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We'd like to thank all our customers, friends and fans for their kind support. Though the company is officially dissolved, Griz and I will still do our best to honor our any warranties. We also have some inventory left, though not much. A couple of our new Pig framelocks, and we may have a few Pig linerlocks as well. Our E-Mail will always work, please contact us if you are interested. |
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9/8/2016 - F INAL FALL INVENTORY SALE |
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We closed our doors officially early in 2015. We've had a number of people over the last year inquiring about buying Pigs at a lowered cost, and though we had some inventory left, so did some of our vendors. We felt honor bound you to our vendors who gave us a great deal of support during our start-up. We did not want to undercut them by selling out our last knives at wholesale. It is only now that we have had the time to clean and tune up knives that had been sitting around the shop for the last year and a half. So we are offering the last of our inventory at WHOLESALE! We're even throwing in free shipping and a 30 day satisfaction guarantee to boot! So if you ever wanted a Pig, this is your chance! We only have a dozen or so to sell, so take a look at our home page and take advantage of this one time offer! ...ok, sorry, I just reread that and I sound like I'm on the shopping channel - "These knives slice, these knives dice, just look how these knives chop right through this 2 by 4! Don't wait, act now..." But, really, it is a great deal and once they're gone, that's it! |
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1/21/2015 - A HIATUS FROM THE BUSINESS.... |
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We and our families are fine, but the world has got the better of Griz and I for the moment, at least enough so that we cannot devote the time we need to run the business full time. We have decided to take a break for the present and devote ourselves to family issues. Even so, we are finishing up what we call our "prototype run" of the new Pig Framelocks (pics coming) and should be finished in a few weeks with those. We still have some Gen 2's in stock, and are taking care of any warranty servicing that might be needed. We want to thank our devoted customers, and assure you that we are not gone, just dealing with life's roller coaster for a bit. We'll see you soon! |
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3/28/2014 |
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We're looking forward to seeing you at the Southern California Blades; Knife Expo 2014. I believe this is the first show I ever sold knives at...that must have been about 25 years ago. Anyway, we'll have Pig gen2's and gen1's at the show, as well as a prototype flipper assist Pig. Griz and his lovely wife Cheryl will be manning the table, so stop by and say hello! |
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1/18/2014 |
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Happy New Years to all! We're assembling the first run of 18 Pig Gen2 prototypes this week. I've spent a lot of time over the last two months ironing out manufacturing kinks so things would run smoothly, and so far so good. We've found a USA source for 4-40 torx screws, and our new milled pivot screw is dynamite. Rather then 32 threads per inch, it's got 64 tpi - that makes tuning the blade much more precise. We have also added a new color of textured G10, Ranger Green. It's a darker green then the OD Green, and looks solid on the Pig. I'll have pictures up of the different handle colors within a week or so. [see pics here] To all, thanks for the good wishes, my father is doing a lot better. It's just slow going at 90 years old. |
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12/10/13 |
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The Plaza show was great, it was good to see old friends and meet new ones! We are transitioning to the PIG Gen2 and I am now in the process of grinding the first 20 blades. We're excited about the improvements! We've added a low-carry clip which uses the two 4-40 screws that screw into the spacer, inset the clip into the handle, have a new great pivot with super fine threads! Take a look at our PIG page for more details.
