Cordell Knives

    Hi, I’m Cordell Smith and I make knives. I’m twenty years old and I have about six and a half years experience as a bladesmith. I started making my own knives because I couldn’t seem to find exactly what I was looking for. I needed a knife that I could use for everything from small things around the house to hunting with my dad. A friend of mine had a Blade Magazine that caught my eye, after flipping through it I found a small ad that was selling custom, homemade knives. One thing led to another and I found myself in my dad’s shop searching for scrap metal. I made my first knife out of a partially rusted steel plate with a stone grinder, an old drill press and a sawzall. Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty.

    Seeing the potential in my rudimentary knife, my dad took me to see a local knife maker, Tom Morlan. Tom coached me through the process of making knives correctly and let me check out all his tools, he answered my many questions and encouraged me to try new techniques. I thought the hard part was over when I sent my first batch of rough cut forms to be heat treated, but quickly learned that handle making is just as tough as grinding the perfect blade. That’s where my high school woodshop teacher Mr. Jeff Whittenburg stepped in and helped me through designing and shaping my first handles. After a whole lot of trial and error, some very expensive tools, and months of practice I finally started turning out some good knives. When some friends and family started showing interest in purchasing my knives I thought I had struck gold, I could get paid for doing something I truly enjoyed doing! And then WHAM! My dad told me that before I could sell to anyone else, I had to make him twenty knives to cover the cost of all the tools he had bought, and the custom work bench that he had built for me.

    I’ve since realized that this was his clever ploy to get me to practice enough to have a genuine quality product before putting them out there. I sold my first complete knife at the Southern California Fair in October 2012, and started this website to gain exposure and let people see what I can do. Please browse through my gallery and take a look at the knives I’ve made so far. Some of them are for sale, some of them aren’t. If you don’t see what you’re looking for let me know, I like to use D2 stainless steel but have played around with CPM154 and have access to other types of steel if you’re interested. My favorite handles are maple burl wood and micarta, I make my own finger guards and lately I’ve liked to use mosaic pins with matching spacer material, but I’m open to trying new things if you’ve got something special in mind.

    I know I’m still new to the knife making field, and I’ve had a lot of help along the way. I want to thank my dad for seeing something in that first knife and pushing me to try another. Also all the guys at True Grit Abrasives and So Cal Knives for always having what I needed, and my mom for all the trips she made to pick up my materials, Tom Morlan, Jeff Whittenburg, Jeff Mutz, Bill Herndon, Hans Weinmueller, Charlie Ott, Dennis Hollingsworth and Krissy Schilz for all the knowledge and support you’ve provided. Thank You.