About Tim
Tim Hancock makes Bowies, fighters, daggers, hunters, and folding knives. His favorite perhaps is the Bowie knife, but he enjoys making “new things” and taking on “new challenges”, so he never stays with only one style of design or combination of materials. The designs he creates always seem to reveal the influence of his affinity for the Old West, and each knife is clearly a unique piece. The blades are usually hand forged from 52100 ball-bearing steel or Tim’s own patterned Damascus using a combination of high grade carbon steels. Tim also makes his own sheaths fashioned from special grade leather, and several are overlaid with sharkskin, or other exotic leather materials. Many sheaths also sport accoutrements made of silver, gold, or Tim’s Damascus steel. Usually the sheath alone is a true work of art, and it always complements the knife so that the matched set is spectacular!
Born in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1954, Tim comes from generations of horsemen. His great grandfather was a wheelwright and farrier in Canada, and his father was a farrier and highly regarded equine veterinarian in Colorado and Arizona. Tim himself began learning the farrier skills at the age of 10 and at the age of 15 he partnered up with an older cowboy that wanted to learn the trade of horse shoeing. Tim started riding horses at about the same time he started walking. As a youngster, he worked summers on various large ranches in Wyoming and Montana where he learned the ways of the rancher and cowman from some very experienced hands. He took his first solo overnight pack trip into the back country at the age of ten. As a teenager, Tim rode bulls and bareback broncs in rodeos, even making it to the Youth Rodeo National Finals a few times. He has driven herds of horses long distances, broken wild horses, and has worked for numerous well known horse trainers. Some other hobbies have included riding in endurance competitions, rock climbing, ice climbing and scuba diving. Although Hancock is quite soft-spoken, his background has provided him with a combination of mental and physical toughness that few men can match. As a man of few words and high integrity, when Tim speaks, whether directly or anecdotally, his words are usually filled with wisdom and they’re always worth a listen.
Hancock eventually made a career as a pipe welder and later as a welding engineer in the nuclear power plant construction industry. It was in that field that he learned the high value of working within measures of extreme precision. In 1987, Tim was admiring an ancient Sioux Indian sheath on his father’s mantle. It was decorated with dyed quills and beads, and it obviously needed a knife, so Tim took on the task to make one. “Surely,” he thought, “Any farrier worth his salt can make a knife.” A year later he finally finished that first knife, and he realized that constructing a knife was a bit more difficult than he first anticipated. Always enticed by new and difficult challenges, Hancock began to make more knives.
He learned from some of the legendary masters, notably Bill Moran and Jim Crowell, and he applied his newly acquired knowledge with the tenacity and eye for quality and precision that had become part of his being.
In his early days, Tim also began making bits and spurs. He learned the finer art of this craft while living in California. There he met and apprenticed under a third-generation bit and spur maker by the name of Edwin G. Fields. With Fields’ vast experience, Tim progressed under his tutelage to become a truly skilled and artistic maker.
Tim began to attend some knife shows, and in 1993 he left his engineering career and transitioned to the full-time occupation of making knives, bits and spurs. Affiliated with the American Bladesmith Society, Hancock earned his Journeyman Smith certification in 1992 and was certified as a Master Bladesmith in 1994. This was at a time when the number of such masters was less than 50 in the world. Through the years, Tim has been the recipient of nearly 60 awards in recognition of his expert knifemaking skills.
In 2001, Tim was inducted into the prestigious Art Knife Invitational (AKI) show, held every other year in San Diego, California. According to Tim, being recognized by some of the most respected knife makers of all times is one of the greatest highlights of his career.
The Beginning
My knife making career started while I was living In Texas, employed as a principle welding engineer on the South Texas Nuclear Facility. While on vacation in Arizona I noticed a fine Souix Indian knife sheath on display from a collection my father had in his home. I simply said to him that it was really neat but too bad he didn’t have a knife to go with it. He looked at me for a long moment and said “Well I guess any good Farrier could make one for me”. That comment was like throwing a challenge right in my lap as he was the one that taught me to shoe horses at a very young age. In 1987 I made a knife of sorts for him, forging it from a used rasp and fashioning it using very crude tools and methods. My father was happy with what I had made but I was left in disbelief of how difficult it was to make a knife and just could not let this endeavor go without trying my hand at making a few more. From there on I continued to develop the skills required to make the quality knives that I later learned were being made by real knifemakers.
I spent about five years learning and honing my skills to the point where I was ready to take my Journeyman Smith test with the American Bladesmith Society.
My living icons at that time where Bill Moran for his old world appeal, Bob Loveless for his lines and proportion, Jim Schmidt for his file work and attention to detail, Jim Crowell for his zeal to make a real cutter, Buster Warenski for his unlimited skill levels, Larry Fuegen for his artistic combinations and concepts, Willie Rigney for his innovative ideas and original construction techniques, Ron Lake and Steve Hoel for their great precision and D’Alton Holder for his unwavering productivity. Actually I think I learned something from almost every maker I came into contact with. I rarely took the opportunity to actually have any true lessons from anyone, but I sure did listen to them all as they described how they went about their work.
The first actual shop that I had was when I went full time as a knife maker in 1992. Prior to that I worked out of garages, barns and such. I took the wheels off what little tools I had at that time and made a permanent shop in Scottsdale Arizona.
The collectors of this art form have been the ones truly responsible for giving me the opportunity to continue to progress and I thank all for making an impact in my career.
These are excerpts from the book Tim Hancock The Western Bladesmith by Dr. David Darom. Both the introduction and The story in the book titled The Superstition Mountains where written By Ged Messinger.