We have a handful of makers to thank for sharing their knowledge and experience around the topic of knife making. The importance of this is to admit we did not discover this on our own and we want to give credit where credit is due. Without them, we would not be where we are today on this incredible journey. The following is a list of people who have influenced and inspired us. Simply scroll further down this page or select a name below to find out our biggest take-a-ways from that maker with links to learn more yourself. We do not collect payment of any kind from these makers.
Don Nguyen Knives
Kippington Blades
Dr Larrin Thomas
Japanese Knife Imports
UK Bladeshow
Nick Wheeler Blades
Knife Talk Podcast
Simple Little Life
Red Beard Ops
Sacco Knives
Don Nguyen Knives
Website YouTube Facebook Instagram
Don Nguyen is a maker in Tucson, AZ. He is on a relentless pursuit of perfection with an insane attention to detail in his chef knives. Our biggest take away from him is implementing a simpler version of his shield cut WA knife handle to our design. His YouTube channel is packed with information. We learned a lot about convex blade geometry, how to utilize a push stick while grinding blades, and much more. He isn’t afraid to show his mistakes and how he learned from them. Thank you Don sharing your process.
Kippington Blades
Jules Kippington is a maker out of Melbourne, Australia. He has come up with a very unique approach to how he grinds his chef knives which he describes in full on Kitchen Knife Forums. The foundation for our blade geometry stems directly from his process. Thank you Jules for sharing what you’ve discovered with the knife making community.
Dr Larrin Thomas
Book: Knife Engineering Website YouTube
Dr Larrin Thomas began learning about knife making from his father, Devin Thomas, at a very young age. His interest in this topic never left him as he pursued his PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. Although his day job is developing steels for the automotive industry, his love for knife making has never dwindled as he still makes knives himself. His book, Knife Engineering, is considered the “Bible” by many in regards to learning and implementing heat treating to various types of knife steels from the most complex stainlesses to the most basic carbon steels. It is written very well and in such a way you don’t need a degree in metallurgy to understand. Thank you Dr Thomas for this invaluable source.
Japanese Knife Imports
Jon and his wife Sara own and run Japanese Knife Imports located in Beverly Hills, California. They have made it their goal to meet directly with small makers in Japan and make their quality knives and sharpening supplies available to us in the United States. Jon has provided an incredible playlist on YouTube how to sharpen knives with water stones. This, in and of itself, is where we learned how to sharpen our chef knives. We also are using water stones provided directly by him for our sharpening process. Jon is a great resource and encourages people to contact him directly through his website before purchasing to make sure you get products catered directly for you.
UK Bladeshow
UK Bladeshow is comprised of many great makers across the UK and Ireland and is excellent resource for knife makers. We have learned many things from their YouTube channel. One we are inspired by most is by Tobias Hangler title “Never Free Hand Grind Again”. This video completely changed how we grind our “C” and “S” ground blades. Thank you UK Bladeshow for all the information you have provided and continue to provide.
Nick Wheeler Blades
Nick Wheeler is one of the Godfathers of knife making related content on YouTube. Although some of his videos date back to 2014 they are as relevant today as ever. Our big takeaways from Nick Wheeler are learning about creating an even hand-sanded finish on blades, getting crisp clean plunge lines, and how to make some of the tools to help achieve both of those things. Thank you Mr. Wheeler.
Knife Talk Podcast
Knife talk podcast was created by Craig Lockwood of Chop Knives in 2017. It started as an interview podcast where Craig talked to a different maker every week. After about a year, Craig brought on two other co-hosts which were Geoff Feder of Feder Knives and Mareko Maumasi of Maumasi Fire Arts. At that point, the podcast took on more of a discussion role on various topics and answered questions submitted by knife makers around the world. The Trio is still at it today, releasing a new podcast every Monday. We can’t even count all the different tips and tricks we have learned throughout the years listening to these guys. Thank you so much Craig, Geoff, and Mareko for all the time you have dedicated to educating and entertaining the knife making community.
Simple Little Life
Jeremy of Simple Little Life resides in Calgary, Alberta. He has a great presence on YouTube as well as on social media and his podcast, Simple Little Life. His YouTube videos are very well done and easy to stay engaged. Our big take aways from Jeremy are how to lay out a WA handle for grinding and how to use the dowel method to glue up handles. Thank you Jeremy for all the time you have spent creating great content for knife makers.
Red Beard Ops
James Keeton of Red Beard Ops currently resides in Texas. Although he is a great knife maker we are most inspired by his tool making videos. We have used his videos on YouTube to make our tempering oven temperature control unit as well as our etching machine for etching our logo on our blades. He has done many more of these build along videos as well and I’m sure we will be referencing more of them in the future. Thank you James for providing an alternative way to acquire quality equipment at a discounted cost.
Sacco Knives
Julian Sacco lives lives in Toronto, Canada and has been a full-time knife maker since 2017. The number one thing we have learned from Julian through his YouTube channel, is using a different approach to add convexity to our blades. He has many other informative videos about knife making and can be found on Instagram as well. Thank you Julian for providing good knife making content available to the public at no charge.