Small Model 4

Carson, Kit

Kit Carson who passed away in 2014, was instrumental in popularizing the flipper style of folding knife, Kit made a wide range of tactical and utility folders, the best known of which are the M16, M4 and M21. Reproduced by Columbia River Knife & Tool in a wide range of iterations, the M16 has been one of the company’s best-selling and most successful knives for many years. As revered as he was for his knives, Kit was more respected for his willingness to teach any and all how to make them. When knives and knifemaking exploded on the Internet circa the late 1990s and early 2000s, his mentoring benefited perhaps as many new and upcoming potential makers as anyone before or since. Inducted into the Cutlery Hall of Fame in 2012. A voting member of the Knifemakers’ Guild, Kit spent 20 years in the Army, retiring as a master sergeant in 1993. He grew up in North Georgia, interested in all things mechanical from the start. He began making knives in 1972, the same year he was drafted into the Army.