Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives
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"Izanami and Izanagi"
Some visitors are simply horrified by my web site! To them, it looks dated, flat, and some even suggest I haven't updated it since the 90s. (Ahem, I update about every 3-10 days). The issue is that this site is not what they typically encounter.
Where do they go to see the catalog price of a labradorite-handled knife? Where are all the ads? Where are all the nested applets? Where were the scripts, the sub-programs, the mess? Where are the drop-down menus, the scrolling pictures, the mouse-over redirects and puzzling links? Where are the confusing large photo backgrounds and dramatic false-color styles? After all, how could I be successful with such a simple website?
Welcome to the dinosaur, over 700 pages of knives and words. I don't want to impress you with web design, I simply want to show what knives I've made during my career, what knives may be available, and explain why I do what I do the way I do it. I don't need a big background photo for that, or an ad on YouTube, or links to other sites that want to lure you away.
If you ever get lost here, just go to the Table of Contents. And thanks for being here!
--Jay
| Welcome! Quick Facts: | The best individual knife maker's site you will find on the Internet! What this website is about and how to use it |
| First year of this site on the Internet: | 1996: 28 years on the web |
| Number of active pages on this website: | 714 pages, packed with pictures and great information! |
| Number of pictures and images on this website: | Now over 15,000 photos! (includes thumbnails and restricted pages) |
| Notable Milestone! | There are now over 550 individual custom knife patterns on my patterns page, the largest in history! |
| My first knife made in: | 1979 (45 years experience) |
| Full time professional knifemaker since: | 1988 (full time for 36 years!) This is my my real job, and my career! |
| Interesting thing you probably do not know about me: | I have a piece in the Tower of London, the only American who does. |
| Another interesting thing you probably do not know about me: | I make more real gemstone handled knives than any other single knifemaker in the world, and in history! |
Tom Clancy is a name that many recognize. Tom was a friend and patron of mine, a great guy who was extremely well-versed in military history and process, and one of the greatest authors who ever lived. While the younger generation may recognize his name in the gaming and simulator field, his mastery of words, ideas, and literature was the absolute pinnacle of his genre. He wrote about many of the world's cold war and post-cold war military hardware, and I was hugely honored to have my work in his home, in his library, and as the inspiration for charitable causes. It is because of Tom that I have a piece in the Tower of London, perhaps the finest weapons museum in the world. In 1994, this is what he wrote about me and my work:
"You know, I never believed in decorous weapons until I met Jay Fisher. Where does one draw the line between a fighting knife and a work of art?
Jay Fisher is a throwback to the age when craftsmen were *all* artists, not mere producers of products, when every item that went out the door had a story and a purpose all its own, and when you went to a craftsman not because of what you wanted but because of who he was.
Jay is a guy who knows how to use the modern to serve the past. We really do make better steel today than we did a hundred years ago - the idea of cutting an ancient Samurai sword in two with a modern American knife does have its attractions - and the blend of old and new in his work is totally seamless. A knight Templar would not have hesitated a moment to take Fisher's steel on his Holy Quest. In fact, he would have thought the technological edge a gift from an especially attentive God.
I suppose that says it all. Jay Fisher is one of a kind, a man who knows the riddle of steel, and that the difference between a good weapon and a bad one is the combination of how you make it and to whom you give it."
--Tom Clancy
"Jay Fisher is the best modern knife maker around, pursuing an ancient tradition but beautifully perfecting the craft by selecting the finest man-made and natural materials. Jay Fisher makes every type of edged steel weapon, fitting the blade to it’s purpose. The world’s elite clandestine rescue and tactical squads seek his weapons. Their lives depend on Jay Fisher Custom Knives- the best quality knives in the world."
--Bernardo M. Perez
Deputy Assistant Director - Ret.
FBI Laboratory
Washington, D.C.
Named "The Best Living Knife Maker" in the 2007 Best of the West Sourcebook by True West Publications
"Many fine knifemakers exist in the world. Some Excel at making weapons, others at creating art. At his Sharp Instinct Studio in Clovis, New Mexico, Jay Fisher does both. In the blade business since 1988, Fisher makes knives, many featuring gemstone handles, for collectors, museums and people who really know how to use 'em (101st Airborne, Special Forces, USAF Pararescue)."
