Carlos Lopez
Hello, my name is Carlos Lopez and I operate KnifeTreasures.com. I have liked and been attracted to knives since I was young.
I took three years of metal shop in high school and made four knives my Senior year. I gave 2 of those away, and kept two. I don't even know what steel we used, but I know that they were not heat treated properly. After graduating high school and going to college, I started collecting some production knives like Buck knives and Case knives. As I got older and could afford more knives, I kept buying different brands and patterns. I collected fixed blades as much as folders. For Christmas or birthdays, I was easy to buy for, just get me a knife.
About twelve years ago, I bought my first custom handmade knife. It was a Crawford Kasper model with Spirograph Damascus and Ivory handles. I still own that knife. Once I bought my first custom knife, and realized the quality of a handmade knife, all I could think about was buying my next knife. I started buying knives from different makers such as Bill Pease, Warren Osborne, Joe Kious, Schuyler Lovestrand, Jerry Corbit, Steve Johnson, Ricardo Velarde and Dietmar Kressler to name a few.
I then went to my first show. It was the Knife Makers Guild Show in Orlando in 2004. It was the first time that I was exposed to all these incredible knives by all different makers all at once. I met Steve Johnson before the show, and without knowing me he went out of his way to get me a pass for the Gala that evening. He introduced me to Ricardo Velarde, and I was impressed at how nice everybody was. As I have found out, it is an incredibly friendly group of people, makers, dealers, collectors, etc, that share this passion for the same thing that brings us all together.
As the years passed I started collecting higher end knives. I still consider Steve Johnson to be my favorite maker, but I have also started collecting highly engraved knives. Most of these are by Joe Kious, Warren Osborne, Steve Johnson, Tom Overeynder, Shaun & Sharla Hansen and Ron Lake to name a few. Some of my favorite engravers are Ron Skaggs, Lee Griffiths, CJ Cai, Jon Robyn, Ray Cover Jr., Julie Warenski-Erickson, Simone Fezzardi, Bryson Gwynell,Tim George, Lisa Tomlin, Manrico Torcoli, Alex Gev and Joe Mason.
I travel to about six to eight knife shows a year, and have made great friends. These are life-long friends that share my same knife-loving passion. I am now starting to sell knives as well as still collecting them. I hope you enjoy looking through KnifeTreasures.com and that you find something you want to add to your collection.
All the best to you, and see you at the next show!