P.J. Tomes began making knives as a young boy over 50 years ago. He began making knives full time in 1976 and joined the Knifemaker's Guild in 1978. He is self-taught except for learning steel making and tempering from Alfred Pendray in the early 1980's. The steel of choice for P.J.'s forged blades is 52100. His Stainless knives are made from Sandvik 12C27.

P.J. is known for how thin his knives are and for his flat grinds all the way to the edge. P.J. primarily uses natural handle materials including India Stag, Pearl, along with Elephant, Walrus, and Mammoth Ivory. His primary handle material is jigged bone that he produces in his own shop, and jigged bone is what is quoted in the base price for most of his knives.

P. J. is the first person in the United States to successfully design and manufacture a double lockblade folder with a single spring (examples) This design won the Most Innovative Award at the 2000 Blade Show. The following year P. J. won the same award with his design of the 109X again using a single spring.

P.J.Tomes is a recipient of the prestigious Beretta Award.

P. J. Tomes has been recently interviewed in the December 2003 issue of Knives Illustrated about his extraordinary skill with, and knowledge of, Stag as a handle material. Click below to see the text of that article

P J Tomes, Master of Stag

 

About Natural Handle Materials

P.J. uses natural materials for much of his handle making and while he does everything possible to stabilize these materials, certain ones like bone, ivory, stag, and wood will occasionally shrink, crack, or check. Please understand that P.J. cannot be held responsible for changes in these natural materials that may occur as they age.

Deposit Required on Orders

P.J. requires a non-refundable $50.00 deposit for all orders from new customers, payable at the time the order is placed. The deposit goes toward the final price of the knife. For a custom knife, the non-refundable deposit will be 25% of the estimated final cost.