Крис Рив: Американский мастер ножевого дела южноафриканского происхождения.

South African American knife maker (born 1953)

Christopher Stanley Reeve (born December 4, 1953) is a South African American knife maker, recognized as one of the most influential people in knife making history. Reeve founded Chris Reeve Knives (CRK) in 1984. In 2014, Reeve retired and was inducted into the Blade Magazine Hall of Fame in 2015.

Christopher Stanley Reeve was born on December 4, 1953, in Durban, South Africa. His original vocation was that of tool and die making. Reeve trained at the Pineware Manufacturing Company, serving a four year tool and die making apprenticeship that finished in 1978. Reeve credits his experience in tool and die for developing his grinding skills and giving him the manufacturing and materials knowledge he needed to jumpstart him in professional knife making. As a young man, Reeve’s spare time was largely spent engaged in motorcycle racing. In 2003, Chris and Anne were granted US citizenship.

Reeve began his knife making career by chance. Before being called up for a 3 month compulsory military service period in 1975 on the Mozambique / South African border, he noted that the standard army kit did not include a good all purpose knife. As a result, Reeve decided to design and make one. Reeve’s resulting one piece knife concept was first produced as a custom knife in 1982. The one piece concept hit production as the 7 inch bladed MK IV, with 40 pieces becoming available for sale early in 1983. Chris stopped tool making and became a full time knifemaker in January 1984.