--from the 2007 Best of the West magazine
| Main | Purchase | Tactical | Specific Types | Technical | More |
| Home Page | Where's My Knife, Jay? | Current Tactical Knives for Sale | The Awe of the Blade | Knife Patterns | My Photography |
| Website Overview | Current Knives for Sale | Tactical, Combat Knife Portal | Museum Pieces | Knife Pattern Alphabetic List | Photographic Services |
| My Mission | My Knife Prices | All Tactical, Combat Knives | Investment, Collector's Knives | Copyright and Knives | Photographic Images |
| The Finest Knives and You | How To Order | Counterterrorism Knives | Daggers | Knife Anatomy | |
| Featured Knives: Page One | Purchase Finished Knives | Professional, Military Commemoratives | Swords | Custom Knives | |
| Featured Knives: Page Two | Order Custom Knives | USAF Pararescue Knives | Folding Knives | Modern Knifemaking Technology | My Writing |
| Featured Knives: Page Three | Knife Sales Policy | USAF Pararescue "PJ- Light" | Chef's Knives | Factory vs. Handmade Knives | First Novel |
| Featured Knives: Older/Early | Bank Transfers | 27th Air Force Special Operations | Food Safety, Kitchen, Chef's Knives | Six Distinctions of Fine Knives | Second Novel |
| Email Jay Fisher | Custom Knife Design Fee | Khukris: Combat, Survival, Art | Hunting Knives | Knife Styles | Knife Book |
| Contact, Locate Jay Fisher | Delivery Times | Serrations | Working Knives | Jay's Internet Stats | |
| FAQs | My Shipping Method | Grip Styles, Hand Sizing | Khukris | The 3000th Term | Videos |
| Current, Recent Works, Events | Business of Knifemaking | Concealed Carry and Knives | Skeletonized Knives | Best Knife Information and Learning About Knives | |
| Client's News and Info | Military Knife Care | Serrations | Cities of the Knife | Links | |
| Who Is Jay Fisher? | The Best Combat Locking Sheath | Knife Sheaths | Knife Maker's Marks | ||
| Testimonials, Letters and Emails | Knife Stands and Cases | How to Care for Custom Knives | Site Table of Contents | ||
| Top 22 Reasons to Buy | Tactical Knife Sheath Accessories | Handles, Bolsters, Guards | Knife Making Instruction | ||
| My Knifemaking History | Loops, Plates, Straps | Knife Handles: Gemstone | Larger Monitors and Knife Photos | ||
| What I Do And Don't Do | Belt Loop Extenders-UBLX, EXBLX | Gemstone Alphabetic List | New Materials | ||
| CD ROM Archive | Independent Lamp Accessory-LIMA | Knife Handles: Woods | Knife Shop/Studio, Page 1 | ||
| Publications, Publicity | Universal Main Lamp Holder-HULA | Knife Handles: Horn, Bone, Ivory | Knife Shop/Studio, Page 2 | ||
| My Curriculum Vitae | Sternum Harness | Knife Handles: Manmade Materials | |||
| Funny Letters and Emails, Pg. 1 | Blades and Steels | Sharpeners, Lanyards | Knife Embellishment | ||
| Funny Letters and Emails, Pg. 2 | Blades | Bags, Cases, Duffles, Gear | |||
| Funny Letters and Emails, Pg. 3 | Knife Blade Testing | Modular Sheath Systems | |||
| Funny Letters and Emails, Pg. 4 | 440C: A Love/Hate Affair | PSD Principle Security Detail Sheaths | |||
| Funny Letters and Emails, Pg. 5 | ATS-34: Chrome/Moly Tough | ||||
| Funny Letters and Emails, Pg. 6 | D2: Wear Resistance King | ||||
| The Curious Case of the "Sandia" | O1: Oil Hardened Blued Beauty | ||||
| The Sword, the Veil, the Legend |
Elasticity, Stiffness, Stress, and Strain in Knife Blades |
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| Professional Knife Consultant |
Heat Treating and Cryogenic Processing of Knife Blade Steels |
