Every knife that is made at Team Kiess Knives is made with love. The love of knives has been a long road. It started when Mike was given his first knife, a hand me down old timer pocket knife from his grandfather, which is still in his jewelery box to this day when he was 6 years old. That little worn out knife started a life long passion for collecting knives, which later turned into us making our own knives. We would be remiss without giving Forged in Fire some of the credit along with Mike's wonderful wife Renee who finally said "enough is enough" for Mike yelling at the TV. With Renee's urging Mike got started on his knife making adventure.

At the end of 2024 we started making damascus or pattern welded knives. Some of our patterns so far have been up to 3610 layered 15N20/1095, ladder pattern, rain drop and of course a lot of canister damascus. All of our knives come with a sheath, mostly kydex (which we knew nothing about before we started making our own blades) some might begrudgingly come with a leather sheath (not Mike's favorite to make) or damascus blades come with a leather lined kydex sheath. Every sheath is drilled for Tek-Lock spacing. 

Mike grew up in a small town in north eastern New Mexico and spent a lot of time working on a ranch where he learned to "make things work" out of necessity. When Mike was 12 years old he was given a Buck 110 that he still owns to this day. Knives were always a tool on the ranch,  not a toy, so a deep appreciation and respect was gained for edged weapons.  

Mike Kiess/ Team Kiess Knives is a member of the American Bladesmith Society.