UPDATE: 12/17/2022 I recently saw a doctor about a wrist problem that suddenly appeared. It is being worked. My time to make knives is coming to an end. I am also planning to get married in the near future to an amazing woman. She rides horseback, shoots rifles and forged a ring for me. How cool is that….
OUR VISION
Knives are more of a rugged type built for use. Knives are designed for actual use and made to be durable and to be used and not in a display case. Dedicated to Knives that are made from the old ways using a forge and hammer. All knives are made out of High Carbon steel. Knives are to be rugged and functional over “pretty”.
I am moving more toward making prototypes and having knives made in Nepal. I will be gearing more toward Design work. I will still continue to make knives on request. The time is here. 2023, virtually all my blades will be made in Nepal. I will still be making blades here for locals as that is more than enough to keep me busy. In some cases, the blades will be made in Nepal and I will do additional work to them here. This will be on the product page for each individual knife. I have assisted in creating the company GhurkhasBlade.com and we have much to show you.
This decision came about from not being able to keep stock. Lower Pricing requested by Customers. My getting a bit long in the tooth (older ). My 2 Apprentices leaving. ( One went away to college and that was a good thing for him. The other started his own business and that is great. Means I did my job), and I need to spend more time with family.
OUR BRAND
Knives By Hand is a knife worth using. We hope that once you receive yours that you hope to go ‘test’ it out in your backyard. These knives are meant to be by your side out in the wilderness and we hope to see you there making new trails.
OUR WORK
We pride ourselves in being called Knives by Hand and we are called that for good reason. All Knives are brought into existence with brute force. We like to think of it not as work, but our daily exercise that happens to put food on the table. We currently have two streams of production at the moment. Me and a few families in Nepal.
Why Nepal? The people of Nepal (Gurhkas) have been fighting by our side in WWII, Vietnam, Afghanistan and various other conflicts. They will begin making my designs for me. This will also allow me to keep costs down and much of the money will go to Gurkha’s that fought beside our soldiers who receive no benefits after service.I will personally be working with Nepal to get these right.
FUTURE
I started this business years ago. I found I could not grow the business with me doing everything – Production, Customer Service, Website, Janitor, etc. In addition, my elbow was starting to show the pains of getting older (it happens). I had 2 apprentices at one time. One has left for college and the other started his own business. This led to looking at companies that could make my knives. I contacted 5 companies inside the USA . The first 3 companies told me “No”, they were not interested. The 4th Company told me “Yes, but they would want 1 million dollars up front” so I said No. The 5th company told me they would make the knives for me, but they would outsource it to China. I decided I could outsource it myself and choose who I wanted to do it. I went with Nepal. Partly because I had contacts there and partly due to Nepal actually fighting with our troops against the Taliban (Google Gurkha beheads Taliban, Gurkha fights 30 Taliban, etc). If a country was going to make my knives, then I wanted a country that stood with our soldiers in combat. I chose Nepal. I always like the Khukuri (khukri) and new they still did it the old ways passed down from Father to Son. The trick is to find the right blacksmiths. I flew out to Nepal and walked for hours everyday visiting the different Kamis. Shared different ideas and techniques. It was an interesting journey. In short, I will still do a few knives, but I will be slowly becoming more of a designer. Long term is to have all my knives made in Nepal of good quality that can be depended upon for survival.
