For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with sharp objects. I received my first pocketknife from my grandfather at the age of 5; my mother thought that this was a bad idea. From then on my obsession grew and I became a collector of knives. Being new at collecting knives, I wanted almost anything I found. After a few years of this I started to become more selective of the type of knives that I wanted to collect. Eventually I became very picky about what I collected and the really nice knives that I wanted, I could not afford. So I decided to make a knife for myself.
The only thing that I could find to make a suitable knife for myself was one of my mothers old kitchen knives. I filed and ground and cut and filed some more and what I ended up with was pretty crude, but it was my first knife. From then on I found that I could make a knife any shape that I wanted, and any style, although now my mother was missing a few more kitchen knives.
At this point my parents were convinced that something was psychologically wrong with me, their son had a fascination with knives. I tried to explain to them that people made knives as a hobby, but this did not really help. I then took my parents to a local knife show to try and change their minds.
I was able to show my parents that there was a whole room full of people who made, bought, sold and traded knives. I showed them knives that were selling from $15 dollars up to $3000. This opened their eyes to the world of knife making. The knife show that we attended was in November of 1993 and that year I received some power tools for Christmas. From then on, I was constantly making new knives and each one was better than the last and I learned something new with each one.
I am 26 years old now, and have been making knives for the past 9 years. For the past 2 years I have been concentrating on making folding knives which is a lot more difficult, and challenging. Over this short period of time I have developed my own unique style and methods of making knives. My artistic talents have grown and expanded and continue to do so. I have started to work with exotic materials like pearls, ivories and forged steels, which made my knives even more beautiful. Everything I know I have taught myself, both from reading and trial and error.
I wouldn't call myself a savant, but I can make any kind of knife I want. When it comes to filework I don't have to draw up a design, or lay it out, I just do it. I know what I want it to look like and it's done. I can draw a knife up on paper and have it come out exactly the same size in steel. I can't draw to save my life, not even a tree but I can design knives with flowing lines, and I have an eye for form, and function.
