Mike Snody is a

Southern Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...

knife maker Knife making is the process of manufacturing a knife by any one or a combination of processes: stock removal, forging to shape, welded lamination or investment cast. Typical metals used come from the carbon steel, tool, or stainless steel fami ...

who is known for his use of exotic materials in his custom knives. He is currently based in

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Knife Making

Snody worked as a Quality Control Inspector in the petroleum industry before making custom knives. He began making Japanese influenced fixed-blade knives in 1998 and branched out into other designs by 2004 including

Kitchen knives A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a toughness, tough cleaver, a small #Paring, paring knif ...

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, Fixed blade fighting knives, and

Pocket Knives A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A ty ...

. Most of his designs have a primary focus on self-defense or tactical applications. He has used a variety of steel types in his knife construction over the years. A2, s35v, 154 cm, 440c and Damascus are the most commonly used. There are many examples of Titanium used in his Folding Knives. Titanium blades often have a

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edge for added toughness, since titanium is work hardened and not heat treated. Each sheath is hand made out of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

kydex Kydex is a line of thermoplastic acrylic- polyvinyl chloride materials manufactured by Sekisui SPI. It has a wide variety of applications, including for aircraft bulkheads, firearm holsters, and sheaths. A similar acrylic polyvinyl chloride m ...

. The handle construction of his knives are simply wrapped in parachute cord also known as paracord or be embellished with exotic materials such as

petrified In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this proce ...

dinosaur bone, giraffe bone, and Hippopotamus tooth. Snody often uses Timascus in his handle construction, which is a Titanium-based Damascus that anodizes at a different rate giving contrasting color in the pattern. One of his latest designs called the "Money Friction Folder" incorporates a hole in the handle and a stop pin to convert a folding knife into a fixed blade knife.

Collaborations

Snody has collaborated with knife manufactures including Benchmade Knives,

Spyderco Spyderco is an American cutlery company based in Golden, Colorado, producing knives and knife sharpeners. Spyderco pioneered many features that are now common in folding knives, including the pocket clip, serrations, and the opening hole. Spyd ...

, H&K Knives and most recently KA Bar. In 2005 Benchmade won the "Knife of the Year Award" from the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence for the Mike Snody designed Model 425 Gravitator folding knife. Snody designed many knives for the

Heckler and Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...

Knife line as an outgrowth of his collaboration with Benchmade Knives. His recent collaboration with Ka-Bar known as the Big Boss shares many of the same design aspects of the original design produced from Snody Knives.

References

External links

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Firearms Maker Unveils Line of Tactical Knives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snody, Mike Living people Weapon designers Knife makers 21st-century American businesspeople 1964 births