6 Custom Knife Makers Behind the Brands You Know

Whether you’re a serious knife aficionado or you put your knives to serious work every day, chances are you have a keen respect for custom-made knives and the makers behind them. Many custom knives are not only rugged, effective, long-lasting, and made from high quality materials, but they can also have amazing appearances. Some knives look almost too beautiful to use, but their makers assure you that’s exactly what you should do.

Custom Knife Makers

There are a number of experts bringing custom high quality knives to market these days, but here are six who have established brands a cut above the rest. Each of these professionals has a story to tell, and has delivered consistent quality and established a stellar reputation in the industry.

Anthony Marfione

Anthony Marfione brought his first knives to market in 1994 with the introduction of the UDT. Just a year earlier, he had been creating the prototypes in his Florida apartment. His custom knives took off overnight and, by 1995, he had introduced the HALO, which captured the cover of Fighting Knives magazine.

His Microtech Marfione custom knives have been racking up awards and recognition ever since. The Marifone Socom Delta manual folder won American Made Knife of the Year at the 2012 BLADE show. The Marifone Custom Knives line is his specialty.

Marisa and Mick Strider

Mick Strider never set out to own a knife making company. He simply wanted to “renew the lost art of the blade.” Mick’s initial goal was to put high quality tactical knives in the hands of military combatants. He has grown to be an innovative leader in folders with the strength of fixed blades.

Having achieved every goal he ever set in custom knives, he continues to focus on the art of the blade. His wife Marisa Strider is a custom knife maker in her own right. One of the couple’s specialties is stunning custom knives made from Damascus steel that they forge themselves.

Peter Martin

Peter Martin probably makes the most interesting knives you’ll ever see. Although he has made and still sells folders, fixed blade, tacticals, and ICBM knives, his specialty is that of art knives. He often wins awards for his Bug and Steampunk knives. In all, he’s won over 25 awards since 1996, including a “Best Handmade Award – Fantasy Art Knife” by Blade Magazine.

Peter has been featured in a number of publications over the years, including cover stories for Blade Magazine in 2004 and 2014. He competed in the “Forged in Fire” series on The History Channel featuring the world’s best bladesmiths competing head-to-head. Peter made an Elizabethan Era Rapier sword for the competition.

Deryk Munroe

DC Monroe has had a lifelong fascination with weaponry, which led him to become a full-time knife maker in 1997. He is the engineer and laborer behind Deryk Monroe knives. The family-owned business operates out of Gallatin Valley, Montana, where Deryk draws inspiration from the wild.

“We know what it’s like to count on a piece of gear, whether for your food, your comfort, or even your life.”  You can’t currently order a knife for direct purchase, but you may be able to get one at a show or snag online one of only ten Warg MK1 knives made to date.

Doc Shiffer

Steve Shiffer has been making knives since 2000, relying on his military experience to inform what it takes to make a good knife. He’s a former Navy Corpsman, Tactical Medic, and military contractor. Doc contracts with the US Army as a Medical Skills instructor and works with the 3^rd Force Recon in the reserves.

Doc’s hard-working knives come in fixed blade, folding, custom, and field grade recon. A Custom Recon Bronze GITD knife has a titanium anodized bronze handle with glow in the dark features and a 3.5”blade. These knives are built tough for serious use.

Ramon Chaves

Ramon Chaves has been intrigued by knives since his mom relented and bought him his first one from Knott’s Berry Farm at age eight. Still in high school, he found an old knife that looked homemade and asked his dad about it. His dad told him that Ramon’s uncle used to make knives from old hacksaw blades. Inspired, he finished his own first knife, a Bowie knife, a few weeks later.

When a friend saw it in 2010 and paid him to make one for him – his first sale – his hobby became a passion. Chaves knives are hard to come by, but you can get a limited number of Customized Ramon Chaves American Made Redencion Friction Folders in bronze, brass, copper, and titanium online.

Which one of these American-made custom knives is your favorite?