USA Knife Maker Interviews

Knife making is not a team sport. It’s about an individual gaining skills and experience and putting out a product others can use and enjoy. Knife makers come in all sizes. Some guys are full time and trying to make a living at it, some guys are part time looking to cover shop expenses and make a few extra bucks, other guys make knives for the creative experience and have no desire to build it into a business. There are different levels of skill and experience. I have never met two knife makers that are alike in their approach to knife making. There is a lot of overlap, but they never seem to be exactly the same. It’s an interesting mix. I do know I’d like to meet more knife makers because this activity seems to attract quality people. They share, they help and they are honest, hard working guys.
We thought it would be interesting to build a database of knife maker interviews and pictures of their work for others to see. Our goal is to eventually have hundreds of interviews available here to read. We will publish a new knife maker interview every week, along with pictures of their work and contact information. The interviews to date have been fantastic. I expect that will continue as we peek into the shops of knife makers from around the world and get to know knife makers through these interviews. If you like their work or enjoyed reading their interview, shoot them an email and let them know. Maybe buy one of their knives if they have one to sell.
We hope you enjoy these as much as we do.

-Tracy Mickley

P.S. If you would like to be included in our knife maker interviews collection, send us an email to info.usakms@gmail.com and we will send you the interview document to fill out.


Latest Interviews

Larry is a longtime friend of the USAknifemaker family. He is a Packer Cheese Head but we forgave him over that a long time ago. He is full time management in a beer distributorship and throws around full kegs like they are boxes of feathers. Don’t arm wrestle him. His knives are hard users. He tests them and he passes them out to be used and tested. I’d bet he has given more away than he has sold because that is the kind of guy he is. His most common builds have been g10 scales on a 4” to 5” hunter style blade. He has started to develop his own style and I can more or less recognize his work without seeing his mark now days. That is a nice to see in a maker. If you want to meet a guy that is flat fired up about making good user knives, find Larry. You will enjoy it. View More


Steve Janik is our featured Knife Maker this Week. He is a part time maker that works in spurts. He doesn’t do anything in the knife shop for a while and then puts out several knives in a short time frame. His attention to detail, fit and finish will stand up to anyone’s, anywhere. To give you an idea of what a good guy he is, I met Steve through KnifeDogs.com when we first opened it. We (I did anyway) got a wild hair to have a KnifeDogs booth at the Blade Show. Steve volunteered to help out in the booth the entire weekend. All he charged was a lunch and a couple beers. He wanted a foot rub but he didn’t get it from me. We talk at least once a week on the phone to see who can make the other one laugh more. I am definitely funnier but don’t tell him that. Steve is in the high end custom cabinet business. He also has made several trips to Africa as an accomplished dangerous big game hunter and Safari Club member.View More


Dwane is our inaugural knife maker interview as we launch our weekly knife maker interview series. When I sent out our first set of questions to five knife makers, Dwane had them filled out and turned back in the next day. He apparently is a hard working guy. I am not sure how well these interviews will be received. Time and feedback from you will tell us that. I think we all will find some common ground with every knife maker published in this series of interviews. I can see now these will be less polished and a bit more raw and real than say a magazine style interview. I think it will be a nice change and we can get a better sense of the personality of the person.
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