An Interview With Sergey R – Jeweler and Knifemaker

I saw Sergey’s custom work and I HAD to feature his stuff on my site. Naturally, I feel that way about everyone who I manage to feature here (which is why I enjoy doing this stuff so much), but Sergey’s customizations really spoke to me.

We all know it’s real easy to go to the knife shop (or your favorite online knife retailer) and simply buy a cool production knife. I have tons, they are awesome, but at the end of the day, what is so special about it? Customizing your knife is a fun way to set your blade apart, and I know lot of people enjoy customizing their own knives. That said, I have seen few do it with style and attention to detail Sergey has, which is why I approached him to learn more.

Getting him to the site wasn’t an easy task because as you will learn, Sergey is a really busy guy. Luckily, he took the time to sit down and answer some questions for me and I am really proud to feature his work on my site. Speaking of websites, he has one of his own which you should check out, www.sr-artdesign.com. Also, his photo gallery is really impressive. So without further ado, I present Sergey R and his customized knives.

Thanks for joining us today Sergey, you do some gorgeous work on these production knives. Can you tell us what got you started with all of this?

I always was interested in knives. I started making my first knives from old files when I was 14. Then I got bored with all black collection of my own knives, found few things that could be improved on stock knives and started to customize my own knives.

That is how it got started.

Tell us a little more about your background.

I was born in Moscow, Russia. My father was well known jeweler. He moved to New York and then he got a good job offer. A few years later I turned 17 and I followed him and started working with him. So my profession is jeweler. Knifes are my passion and hobby.

Because of my main work I have very limited time for knifes, I have lots of interesting ideas and not enough time to make it all.

Well that sucks for us knife enthusiasts because you bring some very interesting and unique ideas to standard knives. Anyone can go out and buy a Spyderco Military, or a ZT 0300 – but when you add your customizations, that takes it to another level.

Something that immediately caught my eye is the awesome two-tone G10 you use for your custom scales. Where do you even find this stuff?

I am looking for new ideas and new colors all the time. I think plain black g10 is getting boring. There are a few knife makers supply stores who sell two tone g10. I was even thinking about making my own g10, but then again not enough time for experiments.

Do you do any knife making or is it all customization?

Yes I do, but those knifes are not for sale. I still have a lot to learn and improve before I can bring a finished product to the customer. It is not as easy as it looks.

Believe me, doing these interviews is about as close as I can get to making a knife. I’ll leave that stuff to the pros. 😉

Now I have to ask, (because I am sure I would get an e-beat down from anyone reading this interview if I didn’t) do you make any of these scales for sale / will you do any kind of custom work for people?

I make some for sale and some for my personal collection. I also accept orders on limited basis mainly due to other work I do. You can always email me for specifics.

Very cool. Thanks again for the words Sergey, is there anything else you would like to add?

I learned a lot working as jeweler and I am planing to use it in knife the making industry. You definitely will see few folders made by me in next 12 mouths. As a jeweler I mostly work on big things like the nephrite box (you can see it on my site) it will be sold at Bonhams auction in New york this April .

Well I will certainly have to follow up with you in the coming months! Best of luck with your knives and auction, I have a feeling that it will turn out great.

You can see more of Sergey’s work at his website.

UPDATE – 05/09/2011 – Our friend Sergey is now making knives!! As I would have expected the knives are nothing short of stunning. Check out his website for his latest work!