It should come as no surprise that our goal is to make the new KnifeMagazine.com the most comprehensive and complete resource for all things knife. One feature of our new site that is of equal benefit to both collector and creator alike is our Knifemaker Database and Directory. In it you will find all the contact information for a given knifemaker, along with a representative photo of their work when we have one in our extensive library, or when a maker wishes to update their entry. But more on that later.
You can find the Knifemaker Database and Directory in the drop menu under “The Vault” tab.
You can search by Maker’s last name, or you can scroll down the list and browse. We are adding the search by stamps and markings functionality, but it is not working very well at the moment. Hopefully we can get that dialed in soon, because it will be a great resource for people trying to identify an unknown maker.
As you search or scroll down, you will see the makers’ names, where they were located, and when available – what years they are/were active. If the maker relocated along the way, we try to make note of it as well by adding multiple entries. We do this because many makers include their location on the stamp, and have changed stamps as they moved. Gil Hibben is one of the more extreme examples of this as you can see.
Clicking on a name opens the selected entry. What the reader will see depends on one’s access level. If you are not a paid subscriber, you will see this (as well as an enlarged version of the feature photo – coming soon)
We will be adding Social Media links to the public portion of the entries as we compile these over time as well.
Here is what our Premium Members will see:
Knife Magazine Premium members will see a more in depth entry, including the markings and stamps, extra biographical information, multiple photos from the knife magazine archive, and a direct search link to SharpByCoop’s KnifeGallery.com’s extensive library of images as well.
The Knifemaker Database and Directory is a work in progress, and will continue to evolve over time. We are planning to include links to articles on particular makers from our archives, but with more than 40 years of articles, this is going to take a while.
We are going to be adding a tremendous number of images to existing entries, updating info, and will be adding new makers all the time. This is where our readers and the knifemaking community at large comes in. We want your help to make the Knife Magazine Knifemaker Database and Directory the ultimate guide to custom knifemakers online.
If you see something in the database that you know is either incorrect or omitted, please let us know. Knifemakers: Please don’t be shy, we want to include you if you are not already in the database. Inclusion is free, so please help us help you, and the community in the process.
It is an unfortunate topic, but there are many of the makers’ “old guard” who have left us. If you see someone on the list who is deceased, please drop us a line.
Submitting and addition or correction for the Database and Directory is simple. It is just a click away…
Just go to “The Vault” tab and select Submit an entry.
It will load the form below, select “Knifemaker Database” from the list, and fill out the requested info. We will review it, and add new entries on a regular basis.
We have a long way to go to get the Knifemaker Database and Directory where we would like it to be, but we are hoping that with time and community input, we can make it an unparalleled resource for the Knife Community.