Hey there everyone. It is time for another 5 from the Grinder feature, and today is one I have been looking forward to for a while now. I met Alec Wachtman (Wachtman Knife and Tool) a couple of years ago at Blade Show, and was taken in by his enthusiasm and the quality of his knives. Combined with his partner Maylee, they represent the next generation of makers. Alec qualifies as an “Up and Coming” maker, but he is one whom I quite rapidly could tell was going places. I can’t help but put aside my journalistic impartiality a bit. I am rooting for them.
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So without further ado, here is Alec…
Please introduce yourself and let us know what led you to making and designing knives.
My name’s Alec Wachtman. I got into making knives at a very young age. I came from a bushcraft background. We did a lot of stuff playing around in the woods when I was younger. And from there, I actually spent a lot of my early adolescent years working in machine shops and getting exposed to kind of modern manufacturing practices. From that point, it was pretty easy to make the leap from well, I have I already had knives as a hobby, sort of. My dad was collecting knives a lot, and then I had some of the skills to start getting my feet wet, seeing if I could make them. At the time, I think I hit the internet at about the right place, the right time, and I got some interest in my blades and now I’m here.
What knife makers or designers have the biggest influence on you? and do you have any mentors?
Yeah, so I’ve had a lot of different mentors over the years. I have to say that some of my largest influences are really the people that have spent the most time talking to me in person. So it’s been guys like Mike Taylor from Keybar, Shane Magnuson from Scorpion 6 Knives has been a big influence over the years. I really like what the guys at Dauntless manufacturing are doing. They have some really clean practices.
What’s your favorite knife pattern or style from history?
So, I really, really kind of just like, if we’re going historical, I really like Bowie’s. Um, and sort of the basic drop point hunter profile that you see in a lot of the sort of Western sphere of influence. Um, I really enjoy, though, taking a lot of different designs that I see in creating what I see in my mind as an ideal composite of them. And that’s what I have here.
What is the next big thing in knife making and what direction do you see the industry going?
I think we’re going to see a lot more automation. Everything’s getting automated and it’s going to be if people are going to continue making knives by hand, they’re going to have to start making higher and higher end knives using more ambitious techniques that you can only perfect by hand. There are still limitations in the digital manufacturing space in terms of what shapes and what profiles can be created. So if somebody is going to continue making knives by hand, it’s going to require a lot of adaptation. But I think by and large, the industry is going more and more to human operators with the knives being made physically by the robots.
Is there a knife from your lineup, you feel best exhibits who you are as a knife maker, a designer in terms of design elements, aesthetic or techniques?
Yeah, so right now, I would say our newest knife, the emu, is probably a best example of everything I’ve been working on up to this point. It features a lot of highly sculpted handle topography. Um, and then I’ve taken everything that I’ve learned from years and years and years of feedback from all of my customers carrying around my ADC fixed blades, trying to make a blade shape that will suit as many use cases as possible. The emu is actually an acronym, and it stands for everyday multi-use. Oh, I really hope that people get to carry it around as much as I’ve designed it for.
What is your EDC and why?
So my EDC right now is the Emu. Why? Because it’s the newest one and I want to get as much firsthand feedback about the design as possible. I’m my own worst critic. So I’m gonna find the smallest problems that exist. And then from there, I’m going to be really looking forward to talking to my customer base about how they’ve been able to use it, where some struggles were in different scenarios and how I can best adapt to that in the future.
Find out more:
Website: https://wachtmanknifeandtool.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wachtmanknifeandtool/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WachtmanKnifeandtoolLLC
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