I’m Shaun Wilson

A Bladesmith out of Bay Area, California

My main job is a live sound engineer, the guy running the sound board at concerts. I work at various venues, but mostly work for bands, primarily Grateful Dead bands and the surrounding world.

This takes me all over the country getting paid to listen to music and make it sound good and loud. Love my job.

But early on in COVID times my industry obviously suddenly disappeared, and I found myself in desperate need of a hobby. I've always been creative and musical, but never much of a maker. My tool collection was embarrassingly small. But somehow all the stars aligned and I stumbled upon knife making as a craft, and it's changed my life. Started as a hobby to fill my time, and quickly transformed into a full on obsession. I've always had a fascination with knives. Since a kid, I'm not fully dressed unless I have one on hand.

Now a few years down the road I've built my own knife shop literally from the ground up in my backyard, and if I'm not on the road doing sound, that's where you'll find me.

From the act of making things with my hands, to the miles deep rabbit hole of science behind metallurgy, I found a new purpose.

As I love food (who doesn't right?), I've focused my work primarily on kitchen cutlery. I love that the most used knife any person owns is right there at the cutting board. I think its amazing that I can make something that can bring joy to someone every day.

I'm not much of a homechef myself, but my partner sure is. I know how a kitchen knife needs to perform as I'm her prep cook, breaking down all the ingredients, and let her do the rest.

There's more than I ever thought to the intricacies of blade geometry to make food slicing a dream. Pair that with a beautiful and ergonomic tool, and you're going to find yourself simply enjoying being in the kitchen.