Hello, I’m Rusty of Rusty Knives. I’m an aspiring bladesmith who wants to make cool knives whose function matches their beauty. I’ve been a snob of sharp knives since I sold Cutco Knives for Vector many moons ago. I also was a busboy for a high-end sushi restaurant and wanted to become a sushi chef and learned a good deal about knives and hand sharpening. Over the years I’ve owned many a big box knife and always had them very sharp by sharpening them regularly.

I loved watching various youtube channels of blacksmiths and blade smiths and always was fascinated with the idea of learning this fun skill. The idea of taking metal and shaping it into a blade or a tool to make other things was fascinating to me. Yet I never had the space to do it, and I always had the fear of what if I’m not good enough.

Fast forward to 2021 when I entered the restaurant industry again as a server with the goal of bartending I quickly made that goal a reality and moved to a fancy Pre-Prohabition style bar where I learned very quickly that this was very different than the bar I was working at with the top shelf long island and half-priced apps after 9 pm. Here it took me a few months to get the drinks down and such and that brings me to the first spark of launching this company/side hustle.

I started doing prep for the bar, this was either one 8-10 hour shift or two 4-5 hour shifts where I would make everything for the bar for the week our syrups our puree our infusions etc. On top of opening the bar 4 days a week was a lot of cutting garnish and ingredients for the week and I quickly learned that community knives in the restaurant are terrible. So I started sharpening the community knives and they would just be mishandled. So I made an investment and I went and bought a major brand, Japanese knife and I was in love.

Opening and prep were so much nicer. After a few months, I wanted another knife and I was looking at something German, and I was pricing them out and had the bright idea of letting me buy a blank and a few small tools and just make it because it is around the same price. Well, I must have slipped going down the rabbit hole because it quickly because the WAY more expensive option, but in the first 8 weeks I took 3 folding knife kits and made 3 unique pieces that people love. I made a decent chef’s knife a not-so-decent chef’s knife and then on my third one the pieces started to come together and I made my first knife which made me not want to pick up the store-bought one anymore.

So here I am I have decided I’m going to make a bunch of knives for my family members for the holidays and wanted to share some with the world. I’ve got a strong understanding of design and metallurgy. I’ve been watching the pros for years and have taken extensive notes and continue to learn and grow down this path. My plan is to in the near future procure a location where I can set up a better shop with a forge and start truly forging my knives from scratch but for now, I’ll continue to take the highest quality steel I can find and make it into the highest quality knife you’ll find in South East Pennsylvania.