The Bushcraft Knives that you see on these pages are handmade, by myself. The designs come from many years of working with wood. I have come into the tool making side of things from the traditional craft of Greenwood working, pole-lathe turning and woodland crafts. I studied a traditional Green Woodworking apprenticeship for three years in my home county of Herefordshire.

I had always had a knife in my pocket from as early as I can remember. As I grew up and bought more serious fixed blades, I found that they were never quite the right shape or size for the job, so I started to produce my own. Through the action of making knives myself, and using them for woodcraft, I found that by experimenting with various shapes, sizes and thicknesses that I could produce a tool that worked much better for me. Many of my first knives were not what I would call pretty, but they worked.

After almost ten years of making tools and using them, the knives you see here are now very functional, but also aesthetically pleasing and are made by someone who actually uses them for there intended job so therefore they function better than mass produced tools.

All styles of knife have a Scandinavian style flat grind, which is imperative on a good carving tool. This flat grind adds to, the ease of sharpening, strength, and the control of use whilst carving. The knives are made from 01 tool steel, which is a high carbon tool steel, that means it needs a bit more care than a stainless steel knife, but to my mind they are much better because they are easier to sharpen, have a good edge holding ability and feel nicer to use.
I heat treat all my own tools in a specialist heat treatment kiln.  I test each blade after hardening to ensure full hardness is achieved and then again after tempering to ensure each blade has been tempered to between 57 to 59 Rockwell C.  I test the blades on my own Rockwell hardness tester which has been calibrated to within 0.5 of a Rockwell.

The full tang knives are fantastic all round woodcraft tools, very good for splitting material down for feather sticks or gadgets and all outdoor tasks. The smaller partial tang knives (the metal does not go all the way through the handle) are for finer carving and finer work where a high degree of leverage is not required.

I use British Hardwoods for the handle materials, many of which I have harvested myself, whilst coppicing, I also buy timber from local wood yards where they have a good selection of local timbers. We have such beautiful wood here in the UK, that it seems silly to bring it in from around the world. I also use reindeer antler and camel bone for handles as many people prefer a more exotic knife handle, I have also started using materials such as Micarta and other synthetic materials for people who want a more maintenance free handle or if they are going into very extreme environments. I use brass loveless style rivets to attach the handle and epoxy adhesive. All knives have a brass thong tube for a lanyard if needed and come honed ready for use.

I also make a range of greenwood working and carving tools, some of which are hand forged, and are designed to work with ease and make the task in hand much more pleasurable.

Many of the carving tools are always in stock, or can be tailor made to certain requirements.

Please check the relevant page for more details.

All the leather work is done by my wife, Lois, who is a very skilled wood worker and leather craftswoman in her own right.  The leather work is all hand lock stitched, which means it will not all unravel if you damage a few threads unlike machine stitched goods. The leather itself is vegetable tanned, which enables Lois to wet the leather and mould each case to each individual knife, so that they are held in place - nice and secure.

I offer a choice of design, thickness of blade,  wood for the handle, and also style and colour of sheath, so you get a knife that is completely unique to you!

Ben Orford