Its a pleasure to introduce myself! My name is Karl B. Anderson and I am the owner of KBA Knives. My introduction into the knife making world came from a round-about direction. I found myself kneeling down and about to field-dress a deer I had just harvested with a custom recurve bow I had made for me by a fellow in Michigan. The arrow I used was made by me and fletched with feathers from a wild turkey harvested by a friend of mine. However, I was about to cut into this deer with a knife bought from the local Discount store! That didnt make sense to me! So, I decided to make things right, I had to make my own knife. That was seven years, thousands of dollars, and a few hundred knives ago. The knives you see posted here are a few of the types of knives I make today. I have the fortunate circumstance of living near a fellow by the name of Jerry Rados. Jerry is one of the premier Turkish twist Damascus makers in this world, and lets me hang around his shop for free!
At the writing of this letter, somewhere across town, there is a friend of mine doing some welding on my first coal forge. I will slowly be phasing out of stainless and beginning my adventure toward pursuing my Master Bladesmith stamp.
Until this is complete, however, I will continue to make knives as I always have. DAlton Holder does my heat treating, and he and Jerry Rados both have told me, Make each knife the best that you can. That is what I try to do.
From my own observations, I know that I spend as much time on one of my sheaths as many knife makers spend on their knives! I am a firm believer that a knife that is loose in its sheath is a dull knife! Every one of my sheaths are wet-molded and hand-stitched around its designated knife.
All in all, I just try to make a knife that will last many years. I enjoy natural materials for handles, but also believe that good old Micarta is hard to beat! I like to sand blast canvas Micarta for a Survival Finish. It makes for a really good grip. Then again, a rough antler makes a good grip, too.
As a finishing note, the first knife I made myself of Black Micarta and 440-C, gets loaded up every Oct. and heads to the field with me looking for fresh venison!
Aint knife making great?
(click the pictures for high resolution pictures)
 | This knife is a flat ground and hand finished satin ATS-34 blade with Nickel silver guard and butt cap. Handle is Buffalo Horn Taper. |
 | This knife is a flat ground 512 layer Random Pattern Jerry Rados Damascus made of W2 and 203-E. Nickel silver guard and butt cap on an Elk brow tine handle. |
 | This knife is a knife I made for a newly enlisted man just finishing Basic Training. The flat ground blade is surrounded by a full tang and sand blasted Green Canvas Micarta. The hardened cap screws, threaded into the tang, remove and the scales come off for cleaning. |
 | This knife is a Hollow ground 154-CM blade with hand sanded flats and a sheep horn handle. This is the first model I designed and is designated KBA #1. Ive probably made 50 of this style no two alike! |
Mailing Address:
Email: Karl@kbaknives.com
Website: http://www.kbaknives.com