I grew up in Texas around heavy equipment, construction and a country way of living. I pretty much knew that, and dabbled in a lot of different things. I work as an equipment operator and truck driver full time, and as a knife maker full time, at pretty much the same time!

What got me into this thing goes like this. Probably around 2012, when my kid came home one day talking about seeing a rasp knife and wanted to make one, I thought it’d be cool to try our hand at it.

We built a makeshift fire in the back yard to heat treat it, and it was mostly made with an angle grinder otherwise. He really loved that knife, and I loved making it with him.

I think that struck a spark for me of pursuing knife making as a hobby, and that led to buying a 1x30 cheap belt sander, which eventually burned out, got replaced with another motor, and it worked for me some more while I learned the craft. Of course, I eventually invested in a 2x72 and other equipment to help me produce a better knife, and I’m always looking for the right tooling to give me an edge.

I’d been making fixed blades for maybe 8 years when I kind of got bored with it, let it sit awhile. Then came back trying to teach myself pocket knives in 2020, specifically slipjoints.

I started learning on whatever I could find online, and watched a lot of Chris Crawford’s DVDs and videos. I got the mechanics down, but didn’t really improve past that, and plateaued until I spent some time with a great slipjoint maker in South Texas named Stanley Buzek. He taught me how to make knives the way he did, and it made me look at the entire ordeal differently. He’d point out elements of the process and details I was overlooking, the mechanics, aesthetic, stuff like that. It sent me on a path of pursuing refining the small details, which has led me to where I’m at now - constantly pushing for attention to detail.

I love using CPM-154 for stainless blades, A2 for high carbon, and REALLY like working with damasteel as my damascus. I work a lot with bone, stag and mammoth because those are materials are part of my own aesthetic.

I never really intended for knife making to turn into what it has become for me. Maybe it’s gotten a little out of hand, but I really am passionate about, and love knives and knife making. It’s led me down a lot of interesting roads.