R J Martin made his first custom knife in 1976, as a teenager. Here, in his own words, is how it all started; “Being an avid fisherman, I loved to read the outdoor magazines, and the pictures in a Sports Afield article about Bob Dozier, peaked my interest. Those dropped hunters were beautiful! My father was an artist, and, I had already built fishing rods, lures, flies, and archery equipment, so I decided to build my first knife. It came out pretty well, and, the next was even better. You know the rest-I was hooked. But, it got better from there."

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R J has an engineering background. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Materials Engineering. He became an Airframe Designer with Sikorsky. Through 17 years of very technical design work R J continued making knives part time. In 2001 he retired from his aircraft design work to become a full-time knife maker. R J has won numerous awards including multiple repeat wins of Best Tactical Folder at the Blade Show, his knives sell out via lottery at all the shows he attends.