Love of knives leads to career with an edge

Photo by Flip Putthoff Krein uses different types of steel to make different kinds of knives.
Photo by Flip Putthoff Krein uses different types of steel to make different kinds of knives.

GENTRY -- Tom Krein sells one of the products he turns out with his own hands. The other he gives away. Krein makes high-quality knives of all styles at his workshop in downtown Gentry. So popular are his sharp-edged works of art that Krein has two years worth of orders to fill.

Outside, Krein grows a cornucopia of vegetables that he shares with the community. Anyone is welcome to stop by the raised-bed garden in front of his shop and pick peppers, tomatoes, whatever produce is ripe and ready to eat. Creating knives for customers and growing a bounty of vegetables for neighbors are labors of love for the craftsman.

Krein's workshop on the east end of downtown doesn't stand out. Inside, Krein makes knives to use in the kitchen, for fishing or hunting. Krein, 43, has been turning out knives since he made his first one 20 years ago. Along the way he has worked for well-known knife makers and has sold designs of his creation that other companies now mass produce.

He has plenty of job security. Krein has stopped taking orders for custom knives because he has so many they'll take two years to fill. "I don't know if I'll ever take another knife order again," Krein said.

Krein sells an occasional knife on his Facebook page, Krein Knives. Other than that, he stays busy making chef knives, hunting knives, even straight razors.

Yes, razors. "Wet shaving is making a comeback," Krein said.

Small Knife for Deer

A good knife is a necessary tool for hunters now in the midst of Arkansas' modern gun deer season. If a hunter's aim is true, a knife is needed to field dress the deer.

That is, remove the entrails. Hunters who process their own deer need a knife to skin the animal.

There's no need for a Rambo-sized knife. Krein enjoys archery deer hunting when he has time and carries a surprisingly small knife. The blade is shorter than his index finger.

"I like a small knife," Krein said, showing the shiny blade and custom handle. "You can use this knife for field dressing or skinning."

The small size makes it easier to make cuts at tight spots inside the body cavity when dressing the deer, Krein noted. A high-grade knife made with quality steel will stay sharp throughout the job.

A hunting knife does different duty than, say, a chef's chopping knife, so Krein uses different types of steel for different kinds of knives.

Keeping the blade sharp is part of knife ownership.

There are gadgets galore for sharpening a knife. Some work, others don't. Krein recommends that people learn to sharpen their knives on a honing stone. It's becoming a lost art, he said.

Keeping the same angle each time the blade goes across the stone is key. Whatever the technique, if the end result is a sharp blade, that's what's important, Krein said.

Sharp-edged Craft

Making knives is something Krein has wanted to do since he was a boy.

"I've always liked knives, guns and archery," he said. "A knife is an amazing tool. You can eat with it, open boxes, even use it for self defense."

Krein read some books about knife making and decided to give it a try. "My first attempts were pretty pathetic," he said.

Twenty years later, Krein is a true craftsman whose work is in high demand. He displays his custom work each year at the New York Custom Knife Show and at shows in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

Knives haven't always been his livelihood. Krein worked as an emergency room nurse for 18 years at hospitals in Northwest Arkansas.

Nowadays, Krein can be found hard at work in his shop filling a backlog of orders. Come spring, he'll be out front sowing the seeds of another community vegetable garden.

General News on 11/19/2014