How I Got Started
When I was about 15, a neighbor that lived up the road from me introduced me to blacksmithing. I had no idea at the time the influence Frank Sizemore would have on my life. He gave me a forge and anvil, recommended the book “American Blacksmithing”, and gave me one or two demos. He didn't do much hands-on training, but he provided some tools and enough instructions to get me started, and I took it from there.
Every now and then I'd saddle up a horse and ride the 4 miles or so to Frank’s house, tie my horse to a telephone pole, and knock on the door for a visit. He would holler, “Come in!” and I would open the door to see him standing at the top of the stairs with his oxygen, and he would say, “Hi kid! How the hell are you?”
We’d visit for a while; I’d show him something I’d made or just tell him about it, and he would tell me stories from his life. He also was a major influence on mine and my dad’s interest in rendezvous and mountain man stuff.
I packed a lot of treasure home from Frank’s garage, including a couple tents that I ended up living in for a year and a half when I left Rangely. That’s another story…
I was a knife nut as a kid, and since I now had the tools to make my own, I did. The first knife I made was from a piece of “sucker rod", and was an ugly beast with an enormous crooked deer antler handle, but it was a start. I still have it. I made several more knives, pounding them out on the anvil, using a file to smooth them, quenching them in the horsetrough, useing a hacksaw to cut antler and wood for the handles (scales), useing a farriers rasp to flatten the scales, and whatever glue and heavy wire or nails were available to stick everything together. The only electrical tool I had available was a drill for making holes in the scales. Those early knives were hiddeous!
The sheaths were as well. I had no training in leatherwork, and little in the way of good material. I threw what I could together with whatever leather scraps I could come up with, using a knife to cut pieces out as well as lace for sewing, and a rotary hole-punch. I injured my wrists while trying to squeeze the punch through too many layers of too-tough leather at a time, and they have never fully recovered. I’m more careful now.
I started working for Pine Ridge Knife Co in Vernal UT in the fall of 2014, when I was 21. There I learned how the little things make a big difference. I also learned that stock removal is a lot easier than forging. My own knives improved drastically while I worked for Pine Ridge. I also learned the basics of leatherwork, which made night/day difference in my sheaths.
Mom and dad got me a 4x36 belt sander for Christmas one year, and I thought that was the best thing ever! I got a filing jig from someone else, and my knives improved some more. After a few years working for Pine Ridge, I got sick of making thousands of the same knives over and over. I wanted to build some variety: guards, stacked handles, folding knives, etc. But I didn't have much opportunity except on my own time.
I quit working for Pine Ridge in the spring of 2020 and did a couple of other jobs for a few months. I wanted to get back into knifemaking and be creative with it, but didn't have any specific plans to make it happen. Then I lost the job I had, and I figured maybe this was my opportunity.
I officially started Bookcliff Knives in July 2021. I had to travel from Vernal UT to my parents place near Rangely CO in order to use my dad’s shop. I now had a metal-cutting bandsaw and a 4x36 sander, as well as the forge. Dad had a Baldor belt grinder that was a beast of a machine for heavy work, but not for the fine stuff like gently smoothing wooden scales.
I made it work though, and the 3 hour round trip was made weekly. My wife supported me in the venture, and even started helping make the knives. In late 2022 I found that I could set up shop in one of the storage units in the apartment complex I lived in. I rented a unit, got some more tools of my own, and got started with my own setup. The addition of a variable speed 2x72 belt sander and a buffing wheel made the work SO much easier and better! I saved gas from not making those long drives every week, and my relationship with my wife improved because I wasn't gone so much.
Now I'm trying to figure out marketing. Making knives is easy compared to selling them, but if my marketing learning curve follows my knifemaking one, I'm bound to see some good improvement before long.