Amish Made Knives

Jim Adams Customs

Well-Known Member
I have started hanging out with Sam Stoner, an Amish Knifemaker. We have large Amish community here. Sam uses no electricity. He has a full machine shop is what he does when he isn't making knives. Everything is run off a pulley system that is run by horses on a Tread mill. Sam did these three knives. I thought I would share. He also makes a great Damascus.


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I live right at the front door of Amish country here in Ohio. The Amish seem to take pride in any work they do. A lot of great craftsmen here but I never met an Amish knifemaker.

His knives look pretty good.

Larry
 
I take it a CNC machine is out of the question.cool 1
 
That would be an interesting story for Blade Magazine. You should submit some good photos to them.
 
David, some Amish have phones now but not many. Usually if you want to get in touch with one you have to drive to their house to do business.

Bruce, I like your idea of a story in blade magazine, I think it would be very interesting.

I've been to many of their shops and it's amazing what they work with. I would love to see pictures of his shop on here. Their blacksmith shops are really primitive

Larry
 
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Larry
The Amish as General Rule don't have phones in the homes. They have one phone shared by the community. Sometime they are in a shed next to the house. They are strictly used for business or emergencies.
 
I'll have to go back to some old Blades but there was an Amish knifemaker in the early 90's from Seymour , Missouri. He forged with charcoal and everything else was hand work. He did some very nice work and even got to the folder stage. He also had one of his daughters that made a knife or two. He tried to sell a few sets of father and daughter ones. Found the reference- Randy Wittman- made with hacksaw,files,and sandpaper. he even manged to do some inlays on the folder handles by using two piece sides and cutting out a window in the top to put the inlay in. Tapered the cut out so it would not come out.
 
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I don't know much about either of them except for the fact that they run puppy mills. As a dog lover I have a hard time getting past that.

Larry I am animal lover too. But facts are there may be 10,000 puppy mills in this country? Most are run by Americans that are not Amish and Mennonites? Maybe less than 1 percent of the Puppy mills are run by Amish or Mennonites.

Sam is my friend and fellow knifemaker, that just happens to be Amish. So I might be a little touchy when you suggest all that the Amish do is Puppy Mills.

Back to the topic.
 
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Amish here in Ohio do use modern technologies. They find loopholes where they can. Ever see a Caterpillar tractor with the rubber tracks replaced with metal wheels?

Today, tractors are used by Amish farmers but are limited to use in the barn. They are used to power feed grinders, hydraulic systems, ventilating fans; to blow silage to the top of silos; to pump liquid manure; and, a host of other similar functions. However, they are rarely used in the fields.
 
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