Don Robinson lives in Brownsville, Texas "On the Border by the Sea", as

the local chamber of commerce advertises it.



Don is a heavily experienced Tool & Die Maker and Manufacturing

Engineer and currently a Custom Knifemaker. He has been making knives

of all kinds for sale to the public since 1988. He started with fixed

blade knives, then slip joint folders, lockback folders, and currently

makes linerlock, framelock, slipjoint and button lock folders of all sizes and

styles in addition to fixed blade knives. His currently favorite knives

to make are his unique Barlow style small pocket knives.



Don is the sole author of all his work, including the heat treatment of

his blades. He uses the stock removal process, but will furnish

damascus on request. Each knife is made by hand, one at a time,

utilizing the manually operated machine tools in his shop. He is a

fully qualified professional heat treater, in addition to his

metalworking skills.



He prefers to make his knives on commission so that he and the

potential owner of each knife can decide together the details involved

in the knife, starting with type, style, size, and intended usage.

From that point, he and the buyer decide the blade and handle materials

and all the other details for each knife. Don prefers to use several

kinds of air hardening steels, depending on the type, size and usage of

the knife. The working hardness of each blade is adjusted to suit the

same parameters. He occasionally has time to make a knife to offer for

sale to the public, but never has more than a few available for

immediate sale.



Don is the author of two different "How To" books on making knives and

uses CAD to produce his folding knife designs. His books and designs

are marketed by several Knifemaker's Supply companies, and on his own

web sites. He especially enjoys passing on his skills and knowledge

about knifemaking to willing learners, both on the internet knife

forums and in his own shop.

Don has a 2 disc DVD set on the market that teaches all the details of making a locking liner barlow folding knife.