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Bob Rankin Knives is the work of Bob Rankin, a Michigan custom maker who forges his own Damascus and builds everything from compact EDC blades to full-size kitchen knives. Working as Bob Rankin Custom Knives out of his shop in Wales, Michigan, he is a hands-on bladesmith in the truest sense, drawing his own steel rather than buying it ready-made.
The signature of a Bob Rankin knife is the steel itself. He forge welds his own Damascus from 1084 and 15n20, the classic high-contrast pairing covered in our knife steel guide, and stacks it into high layer counts, with patterns built from several hundred layers being routine. Our current hunters show the range: Twisted W's, Crushed W's, and low layer patterns under brass, copper, and integral guards. He also supplies finished Damascus billets to other makers, which is about the strongest endorsement a bladesmith can earn, and for buyers who prefer a clean single-steel blade, he works in straight high carbon and stainless as well.
Rankin's range is wide on purpose, running from small, pocketable EDC knives through hunters and outdoor fixed blades to large chef's knives and kitchen pieces, frequently dressed in figured natural handle materials like Tasmanian blackwood, spalted hackberry, tigertail maple, and walnut burl, with the odd Fordite spacer nodding to Michigan's automotive soul. Because every knife is made one at a time for our custom shop tier, the handle materials and finishing details shift from piece to piece, so no two builds are exactly alike.
Some of Rankin's most talked-about pieces are commemorative one-offs built around materials with genuine history, the kind of project where the backstory matters as much as the blade. That willingness to chase a meaningful build instead of simply repeating a catalog is a large part of why collectors track his releases. He also passes on what he knows, running hands-on Damascus making classes for makers who want to learn to forge their own steel. Whether the draw is a high-layer Damascus EDC or a one-off built to mark an occasion, a Bob Rankin knife is a genuinely handmade piece from a maker who controls the process end to end.
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