Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Huff.
Nick, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My foray into knife making began with a gift.
I play in a local band called FTW. My guitar player Jon Hill, had a birthday coming up, so I decided to order him a custom knife.
I went to the raddest dude I know, Terry Shanks, and discussed having a couple of knives made.
I figured if I was going to have a custom knife made for Jon, I would have one made for myself also.
When I talked to Terry about having the knives made, and the timeline I was looking at, he just laughed.
I wanted the knives done in three weeks, and at that point, Terry was more than a year out on his lead time.
Luckily for me, Terry and I have been friends for a long, long time.
It didn’t hurt that Terry and Jon share the same birthday.
It wasn’t two weeks later that Terry contacted me and told me the knives were done.
This is where it happened…
I met up with Terry and he handed me a cigar box with the two knives I ordered in it.
As soon as I pulled my knife out and held it in my hands, I was struck!!
As I looked down at this fine tool, made from steel and buffalo horn, I couldn’t believe that such a simple tool, made from simple ingredients, could affect me that much.
I knew from that second that I had to figure out how this was done.
I was a Boy Scout as a kid, became Eagle Scout in 1983. I lived on the edge of a super small town in Iowa. I spent most of my days in the woods behind our house.
I knew the convenience and importance of a good knife.
I also knew, that I had to make my own knife now.
So for a year, I studied. I joined as many Facebook groups about knife making as I could. I watched youtube videos constantly. I became active in forums about knife making.
I absorbed everything I could about the processes involved in knife making.
I will say that I have always been handy.
I have always been creative. I drew and painted as a kid. I built things in the garage, and out in the woods.
I ended up tattooing professionally for 20 years.
I have made my own clothing, made parts for tattoo machines. I have made jewelry and loads of other things over the years.
But now my focus had turned to knife making.
So after a year of learning all I could from the internet, I jumped in with both feet!
I made myself my first knife.
When I made the first one, and several after that, I didn’t have much to work with.
I used a hack saw to cut out the shape, and then built and used a file jig to fashion the bevels.
I’ll tell you now, this was an insane amount of work, but I couldn’t pull away from it.
I made my first knife in just a few days. It wasn’t the prettiest knife, but it was a real working tool that I had made with my own hands.
I remember running in the house after I had it done. I ran to my wife and said “Look at this! I can’t believe I made this myself!”
I was hooked, and I knew it!
I made a few more and realized quickly that I was infatuated with the process.
I started getting more equipment and better equipment.
I also knew that I wanted to be good at knife making, so I made knives like crazy!!!
I made several and gave them to my friends and family.
It didn’t take too long to realize that I wasn’t going to be able to afford to just make all the knives I wanted. I was going to have to start selling them to be able to make more.
And so it began, Knives Made by Nick.
I started making knives and selling them to people I knew.
It didn’t take long before I was selling knives to people I didn’t know, and at this point, I sell knives to people all over the world.
In the beginning, I would vend at local car shows and trade days, and whatever events would have me as a vendor.
Then I started going to chopper shows and met Danger Dan.
Dan has a podcast about choppers and riding motorcycles called Danger Dans Talk Shop.
He talked about all the cool chopper shows around Texas, and eventually ended up going to a few.
Let’s just say that bikers like knives!
I started vending at every bike show I could find. The response was excellent and my business grew.
After a few years of driving to these shows, it finally happened…
I got a motorcycle!!!
Now I travel the country, riding my chopper, and going to shows to talk to folks about what I do.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I have had struggles along the way for sure!
I once heard that if you want to make a small fortune making knives, you have to start with a large fortune!
I don’t make a ton of money doing this.
I spend hours and hours toiling away in my workshop, in the summer heat, in the cold mornings of winter.
I had to learn to build my own website.
I had to work part-time while I was still tattooing., so I went months without much sleep.
I had to learn how to use social media for marketing.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Knives Made by Nick story. Tell us more about the business.
I have a sign that says, “I’m not interested in selling you a knife, I want to build you a knife.”
I make custom knives, I want to build a knife that matches your motorcycle or hot rod.
Let’s make a knife that matches your wife’s eyes.
Let’s take a shell, from your grandfather’s 21 gun salute and put it in the handle of a knife.
I’ve made knives with the ashes of a loved one in them.
I’ve made knives with a person’s teeth in the handle.
I’ve made a knife handle with wood from a family’s 4 generation homestead ranch.
I’m not just making knives. I’m building a legacy. I’m building relationships.
I consider every person I build a knife for a friend.
I’ve gotten to the point, over the last couple of years, to where pretty much everything I do is commissioned..
I do occasionally make a knife and put it up as available, but not often.
I enjoy making my knives rustic.
I have developed my own style, my own look to the knives.
I try to imagine the knives looking like they were found in a 100-year-old barn.
I enjoy classic styling. Hunting and skinning type knives., although I do several other types of knives also.
I do make kitchen knives and fighting knives. I make utility and work knives, but try to give them all the aesthetic of traditional, old knives.
What sets me apart from most other knife makers is I do this full time now.
I support my family with this craft.
I make knives with the specific customer in mind, I make a knife, just for you!
Contact Info:
- Address: Fort Worth Texas
- Website: http://knivesmadebynick.com
- Phone: 817-320-0886
- Email: knivesmadebynick@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/knivesmadebynick
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/knivesmadebynick
Image Credit:
Bryan Helm
Nick Huff
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