modest bit of money with it, and moved on to the great Bud K stuff(sarcasm, but we sold the hell out of it), got an account with Matthews Cutlery, Blue Ridge Cutlery and JRS Cutlery....we moved on to become the first Factory authorized dealer in Washington State for Benchmade Knives in 1993(so we were told)....still working every gun show in Western Washington....
By 1994 we were carrying a fair amount of custom knives....by the beginning of 1995 we had Rod Chappel, Keith Coleman, Harold Corby, Frank Dilluvio, Joe Kious, Harvey McBurnette, Corbet Sigman, Ken Steigerwalt....and many others....along with a full service shop on Pike Street, just south of Capitol Hill...by full service, I mean we bought, sold and traded knives, both custom and production, sold books, magazines, maintenance equipment and also sharpened for both individual and industrial customers(restaurants and butcher shops).
In the back of the shop, we made knives on a Harbor Freight bandsaw, a Coote Grinder and other equipement, destroyed knives, threw knives, lived knives and welded for fun( I didn't, isn't fun for me).....drank a lot of beer and had the occasional tryst with the fairer sex....I lived there for a short time myself, as I had nowhere else to go.
We started attending the OKCA show in Eugene, Oregon as tableholders in 1994(had same table for almost 12 years), had a table at a show in Providence, Rhode Island the same year...next year added San Jose and a
HUGE gunshow in Portland, OR....
I moved to Southern California in 1996 and that was the end of the day-to-day High Hat Knives.
Matt Lamey purchased a knife from my other business partner when he was still in the Coast Guard, as an interesting aside of a factoid.
That is my basic middle story, the middle story of my knife life, and mi Cosa Nostra....would be interested in hearing from the rest of you....and what stories you have.....this is our thing.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Started collecting custom knives in 1985 with the insistent prompting of a very good friend, and took to it like a fish to water
When I got out of the U.S. Navy in very late 1990(three days before Christmas or so), moved to Seattle and became a full-time tattoo artist and a part time college student.
In 1992, the man I was working for in tattooing, Peter A. Stephens agreed to become a partner in a knife business with me. We started doing every gun show in the Western Washington area. We purchased a collection, and made a modest bit of money with it, and moved on to the great Bud K stuff(sarcasm, but we sold the hell out of it), got an account with Matthews Cutlery, Blue Ridge Cutlery and JRS Cutlery....we moved on to become the first Factory authorized dealer in Washington State for Benchmade Knives in 1993(so we were told)....still working every gun show in Western Washington....
By 1994 we were carrying a fair amount of custom knives....by the beginning of 1995 we had Rod Chappel, Keith Coleman, Harold Corby, Frank Dilluvio, Joe Kious, Harvey McBurnette, Corbet Sigman, Ken Steigerwalt....and many others....along with a full service shop on Pike Street, just south of Capitol Hill...by full service, I mean we bought, sold and traded knives, both custom and production, sold books, magazines, maintenance equipment and also sharpened for both individual and industrial customers(restaurants and butcher shops).
In the back of the shop, we made knives on a Harbor Freight bandsaw, a Coote Grinder and other equipement, destroyed knives, threw knives, lived knives and welded for fun( I didn't, isn't fun for me).....drank a lot of beer and had the occasional tryst with the fairer sex....I lived there for a short time myself, as I had nowhere else to go.
We started attending the OKCA show in Eugene, Oregon as tableholders in 1994(had same table for almost 12 years), had a table at a show in Providence, Rhode Island the same year...next year added San Jose and a
HUGE gunshow in Portland, OR....
I moved to Southern California in 1996 and that was the end of the day-to-day High Hat Knives.
Matt Lamey purchased a knife from my other business partner when he was still in the Coast Guard, as an interesting aside of a factoid.
That is my basic middle story, the middle story of my knife life, and mi Cosa Nostra....would be interested in hearing from the rest of you....and what stories you have.....this is our thing.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Last edited:
. Was a family business in the 80s'. We made knives in the back of our retail store, welded for money. Had the largest knife selection in Florida, maybe the southeast. Had a dealer account with Mathews also (haven't heard of them since), Smoky Mtn, Case, Kershaw, Buck, Schrade, etc. I used to order 100 yellow handled Case trappers at a time from Mathews...
Thank you.
