Shop Visit to Tom Mayo's

Joined
Nov 2, 1999
Messages
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Today I had the great experience of visiting Tom Mayo at his shop in Waialua on the North Shore of Oahu. Right now Tom is a busy guy, with a local gun show coming up this weekend and the Blade Show West coming up the following weekend. I was fortunate that he took some time out of his busy schedule to show me around his shop and talk knives with me for almost two hours.

He showed me a drawer of knives he just finished up. To be honest from the pictures on the web I wasn’t that enthused about the TNT. HOWEVER, seeing them in person definitely changed my feelings toward these knives. His standard models are extremely beefy and well designed. The finish on handles shows great attention to detail. The ones I really liked were the medium sized lightweights. For a college student who would not likely be needing any kind of “hard use” knife, the lightweight versions are perfect. Tom uses slightly thinner Talonite and Titanium stock to construct these knives, and they are significantly slimmer and lighter. The action on these knives is extremely smooth...smoother than my Sebenza which was recently refurbished.

Tom has been making knives for just under twenty years, and those years of experience show in his knives. They are very well thought out, and robustly constructed. His years of experience also show in how sharp his knives are. Tom Mayo knows sharp. He got my Sebenza and Random Task sharper than I thought physically possible. I often read about how sharp Sebenzas are when they leave the CRK shop, and when I got mine I was quite impressed....In comparison Tom does a much better job at sharpening.

If any of you are going to be at the Blade Show West in two weeks make sure you find Tom and handle one of his TNTs. If you’re lucky he might have one left for sale. His knives are very impressive and I’m grateful that he was willing to take some time out of his schedule to let me visit his shop. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to go over and watch him build TNTs.
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~Mitch

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My Hobby Page
 
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thanks for the kind comments...It was a pleasure to have you over Mitch...and you are welcome back anytime....you are one of the few people who come into my shop and dont have to TOUCH everything in sight... it drives me crazy because...although it doesnt look like it...everything is right where I want it to be. And thanks for all the food! It ended up being our dinner last night. Like I said, come back any time. A fond aloha....
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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
I dont know about that Mayo guy. I think I remember reading somewhere that he was/is a Marine! You know how those guys can be! :>) I think I read that about that Onion guy also. Have Ken Onion show you his Steven Segal pictures and tell you about his modeling days! Once a Marine, always a Marine. OOORAH! Semper Fidelis!


"Trample the weak. Hurdle the dead!"

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Danbo, soul brother of Rambo
 
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