Believe it or not, out of all the work we had on our plate at KMD in order to bring a functional, professional and enjoyable site to knife collectors and makers alike, one of the more difficult tasks was in choosing who our first feature knifemaker would be for our "grand opening." We knew that in featuring or representing a knifemaker in such a fassion on our site would be a general statement concerning the image of our site and our staff. There are hundreds upon hundreds of extremely talented knifemakers out there who possess the ability to create extraordinary works of functional art. However, as in any field, there are the few among the many who possess a gift - a natural talent of ability and insight that allows a person to take what has been done a countless number of times by so many people a step further. We speak of such people in a comparative manner, using statements such as "...The Michael Jordan of basketball," or "...The Beethoven of the piano..." because it is difficult to put in to words where they lie talent-wise on a scale of 1 to 10. After much discussion, the decision was unanimous.... The team at knifemakers Database is honored to present Mr. Jay Fisher as our first "feature Knifemaker."
Once you've been in the hobby of custom knife collecting for a decent period of time, you start to notice things - certain details and subtleties that were not apparent at first to the untrained eye. You begin to realize, most of all, the difference between technical perfection and what I simply refer to as "passion" in the knives of different knifemakers. While adept technical skills are a necessity of great knife making, it is this "passion" that separates the great from the awesome. Jay is a man who draws his blades from both qualities. He is truly an artist as well as a knifemaker and it is his passion that fuses art and steel into one.
Mr. Fisher developed an intense interest in what he refers to as "the secrets of steel" at the age of 19. Like many makers, Jay's first knives were crafted mostly from tool steels from saw blades and leaf springs and the like. He learned how to anneal, shape, harden and temper steel until he began to produce some decent blades. On his site, Jay tells of how learning to make knives for him was in a way like balancing a scale stating, "At one point my blades were nice, but my handles were lacking, then my handles were better than the blades, then my sheathes were the worst, so I tried to bring it all together..." Every time I recall that line and look at the J. Fisher custom knives I have in my collection, I have a little chuckle to myself and think, "Well, you definitely did that now, didn't you."
Jay sold his first knife in 1980 and kept on making custom knives until he finally went full time back in 1988. I always wonder if Jay could have possibly imagined the advancements he was going to achieve up until now in 2006. His work has come a long way. Jay makes knives of all styles and designs for all different purposes. He is extremely diverse in his talents. The one thing you can count on is, no matter what kind of knife Mr. Fisher makes for you, it is going to exceed the quality of your expectations.
From making knives out of saw blades, Jay now offers a possibility of thousands of combinations from over 300 different blade designs and over 185 different types of gem stones for handle material. (Jay Fisher makes more knives with gemstone handles than any other single maker in the world!) If you take the number of blade types and handle types and then account for handle shape, etching/engraving, blade steel, bolsters, fittings, file work, etc., the possibilities are truly limitless. This flexibility in design - a willingness to always try something new - is yet another feature that sets Jay
apart from the rest. Jay makes combat knives, hunting knives, utility knives, folding knives, swords, daggers and even chef's knives! He has made pieces that weigh over 400 lbs (such as the sculpture "Dragon Slayer" pictured to the above left) as well as pieces of museum quality (A halberd he had made is on display in the Tower of London).
We mentioned before that Mr. Fisher is a man of many talents. When he was younger, Jay studied martial arts, music and archeology. He worked his own ruin in New Mexico for 7 years. He involved himself with jewelry making, wood working and machine tool fabrication and design. He has been an electroplaters chemical analysts assistant, a construction electrician, a maintenance electrician and a mechanic. He has worked jobs in a circuit board manufacturing plant, a radio crystal plant and a fiberglass plant as well as an aluminum smelter, a pigment plant and in a plant that manufactured concrete coated steel pipes. He also spent ten years in a coal-fired power plant. Amazingly, the list goes on and you can find more info on Jay's web site, which leads me to say that this is yet another thing that Jay has tried his hand at and succeeded. Having recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary, Jay's web site has grown to a size of over 100 pages and receives over 15,000 hits a day!
Regarding the technical aspect of custom knife making, as a collector, I can say that Jay's custom knives are flawless in the fit and finish so many of us speak of and desire. If it wasn't true, I wouldn't say it. I wouldn't lead you on to the point that you actually buy one of these fine works of art and then turn to me and say, "Why did you say that?" I speak the truth. As a custom knife collector for over 15 years, I don't think Jay could possibly get his fit any tighter, more even or more precise. He makes it seem as if the parts of the knives he makes were always one solid piece. As for finish, I'll say this. It gets harder all the time to find a person who can give me a mirror finished blade in which I can't find a single scratch mark, no matter how fine, not even with a microscope... literally. Jay's mirror finished blades are like steel water.
Before I end this article, I must bring attention to Jay's endeavors as a writer and a photographer. Aside from all he has done and all he still does, Jay is a serious writer. He has several books in the making and is always on the lookout for new material to add to his work. As far as his being a photographer, all of the photos on Jay's website have been taken by him. Jay does own a professional dark room and develops his own photos as well. Mr. Fisher has compiled a
collection of his photographs (thousands of them) into a CD-ROM which can be viewed on your computer. I HIGHLY recommend that you invest the small amount of money he charges for this HUGE compilation of super high resolution, digital quality photos. I own a copy and couldn't believe what I was looking at when I opened the CD. Again - beyond expectations...
I'd like to end this "Featured Makers" article by quoting two of my favorite lines by Jay that can be found on his ever-growing web site. The first line relates to what I spoke of before regarding passion and goes, "Making knives is my passion. My inspiration? Countless knife and weapons makers throughout history who remain faceless but for the beautiful works they've left behind, as I will." There is a kind of humbility in this statement... In a way I feel that Jay doesn't want to be famous, or known because of his knifemaking abilities, but rather wants to be known through his knives... In other words, when he is gone, they will remain and although he may not be known, he will be felt simply because a part of him is in every knife he makes.
The second quote is about who Jay is as a knifemaker - the number one thing he likes best about making knives, and he says, "The best thing about knifemaking as an art
and trade is to hear the stories of what the knives have done, if they have rescued someone from a pinch, saved a soldiers life, or inspired an artistic thought that makes the piece personal, even interactive to those who view, hold and use my knives, swords and artwork." Just for the record, I proudly own and present two fine pieces made by Mr. Fisher. I lock my knives up. I have to. I love them too much. But when someone comes by who wants to see my collection, I usually try to open the safe and take out the one knife that represents my entire collection, as a whole, the best. I usually end up with one of my Jay Fisher knives in my hand - and they feel better every time. ~JoeClements
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