Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

From your requests, I've been building videos on YouTube. I'll keep this page current as new videos are created and posted.

Steel Treatment Videos Removed from YouTube

People have asked why I removed my string of YouTube videos about knife blade processing. I had over a dozen videos posted, and described heat treating and its effects in knife blades. I had them up for a while but I've deleted them for several reasons.

• The videos were short; this was a suggestion and requirement by YouTube, because according to them, people don't have the attention span to watch a video longer than about 5 minutes max. Unless it's an actual show, drama, exposé, or documentary, few watchers of YouTube are interested in an hour-long lecture about steel treatment. This is a suggestion by YouTube, so please don't blame me.
• I could see that people wanted more and more and more information, and wanted me to get into more detail, description, and facets of knifemaking. It would be easy for me to fall into the trap of making endless videos, since I love to talk, write, and present (take this huge website as an example), and I simply have a big mouth! While I'm doing this, I'm falling farther and farther behind on my orders; this is not a good thing!
• There were endless questions, questions that take time and demonstration to answer. I've always said that there could be a graduate-level knifemaking degree, because it literally takes ten years to get proficient at knifemaking, and there are continual new developments. Taking the time to answer all these inquires and offer directions and details would quickly use up all of my time.
• It's simply too much to present. If you doubt this, take a look at this website. I've written every word (apart from the testimonials and incoming emails) and it's over 600 "pages" long. When I emphasize pages (web pages), it's important to know that some of those pages represent hundreds of text pages in a book. Take a long while and read my "Blades" page, my "Heat Treating" page and even my latest "Food Safety and Kitchen Knives" page. Printed out, these would represent many hundreds of pages of text. If I were to simply record reading what is written on my website, it would take months... months! Kind of sobering, isn't it? It's taken me since 1996 to build all of this, to do all the writing and presenting. To "catch up" with a video set would mean many, many months, perhaps years of work.
• I had to continually police the responses because YouTube allows anyone to comment, and trolls have nothing better to do! Consequently, while most questions and comments were positive and helpful, a few were just hateful or ignorant drivel, and nobody needs that in their life. This is the same reason I only rarely post on forums, because of the ignorant anonymous and the trolls. The only other option would be to prevent all comments and that seems limiting and non-interactive.
• I had made several mistakes in the videos. One of them was technical, an audio problem that bothered some listeners, and frankly, I could do better. Another was some specific and technical microstructure and process descriptions which could have been better detailed and presented. Another mistake was in lighting; I was filming in the studio and the light changes dramatically and was distracting to viewers. Another mistake was not having charts or using a whiteboard. I know this sounds academic, but to clearly illustrate the technical parts of the presentation, all instructors write and draw. Another mistake was the format. It was too fractured, too detailed, and not a wide enough view was presented. I own all of these errors, and I promise to do better in the future, should the opportunity arise.

The future looks good; I look forward to remaking a video string about my favorite subject, knives. I've been approached by several production companies in the past, including ones that make knife competition shows, but have declined those, since making a knife is not like making a bowl of risotto. Others wanted to create onsite videos, but when they discovered where the studio was located, they bolted in fear. We have an ongoing joke here, "Everyone would rather take an ass-whipping than come to Clovis, New Mexico." And this is true, we've been told as much. We literally are many, many miles from any night life, entertainment, or attraction, either outdoors or in! And... it's kind of nice that way.

We shall see what comes up, but in the meantime, if you are a videographer, producer, or have any clear ideas, feel free to contact me; I always love to talk!

Feel free to research the many hundreds of pages on this website, the very best singular knifemaker website ever to exist!

Knife and Sheath Demonstrations

On these videos, I demonstrate knives and their rigs, gear, sheaths, wear systems, and accessories. It's important to have a visual so my clients and other interested people can see how these systems all work together. Mainly, they are tactical, combat, and counterterrorism knives, and the arrangements and equipment I create comes from the requests of my tactical and professional clients. When you see the videos, you'll realize that a knife is so much more than a piece of steel with a handle; it's everything in the kit that gets the knife into the field and enables the knife in a successful mission.

1. Here's a Detailed video demonstrating my modular sheath frame mount system on my Ananke khukri. It's a big knife, and the modular system takes care of a lot of wear and change issues.
2. A detailed video demonstrating my standard tactical knife wear system, featuring the locking sheath, belt loops, straps, clamps, hardware, belt loop extender, sternum harness, and LIMA for a "PJLT," my most popular CSAR and tactical knife.
3. A long and detailed video demonstrating setup, wear, use of my modular harness and knife sheath wear system, the most sophisticated and versatile knife sheath wear system in the world for my PJ-CT, a counterterrorism CSAR hybrid knife. The kit includes two complete sets o modular sheath and wear accessories, one in black, one in coyote brown. This includes locking sheaths in stainless steel, anodized aluminum, and kydex, belt loop extenders, sternum harnesses, spine harnesses, all mounting hardware, belt loop assortment, horizontal and vertical, belt clamp straps, LIMA (Lamp Independent Mount Assemblies), HULA (Holder, Universal Lamp, Articulating) with Maglite Solitaires and Mag-Tac flashlights, ventilated mesh pads, lanyards, Ostrich leg skin inlaid leather sheath, and handmade 1000 Denier ballistic nylon duffle
4. A short video on packing the kit of one of my modular counterterrorism knives, the Hooded Warrior. The kit includes two complete sets o modular sheath and wear accessories, one in black, one in coyote brown. This includes locking sheaths in stainless steel, anodized aluminum, and kydex, belt loop extenders, sternum harnesses, spine harnesses, all mounting hardware, belt loop assortment, horizontal and vertical, belt clamp straps, LIMA (Lamp Independent Mount Assemblies), HULA (Holder, Universal Lamp, Articulating) with Maglite Solitaires and Mag-Tac flashlights, ventilated mesh pads, lanyards, Ostrich leg skin inlaid leather sheath, and handmade 1000 Denier ballistic nylon duffle

Art Casting Videos

1. Bronze Casting at Sharp Instinct Studio with Jay Fisher, is a simple view of a small portion of making a custom knife stand in solid cast bronze. I emphasize a small portion because it's just the pouring and shakeout of the bronze casting, and not the designing, wax carving, prepping of the wax model, sprue and vent attachment, debubblizing, and investment that happens before the burnout, and it doesn't include the steps after the casting like fettling, cleanup, texturing, finishing, and patina application! But the casting is the most visually interesting part, and the reveal after the shakeout is always a treat, so that's why I chose this portion of the creative process.
2. Casting Bronze Knife Stand for Knife Sculpture "Morta" is a video with details of the wax model, the casting, the shakeout, and the completed sculpture for the knife "Morta" with a 3400 year old bog oak handle.