I have been fascinated with knives and knife making since a very young age but began taking the craft seriously in 2010. I was inspired to make a lockback folding knife and enjoyed figuring out the mechanics in the design and learning the process of heat treating and tempering. I think it’s amazing how beautiful, working tools can be crafted from raw materials and how steel can take so many different forms and strengths using heat.
My focus is now on making folding knives using traditional patterns and my original designs. I enjoy making slipjoint knives and lockbacks as well as the occasional modern linerlock. I use both stainless and carbon steel and make handles with natural materials like stag, wood, bone, horn and modern handle materials such as micarta and G10. I do my own scrimshaw work on bone or ivory.
The past few years have been amazing with a lot of recognition for my work. I won four awards including Best of Show at both 2023 & 2024 Oregon Knife Collectors Show. At 2023 Bladeshow West I won Best Custom Folder. I was featured in the April 2024 issue of Blade magazine, in an article on the Lockback Whittler. At Bladeshow 2024 I won Best Custom Slipjoint and I was featured in an article and cover of Knife magazine November 2024.
Thanks for visiting my site and browsing through my custom knives. I’m not taking any custom orders at this time but if you have questions please contact me by email info@rhidianknives.com And please follow me on Instagram where I post progress pics, finished knives and the occasional knife for sale. @rhidianknives