When custom home builder Ellis Sloan is in between building multi-millon dollar homes, you can usually find him in his back yard working on his hobby of hammer forging beautifully custom made knives.

"As an old Tucson native, I have always had a love of the desert and the west. I have held a fascination for tools since I was young. My father taught me that a man with a hammer can be an artist, with that in mind I made my first knife in the mid 70's and was disappointed with it. After working construction for 25 years I found an old Wright pattern anvil and bought it. After watching the weeds grow around it for a couple of years I figured I should give a try at knife making. With a lot of effort I learned the hard way how to make steel move under my hammer then figured out how to forge weld damascus steel. After making and selling a few knives I met my friend and mentor Chet Duebel, and it all came together."