Michael Raymond Custom Knives

Growing up my Dad was always a tool guy and constantly building, rebuilding and fixing things. He continually has a project and never considers it finished until it is done right; down to the smallest detail, and he has instilled that into me since I was old enough to understand.

I always liked to build anything I could and being born and raised on the East Coast of Florida I became an avid fisherman and so I began building my own custom fishing rods, which led to custom-made lures requiring millwork on my Dad's Bridgeport.

This passion, mixed with an already deep interest in knives, turned into my desire to become a knife maker after seeing Scott Cook's work, so I attended and graduated Machinist school.

After finishing school I worked for a specialized engineering/tool and die shop that makes turbine molds for the aircraft industry to very close tolerances. Being a small shop and having an "old school" boss gave me the opportunity to learn foundational precision milling, grinding, and layout techniques. 

After working there for almost a year I contacted Scott through mail telling him how much I was inspired by his work and to see if he had any pointers he would be willing to share. I will always be thankful to Scott for getting me started, and after a few pestering phone calls and a couple emails I thought I had enough to dive in head first - little did I know how much had to still be figured out on my own.

I became a full-time maker in 2011 with the goal to craft investment-grade knives worthy of being handed down through generations. As my knife making techniques and skills have evolved I am working multiple parts to extremely small tolerances (low ten-thousands of an inch) to produce precision action in a robust design with attention to detail that will stand the test of time, which is very important to me.