About me

For more than twenty years I have been studying, designing and making knives.

I read everything I could find on the subject: Hungarian and foreign books, websites, forums and knife blogs. I asked many people, makers, collectors and everyday users, what a good work knife should look like and what it has to be able to do. Then, of course, I put what I had learned into practice, one knife after another.

Over twenty years I slowly built up the core knowledge I needed to work, though the learning will go on for the rest of my life. I soon realised that the best shapes have been in use for centuries, often almost unchanged, and that these knives are often very simple, or look simple, which is perhaps exactly why they work so well.

These old knife types, the Finnish puukko, the Sámi leuku, the American French trade knife and traditional Japanese knives, are the starting point for my own patterns, which I keep refining. So my main focus is the work knife. I make camp knives that make light work of setting up a woodland camp, and bushcraft knives for carving, fire lighting and cooking in the wild.

I am also fascinated by EDC (everyday carry) knives: small enough to be with you all the time, and able to handle almost any knife task. I make hunting knives too, and I am determined to make dependable tools for soldiers as well. There is always a new challenge and always something to learn; the knife is an endless subject. What drives me is making genuinely useful tools for people who love practical work outdoors, close to nature.

Let us live in nature, but harm nothing.

My connection with nature matters a great deal to me. I believe we should approach it with deep respect and spend as much time outdoors as we can, in as much harmony as we can. Hiking, bushcraft and camping are worthwhile pursuits: people have done them for thousands of years, and for today's city dwellers they are a way to practise that ancient way of life. And a good knife becomes the all-purpose tool on the way, for building a shelter, making food and lighting a fire when it is time to rest.

Shaman knives are made by stock removal from quality tool steels: Rigor and Sleipner cold-work steels and Böhler N690 stainless. My blades are robust, 5–6 mm thick, and usually have a sabre grind: a flat primary bevel with a convex cutting edge. The Nordic-style knives differ slightly, with a Scandinavian-style grind and a narrow convex edge bevel that I call the “scandivex” edge. Every blade is finished by hand; that step gives the surface the quality I am happy with.

Handles are made from various woods, such as wenge, bubinga and walnut, and I often use laminated industrial composites, FR4 and Micarta. Every knife comes with a hard-wearing cowhide pouch sheath. I would not claim they are the most beautiful sheaths ever made, but they do their job properly. A Shaman knife is ready for the outdoors from day one: I make them to serve their owners in woodland camps, on hikes, expeditions and hunts.

I hope my knives serve you well for many years.

More about the steels and handle materials