The California Knifemakers Association cordially invites the general public to join us on April 19th, 2008 from 10AM - 5PM at the Brea Community Center.  

This one day show will be a unique opportunity to observe and purchase some of the finest custom and hand made knives in the good old USA!!

Only custom handmade knives will be presented.  Meet the knife makers themselves.

Addmission and Parking are FREE!  

Cal Knives was formed on 21 Nov 1981 when a group of California knifemakers gathered at Visalia to create a association to try to improve California knifemaking.  The driving force behind the formation was Bob Loveless who used his personal recognition to get the effort started.  

The agreed to goals set forth in the first meeting were:

• TO PROMOTE CALIFORNIA KNIVES AND THEIR MAKERS
• TO HELP CALIFORNIA KNIFEMAKERS IMPROVE THEIR WORK
• AND TO PUT ON A GREAT KNIFE SHOW AT LEAST ONCE EACH YEAR

Red’s specialty is fixed blades, creating his own Damascus and mosaic patterns. In 1995 he became an ABS Journeyman Bladesmith and earned his Mastersmith rating in 1998. He has received numerous awards for his knives including the “Bill Moran Knife of the Year”.

I am a folder maker. While there will always be the occasional fixed blade, folders are my passion. The steels I enjoy working with include CPM154, ATS-34, 440C, S30V, and Stainless Damascus from Devin Thomas.  All of the metal parts on my knives that can be Titanium are Titanium including frames, liners, thumbstuds, bolsters, clips and spacers. Pretty much everything except for the blade.  I often anodize a substantial portion of my titanium, and can get a deep green that few makers succeed at.  As far as handle materials go, I mostly use Carbon fiber, G10, or Micarta.  I use large bronze pivot bushings in all of my folders, and either Nylatron or Bronze washers.  All of my parts are made in-house except the screws. I have an old Bridgeport Mill, an older Logan Lathe (1943), a Hardcore grinder, and various other tools, lots of them made by myself.  I also do all of my own Heat treating in an EvenHeat Oven. 

I began to make handmade knives November 2003. I started out using the stock removal method of blade shaping. My first knife was a little full tang hunter with 6 brass pins holding the scales on.  Needing a better method than using a blow-torch to heat blades for the heat treatment, I built a forge. With a running forge in my shop I quickly went out and purchased a cheap anvil and started forging blades to shape.  I love the freedom forging offers in designing a blade.  There is also much less grinding that has to be done to finish a knife.