Today we’d like to introduce you to Teddy Royer.
Hi Teddy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was one of those kids that were always doodling on scrap papers, or on school work when the teacher was talking. I loved drawing and found the way the light played on objects to be particularly fascinating. This, along with a love of fantasy books (The Redwall series, Sword of Shannara, Lord of the rings, etc…) led me to draw a lot of swords, knives, and various other weapons. the way light would play on the multiple facets and geometries of the weapons made them so incredibly interesting. At the time I never even considered the fact that these designs could in fact become blueprints of real-life objects. Around 10 years ago I was chatting with a co-worker who mentioned the fact that he, in his spare time, enjoyed 3d modeling knife designs.
Being fascinated with blades as I was I asked him if he had ever made or had made one of his designs. His response was that everyone he asked wanted several hundred dollars to actually make a blade. My response was “I could easily make one for you!” With that simple statement, I dove down the rabbit hole. I started researching the processes, sorting fact from fiction and method from mythology. I scrapped an old charcoal grill and with an old air mattress air pump I built my first forge in my backyard and went at it with more ambition than knowledge. But eventually, I completed that first real knife…
So I had to make another one… and another… and then I wanted to try this thing, so I did. But then, what about that…well let’s try it out too. before long I was bringing knives to various co-workers asking them for input and feedback. It’s an addicting hobby and every knife I finish is an accomplishment. But I’m constantly striving to make a better knife next time, with the hopes that eventually I’ll make one that I’m completely happy with.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The problem with any hobby is finding the time. Shortly after I started my wife and I welcomed our first Baby boy into our family…and what limited time I had disappeared. 10 years later and 3 total kids’ mean time is at a premium and as long as it remains a hobby that will probably continue to be an issue.
I joke that my wife initially wasn’t too fond of the idea of me making knives, but when I was able to buy her a couch with some knife revenue she jumped wholly on board (but in reality she is probably my biggest fan and puts up with so much so that I can pursue this addiction.. I mean hobby).
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I make handmade knives, I work to make sure that every knife I make is one that could be around for generations.
Once upon a time, every grandpa had a knife, it was grandpas knife. that knife would be the one the grandkids would sneak out and whittle with, cut themselves with that mentality has seemed to vanish in the last 20 years or so. I want every knife I make to be the quality and usability of grandpa’s old knife, one that will be passed down for generations and become a family memento. With that in mind, I strive to make sure every knife I produce is what the customer wants. With my custom knives, I work with the customer, and based on the intended purposes of the knife I design a one-off individual piece for every customer.
This makes it so that every custom knife I make won’t ever have another one like it. When possible I even enjoy having the customer come to my shop when I shape the handle. This allows me to shape it to their hand and their preferences. I kind of take an Apple approach to my handles. Apple make such a big splash because they focused on the user interface and user experience. the handle is the point at which the customer interacts with the knife as such. It needs to be the most comfortable and enjoyable experience for the user. That’s one of my biggest goals/hopes are that every knife I finish up is the most comfortable knife the user has ever held.
Any big plans?
I would love to eventually get into knife-making full-time. It is a bit of a pipe dream right now but I am looking at (along with the custom side of my knives) rolling out a small production line of knives.
This would bring my same level of quality and commitment into a midline production knife allowing for people who can’t afford the higher prices of customer knives to still have an extremely high quality knife without the custom price tag. This would be a huge step in the full-time direction.
Pricing:
- My custom knives range from around $300 to over $1000 depending on the overall size and materials.
- Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring a production knife to mark in the $150-200 dollar range.
Contact Info:
- Website: teddybearknives.com
- Instagram: www.instgram.com/teddybearknives
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/teddybearknives
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/teddybearknives
