Christy Knife Company

The Christy Knife – Simplicity and Tradition

H. Clay Aalders
Christy Knife Company
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I never cease to be amazed at the “rabbit holes” I find myself diving down on a weekly basis. On my content trawl the other day I found a fairly routine piece from a local newspaper (Freemont, OH News Messenger) about a 4th-generation knifemaker, Randy Christy. Randy is owner and craftsman behind the Christy Knife Company- first founded by his Great-Grandfather in 1891.

While I now live in Tennessee, I was born and raised in the Buckeye State, and I wanted to learn more. As it turns out, Knife Magazine Staff Correspondent Abe Elias visited Christy Knife Company and wrote about the his experience in our September 2016 issue. We have made it available for free to all KnifeMagazine.com readers by clicking the blue button below:

Christy Knives

The Christy Knife Company has made everything from razors to surgical scalpels along the way, but today they focus exclusively on a unique sliding-blade knife which they have been producing since 1935. The knife is fairly light duty, but what really makes it useful is the ability to lock the blade closed, or at 3 different levels of deployment.

At one point in time the knife was issued to US Customs agents, as its easy one-handed deployment and adjustable blade length made it ideal for inspecting packages.

What has the Christy Knife Company been up to in the past 3 years since Abe paid them a visit? Well according to the Fremont News Messenger, they were recently commissioned on a very special limited edition of the Christy Knife:

Last fall, Christy was contacted by the 2020 Bicentennial Committee about making a special pocket knife to commemorate the county’s 200th birthday celebration.

“What a privilege for the county to ask me to do this, I’m just thrilled,” Christy said.

Christy gave the committee options and the committee chose a rose gold finish on the steel

The committee ordered 1,000 and Christy began preparing to make the pocket knives.

Christy said he can assemble a pocket knife in about nine minutes, doing the machining on multiple parts so he can assemble several knives in one sitting at his grandfather’s work desk.

The Christy Knife – an elegant tool, for a more civilized age…

 

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H. Clay Aalders

H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.