A Larger Palette

John Lewis Jensen says that the fit and finished work are greatly enhanced on his knives because of his experience in jewelry techniques and metalsmithing learned at Rhode Island School of Design. "It's part of being comfortable working with high-end materials and not being afraid to screw things up," he laughed. "It's the real kind of perfectionist dedication to fine tune things and get them perfect. Working with jewelry is on such a small scale that knives provide a much larger palette for the artist. I still have the eye to do the small work, and to do that in knives is very satisfying. A customer may buy a knife from me and call two weeks later to tell me he just noticed something else that I had done on the piece. That makes both the collector and me feel good."

While he has not made jewelry in years, crafting a damascus, gold and sapphire ring is on Jensen's back burner. Both his knives and his jewelry contain only the best materials. "I like gold, precious gems, titanium and fossil ivories. The materials are what excite me the most," he related. "Ninety percent of the damascus steel I use is custom made by Daryl Meier or Conny Persson. I'll work with them before the steel is made by sending them a drawing of the piece."

In many ways Jensen considers his knives to be sculpture. He incorporates a lot of color into his work and averages about 20 stones per piece. Techniques such as a "cutaway" view from the side also help to set his knives apart. His list prices start at $3,500.