You're too kind sir, and the privilege is mine. It was a real pleasure speaking with you this afternoon. I really appreciate the compliment and the introduction, and it means a lot to me when a maker that I look up to and respect digs what I'm doing.
I little background on me for you guys: I'm out of Omaha Ne. I started out making kubatons on 01NOV2004, I made my first knife 19FEB2005, was instantly hooked on the craft, and took the plunge as a full time maker 23AUG2005. I've been at it ever since. Since the beginning, I've operated under the moniker of American Kami, and I'm a one man shop. It's just me. What's the deal with the name? I wanted something that embodied my ideas about what I wanted to do with knives. American, because that's what I am. Kami, that part gets a little more complicated. I chose that for two reasons:
1) Kamis are the guys in Nepal that make kukris. I have a thing for kuks, and the guys over there making the good ones do so with very little technology, by hand, one at a time. I like the idea of keeping it simple and true, while adding a little modern technology and knowhow.
2) In Japanese, Kami can mean a bunch of different things having to do with the spiritual world. In my case, I chose it because one of those meanings is something akin to "the spirit that lives within objects." Usually pertaining to the natural world. Iron and carbon come out of the earth, are combined to make steel, and thus each blade has a "soul" if you will. The job of the knife maker is to be the conduit to bring the knife into being. In my case, that's taking a bar of steel and grinding off everything that doesn't look like a knife. Maybe that sounds kinda new-agey, but that's my approach.
I prefer the chisel grind so that's predominantly what I make, and I work almost exclusively with 1095, 5160, and O1. Handle materials are G10 or carbon fiber.
Ok, enough about me. You guys probably wanna see some blades, yeah?
Here are the pics. Hope you guys like these as much as I do.