My wife and I have prayed for God to bless us with a child for over 10 years.  God answered our prayers 8 months ago with a beautiful and healthy girl, Amelia.  I had planned to keep the shop open but cut down the amount of time I spent in the shop but moving forward I will no longer pursue knife making as a business.

My shop is and always has been 100% debt free, my personal household is also debt free, and my family simply doesn't need the income as much as we need the quality family time with each other.  My wife has come home full time to be with and raise Amelia and with my shop closing we are going from 3 incomes without kids to 1 income with kids and have never been happier as a family.

Given that every piece of tooling and materials are all paid for and I owe no man anything, I intend to keep my equipment/materials and continue to make knives as time and family allows but I will do so from the capacity of a hobbyist rather than a business.  At the volume that I've produced over the last few months, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to keep up with all of the behind the scenes book keeping, taxes, licensures, and operating overhead of a legally defined business and I'm unwilling to allow my daughter to grow up without significant daily attention from me.

Thank you all for everyone who have supported me in my craft through encouragement, sharing my work, and business.  I can't overstate how great my customers have been over the years, many of whom have become personal friends of mine and my family.  Moving forward my focus for my time when not at work is going to be on God's word, my family, then hunting/fishing, and my craft as time allows.  I may re-open at a later time if/when I have more time to dedicate to the business side of the craft but I'd expect that to be many years down the road.

What this means for Polk Knives moving forward... 

• The value of what's out there just went up because they are about to be difficult to acquire moving forward
• Everything moving forward made will be a gift knife or personal build to my personal preference as a hobbyist and will not be for retail sale.  I may barter here and there with it for the occasional sporting good but I'm a very, very content man in life and just don't know how much random junk I'd even want to take in and store.  I may also make some for my own pleasure to donate to good causes like St Jude and/or the local Backcountry Hunters and Anglers fundraiser events
• Expect to see higher end builds.  Profitability is no longer a requirement for my business and therefore I get to do whatever I feel like doing solely for the pleasure of working with my hands to produce something wonderful.  It's time to be artistic, creative, and meticulous with my craft and simply not worry whatsoever about the finances of the business.

Congratulations and God bless you and your expanded family!

        Congrats !!!! 

 
Sounds like you made a good choice. 

Congratulations. Sounds like you're at a great point in your life.  Enjoy that baby time, they're awesome.

You sound like a man with your priorities in order and at peace with life.     God bless you and your family as you enjoy that baby girl. 

Congratulations and best wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wise decision God Bless you.

Congratulations sir!

All the best to you and your family 

Congratulations and best wishes for your family!
I'll look forward to seeing the "higher end" knives you choose to make.

Congratulations and best wishes to your family.

Sounds like a lot of thought went into your decision. Also sounds like you have your priorities in order. Being debt free allows for lots of other freedoms.

You're a wise man!  Congratulations all around.

Congratulations on your decision and family. God, family first. Wishing you the best. 

Congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of your daughter.  You do you, and what is best for your family.

Excellent choice, you will never regret that decision!!!!

 

Blessings upon your family Mr. Polk!  Your a good Man.  Best years of my life were when I was a stay at home dad.  Raising your child is a top priority.  The steel and blades will be there for when you might want or need them as well.   Be Well!

Thanks for all the support guys!  I am absolutely loving being a dad.  It is just the best thing ever.

I'm working on a very exquisite squirrel skinner at the moment.  To the average hunter, they'll just see a pretty antler handled skinner that doesn't draw much attention.  But to me, I'll see an understated elegance that is uncommonly nice in a package that is meant to be used and not displayed which is made from all of the best possible materials.

• It's in my all time favorite steel, AEBL, taken up to a perfect and luxurious mirror finish.  My mirror finish is hand sanded through 2500 grit, then buffed on a 4 buff progression down to 0.5 micron diamond paste which is similar to 50,000 grit and is actually the same length a wavelength of visible light at .4-.7 microns so the scratches that are left are actually so fine that shadows can't be cast into them and it produces a reflection that is so bright, clean, and crisp that it's more clear than my bathroom mirrors.  Of course it will have an exquisitely tapered and skeletonized tang because that's how I roll 
• It's handled in the most exclusive natural material appropriate for handles from Arkansas, elk from a shed from the Boxley Valley herd which is extremely rare to be able to acquire and loaded with local sportsman culture. 
• Holding it all together will be peened copper pins using specialized tools that I made in shop to texture the pins around the contours of the antler so they can have both a round head and dimples and no burr to hold flesh/fur where it meets the antler.
• Then for adornment, I'm cutting some hammered copper inlays by hand and inletting the antler by hand.  I may do all squirrels, but I'm strongly considering a pair of lovestruck squirrels on the logo side of the blade and a white oak leaf and white oak acorn for the off side (their primary food source here)
• Leather is a must.  It will be fully tooled, American tanned veg tan lined with garment elk skin on the inside and copper hardware, double row stitched by hand with sinew from a previous hunt of mine