About HM Knives
HM Knives is a family business making handmade knives. Founder Philip Thapa has been making them for 23 years, learned through a family trade, and the business has been selling under this name since 2020. Eight craftsmen work on the blades, with the work divided by stage rather than one person making a knife end to end.
That is the whole company. What follows is what we make, how, and what we will tell you plainly about it.
What We Make
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Damascus billet | 1095 and 1043/15N20, forge welded and folded by hand |
| Other blade steels | 1095, J2 and D2 |
| Finished hardness | HRC 58-60 |
| Handle materials | Micarta, wood, resin, bone, stag and sheep horn |
| Construction | Hand forged, individually heat treated and ground |
| Range | Hunting, kitchen, folding, skinner, bowie, camp and axes |
Browse by what you need: hunting knives, kitchen and chef knives, folding knives, skinner knives, bowie knives, fishing and camping knives, daggers and karambits or viking axes.
How a Blade Is Made
A Damascus billet takes six to eight hours of forge work before it becomes a blade at all: stacking, forge welding, drawing out, folding and rewelding until the layer count is reached. Only then does shaping begin, followed by normalising, hardening, tempering, grinding, handle fitting and etching.
Forge welding and heat treatment are the two stages that decide whether a knife is any good, and both are invisible in a photograph. Our workshop page walks through each stage and introduces the people who do it.
What We Will Tell You Plainly
Our Damascus is carbon steel, and it rusts. 1095 and 15N20 contain no meaningful chromium. Damascus is a construction method, not a stainless alloy. Dry the blade and oil it occasionally and it will outlast you; leave it wet and it will spot within days.
Layer count is decoration. More layers give a finer pattern. They do not make a knife sharper, harder or longer-lasting.
We hold no trade certifications. No bladesmithing society membership, no accreditations. What we have is 23 years at the forge and specifications you can check.
Custom Orders
We make to order as well as from stock. If you need a specific blade length, profile, steel or handle material, tell us what the knife has to do and we will tell you what is sensible — including when a standard piece from the collection would serve you better than a custom one.
What We Have Written
We publish detailed guides rather than sales copy, and several of them argue against spending more money with us. If you are deciding what to buy, start here:
- The best knife type for every use case — worked through by task
- Where to spend your money on knives — which specifications actually matter
- Damascus vs high carbon steel — what the layers do and do not change
- Knife steel types and how they perform
- Knife maintenance and care
Ordering, Shipping and Returns
Details of delivery and payment are on our shipping and payment page, and our refund and returns policy sets out the terms. Orders are made and dispatched as quickly as we can, but these are hand-forged blades and some pieces take time. If a delivery date matters, ask before you order.
Talk to Us
Ask which steels are in a blade, what hardness it is finished to, and whether it is stainless. You will get a direct answer. Contact us with what you actually cut and we will point you at the right knife, including when that is a cheaper one.