Tsafos Alkiviadis

20 November 2015 Author : Alessandra De Santis

Knife maker hobbyist from Greece, Alkiviadis Tsafos addressed the world of blades due to his passion for wild boar hunting.

Thanks to this activity and to his mature knowledge, the desire to make hunting tools of quality became his ambition.
So in 2010 Alkiviadis decided to start making his own blades, and after they had been successfully tested in the field he made knives for several other hunters.
Unfortunately he did not have the opportunity to learn from Masters (as knife making is not a recognized activity in Greece), but Alkiviadis did not lose his faith and took it on himself to find a lot of useful information from books and the Internet, learning with determination to forge and also to create blades by stock removal. He produces mainly hunting knives, as well as skinner knives or bowie style blades.
For his forged blades, the Greek knife maker employs steels such as K720, 1095, but also scrap materials such as ball bearings or farrier rasps. For blades made by stock removal, generally he uses 01, D2 or 440C steels.
As far as materials goes for the handles, he prefers the natural ones in particular stabilized woods (ironwood, olive wood, bubinga, palisander, etc.), but also deer or buffalo horns; he also employs synthetic materials such as micarta.

All the manufacturing process is done without mechanical and automatic tools but only with simple hand tools (with many files and many sandpapers); also the leather sheaths are entirely handmade by the knife maker.
Alkiviadis, thanks to his preparation, passion and determination, has become a benchmark for Greek knife makers, and he is also the owner and administrator of the only Greek forum (Greekblades.com) dedicated to knife lovers.

www.alkiviadisknives.com