- Sorry, didn't get to finish this, I'll get to it as soon as I can. My 90 y.o. father was in the hospital and I had to drop everything. He's home and doing better, so as soon as I catch up on blade grinding, I'll update the website! -Dan |
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9/1/13 |
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Well, I've been bad. I haven't written in too long, been focusing on making knives! I'll just give an overview here. A lot's been going on since the Blade Show in June. First, the Blade Show was a whopping success! We brought 63 knives, and sold almost all of them. Just a little box to ship back. Since then we've been busily filling orders for our dealers and clients and trying to get ahead on stock for the California Custom Knife Show in October. We've made some improvements on the Pig, and are just finishing the last of our GenI Pigs and are starting to make the GenII's right now. You'll have a chance to see one or more at the October Show in Anehiem, CA. I'm working on the Wasps as well. We had two prototypes at the Blade Show, and I've made a few modifications and am working this weekend of proofing out the code so I can make some for the October show. I'm very motivated to do this since Griz brought our two prototypes to the USN Gathering for Blue Line Gear to sell so I don't have one to carry. I keep reaching for it and it's not there….I'm sure you know what that's like! |
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5/20/13 |
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Actually, I shouldn't be writing this...I should be sleeping since we're busily getting ready for the Blade show next week - but I wanted to let you know what was happening! I was up 'til 2 am last night sharpening blades while Robi was tapping spacers. We'll be assembling PIGs all week to ship out to Atlanta before Memorial Day weekend (knives and planes don't mix to well these days). At the same time I'm trying to get the first Wasps finished so I can bring a dozen or so with us! So much to do, so little time to do it in! Anyway, it's off to sleep - Hope to see you at the show! |
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3/31/13 |
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It's the end of the month, and we will have the first few PIGs finished in a few days! All the parts for these knives made in-house on our new Tormach Mill - and that means that we have all the kinks worked out and can start finally making knives for you guys. It's been quite an education for me over the past 6 months. When I started knife-making 35 years ago, the big thing was being able to make a hollow grind. The top technology was a Burr King grinder (which is what I still use!). I built my own forge, learned how to heat-treat, pattern weld, and figured out hamon lines by reading books and talking to people like Bob Engnath. Now-a-days, I'm on the computer in and out of the shop. I've had to learn CAD, CAM, G-Code, and I'm doing more math now then I have since I was first in college. Thank the good lord I'm computer literate! I'll tell you, it's been an adventure, and this is only the beginning! FYI - that's me, Dan, over to the right. |
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3/8/13 |
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Of course we ran into troubles on the little mill, some alignment issues of some sort. So instead of spinning our wheels, we have just focused on getting the Tormach up and running. We're making tooling plates this week and should have everything dialed in by the end of the month. We just got assigned our table at the Blade show, table 20B - we'll see ya there! |
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2/22/13 |
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Ok - much has gone on over the last month and a half. Having someone else do the machining for us was prohibitive financially and would take just too long! Therefore, we have purchased a new Tormach CNC mill and are now in the process of setting it up. It should be up and running by the end of the week! We're working on the G-Code for the tooling plates for the PIG even as we set it up so we can get up and running as soon as possible. In addition, we have a couple of nice graphic computers in the mail on the way here for design and CAD/CAM work. In the meantime, we're working on a run of PIGs out on our little prototyping CNC mill. I'm working out the final kinks and I have a prototype sitting in the studio right now - I just need to bend a clip and tweak the G-Code on the handles. This run will be half spearpoint and half tanto blades. We have handle scales in textured black, OD green and desert tan. We will try to get a few to the Pasadena Knife Show early March, and you will certainly see some with dealers and on our website. |
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12/26/12 |
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL! It's late December, and we are still trying to work out issues with our vendors. Primarily, we are trying to get someone reliable and with a quick turnover to machine our parts. We have some leads and we hope to have a few of the first batch at the St. Louis Show in late January. I guess that is the trials and tribulations of starting a new business. My background is making knives individually by hand, one at a time. It's quite a learning curve to try to work with machine shops to make the basic parts for us and then do the fit and finish in house. As it turns out, the cost of tooling and lead time may make it impractical for us to outsource the machining. In early August and December I converted a small Seig X2 mill to CNC for use in prototyping. I have spent the last months getting to know the machine, learning how to work with the CAD and CAM software, and getting as much help as possible from my partner Robi, who is a trained machinist. As it turns out, it looks like we are going to try to get our first knives out using this machine, so I'm working on the tooling now. Admittedly, this is a stop-gap measure, and we are looking into other possibilities like purchasing a Mill for our own use. |
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11/12/12 |
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PLAZA SHOW WRAP-UP It was great meeting all of you at the Plaza Show! We had a good time, but as you know, a bad run of liners prevented us from having any knives to sell at the table. We feel strongly that unless a knife is perfect, it will not be sold! We are taking this time to re-evaluate our vendors and line up alternative options so we can avoid this problem in the future. UPCOMING SHOWS Click our "Shows" link above for upcoming shows. We will be in Saint Louis mid January, and plan to be at the Pasadena show in March. Of course we will be at the BLADE Show in Atlanta in June. |
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