The Toad D/A

Wilson, Stan

"All my life I have been a maker of many things, a jack-of-all-trades if you will. The idea of making a knife had been with me for a long time. Ever since I was a small boy I have always carried a knife, to me it was an Indispensable tool, never to be without. Later on in years, it was a good friend & hunting partner who finally got me started in knife making, though he was unaware of it. Every time we went hunting he would tell anyone who would listen about his knife, an old Rudy Ruana. The knife I carried at that time was nothing special, so one day after hearing one of his stories for umpteenth time I decided to make a knife of my own. I was going to apply all my crafting skills to this task. Little did I know that what I was plunging into was first going to evolve from a hobby, to an obsession, to something that would become my livelihood. That first knife was made from scavenged materials. A chainsaw bar for the blade, a copper electrode was made into the guard, the handle cut from an old rosewood picture frame. It took months of trial and error to finish that knife, but Upon completion of the first, I felt challenged to make another, but better. This is and always will be my creed. I promise to deliver each knife better than the last. That is the true challenge of what drives me today, to deliver the best I can. So I will go any length to ensure satisfaction and deliver what is truly a hand crafted knife. My choice of materials for my knives are natural and exotic handle materials such as pearl, bone, ivory or fine burlwood combined with a Damascus blade. All my knives are made by stock-removal, free hand ground and hand finished. I do not work off of set patterns, but from a simple drawing. This takes a little more time but it also allows me to be more creative and have full control to make slight changes to each custom knife, obviously as result no two knives are ever identical. My first knife was it was once described by another knife maker as organic in design. My basic designs still reflect that organic flow, graceful curves and a minimum of straight lines. I maintain sole authorship on all my knives with the exception of the Damascus I use and heat-treating of stainless steels. Like many makers I began with fixed blades, as I gained skills I moved into folders, then autos. Lately I have taken to building my folders with all the screws hidden."