Handcrafted Knives

and leather sheaths

From the artist

I grew up on a hobby farm in Northeast Nebraska, and starting at a very early age my parents got me out in the woods. I learned to fish as a toddler, and then started hunting and trapping. I’ve always liked to keep busy building things and crafting, so it’s no surprise that once I moved to Northeast Minnesota I fell in love with wilderness here.

Over the past 13 years, I’ve focused my creative energy on using the wild fur that I trap and the raw materials from the boreal forest to create beautiful and useful things, like furry winter garments and knives. I have really resonated with the strong Scandinavian heritage in Minnesota and have gravitated towards becoming a puukko knife maker, or puukkoseppä.

While I have learned to forge puukko blades, my best friend Jamiah Mahoney at Subtle Forge, already has his smithy set up. Jamiah’s fine-tuned skills produce gorgeous high-quality carbon steel puukko, leuku and chef’s blades. For this reason, I currently source my blades from him and in so doing support not only one of my best friends, but another local business.

– Paige May