Former Member -
Knifemakers Guild 2003-2014
Former
Member - National Knife Collectors Association
Former
Knifemaker Charter Member - Knife Rights
Former
Member - National Craft Association
Former
Member - National Congress of Old West Shootists
Former Member - Johnson County Rangers
Carter Crafts are the creations of Mike Carter, a Kentucky craftsman, photographer, and writer.
About Mike Carter
For a little more information about me and my background, click
HERE.
After several years of learning the craft, mostly under the tutelage of world renown master knifemaker Gil Hibben, and developing my own style, I finally felt that my handmade knives had achieved the level of craftsmanship and quality expected by collectors and buyers of fine cutlery and I formally established Carter Crafts LLC in May 2007.
My knives are handmade from the quality materials, heat treated for proper hardness and durability, and polished and finished by hand. I also make my leather knife sheaths completely by hand including hand stitching the leather. In addition I am learning the art of scrimshaw and have applied this unique form of art to several of my knives. My knife handles are often made from fine hardwoods, rare and exotic woods, and other exotic materials such as ancient wooly mammoth ivory.
I am a one-man knife shop without any automated equipment. As such, my production is limited.
Please visit my Carter Knives pages by clicking HERE.
What our customers are saying about Carter Knives
When I began using ancient wooly mammoth ivory for knife handles, I found that I often had small pieces left over. These pieces were too small for use in a knife handle but they were too rare, expensive and beautiful to throw away. A friend taught me how to make beautiful jewelry from my ivory remnants. It is a time consuming multi-step process of carefully shaping and hand sanding the ivory with successively finer grits of sandpaper and then buffing it to a high polish.
The result is incredibly rare and beautiful one-of-a-kind real ivory jewelry made from 10,000 year old wooly mammoth tusks. I also use cut-off pieces of reconstituted gemstone and exotic woods from around the world.
I have been a professional level photographer for over 30 years, transitioning from 35mm film photography to high resolution digital photography. I offer my photographic services for almost everything except weddings. I specialize in on-location portraiture and event photography.
I have also created a niche in knife photography for knifemakers and collectors who need high quality photos of knives for advertising, promotion or archives. In addition, I am an expert with Adobe Photoshop which allows me to enhance photographs, create composite photos and other provide graphic art services.
I have an extensive professional background in video and television production. I enjoy video production and editing for my personal interests but no longer offer video services professionally.