Alessio Zilli lives with his wife, Reanna Leach, and their 8-month-old daughter in Grande Prairie, Alberta. He is a Swiss Journeyman Artistic Blacksmith and Knifemaker.
Alessio grew up in Switzerland, but in 1996, when he was 11, he travelled with his family to Salmon Arm, BC, to visit his uncle. His uncle, a self-taught blacksmith, set up a forge and got to work, giving Alessio his first taste of Blacksmithing. During his visit, Alessio made a nail, and he says, “That was the nail in the coffin…I was hooked. It was the combination of all the elements: fire, water, air, earth (carbon) - and the visuals, sounds, and smells that got ingrained into me. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
Featured Knifemakers
Alessio Zilli
Miles Vollman
Miles Vollman lives with his wife Sarah and their eleven year old son Frank, in Red Deer, Alberta. He is a mechanic by trade and is the foreman at Peterbilt Red Deer. In 2016, after a year of watching Forged in Fire, Miles looked at the huge box of scrap metal at work and thought he would make a knife. He started with a cutting torch then after a year or so he decided to make a forge. But Sarah, concerned about the family’s safety, quickly put a kibosh on that idea! Instead she agreed he could buy a “proper” forge. But, he made most of his own tools such as a hyrdraulic press and 2x72 belt grinder. Miles says the first few knives were more like “knife shaped objects” than knives.
Robert Walker
Robert has lived in Fort St. John, BC since 1979 when he moved to become a Telus Technician where he worked until he retired twelve years ago. He raised his three sons there and it was only after he retired did he have the time to become a knifemaker.
When talking with him you quickly become aware of the key role knifemaking plays in his life. Robert takes a philosophical / spiritual approach to life and knifemaking.
Gerry Kievit
Gerry is a longtime knifemaker who lives in Calgary, Alberta. He has always been good with his hands, and growing up on a farm, he had to be. In 1983, he took a 6-week saw filing course at NAIT in Edmonton. He says, “I loved tools and spent way too much money at the House of Tools and in 1993, I signed up for their knifemaking course by Bill Shiller.” Over the three-day course, Gerry made his first knife, and knifemaking became his lifelong hobby. He says, “I was hooked because I learned to do something new with my hands.”
Jason Leclair
Jason lives with his wife Kim, and daughter in Edmonton, Alberta. He has been making knives since 2009. He grew up in BC and Ontario and has enjoyed hunting, fishing, and camping all his life. But when he was dissatisfied with store-bought knives and had a piece of deer antler, he decided to make his own. He now sells his knives all over the world, including Chile, Australia, Germany, Britain, with the majority to the US and Canada.
Cody Statham
Cody Statham lives with his wife, Gigi, and their two daughters in Wilmer, BC (a stone’s throw from Brisco – home of Canadian Knifemaker Supply Ltd). He grew up in a farming family and noticed that his paternal Grandmother had used old farming equipment to make the sickle-blade knife that she used to cut baler twine. Also, when he was 10 years old, his maternal Grandfather, whom he had hunted and fished with from an early age, made him a knife from an old file. Cody treasured that knife, but when he was in College, someone broke into his truck and stole it. After many years, no matter how much he spent, he was never satisfied with a knife. About 10 years ago, while working his full-time job as a mechanic, he took a M12 bolt and started hammering it into the shape of a knife blade. He then used a bench grinder to finish it. Still, he kept hammering away at the handle; he drilled some holes and added some wood to it, creating a knife he was happy with. That started his passion for knifemaking.
Wolfgang Loerchner
Wolfgang Loerchner has lived in Bayfield, Ontario since 1975, and he started making knives in 1982. While reading a Guns and Ammo magazine that had a section on custom hunting knives, he decided to make a hunting knife for himself from an old file. After softening it in his wood stove, he filed and finished it, using his woodworking equipment. He commented: “It turned out well …it was shiny and it cut.” He made 3-4 more knives, using old files before discovering knifemaking steel. Little did he know that he had started on his journey to become known as one of the best knifemakers in the world.
Bob Lay
Bob lives in Clearwater, BC, and has been making knives for almost fifty years, thirty of these as a full-time knifemaker. In 1996, after their mortgage was paid and their two kids were independent, Bob and his wife Judy decided that it was time to quit their jobs and make knifemaking their sole source of income.
Adam Gilbey
Adam Gilbey lives in Windsor, Ontario. He is 32 years old and his interest in knifemaking began while studying Kinesiology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. After two years of watching “Forged in Fire” with his roommates, Adam decided to try making a knife for fun. In 2017, equipped with knowledge from online forums and YouTube videos, he tackled his first build during Christmas break at his parents’ house in Florida.
Greg Lightfoot
“Live a life you don’t need a vacation from” that's how Greg describes his life and his 38 years of knifemaking. He lives on a ranch in Kitscoty, Alberta and is a full-time knifemaker. He sells his knives internationally, with a large portion to collectors. He has 13.2K Instagram followers and has been featured in several knifemaking magazines. Many of his knives have been reviewed on YouTube. He says he feels blessed that he has a career where he can be an artist, a craftsman and a businessman and still have time to enjoy many outdoor hobbies.