Home / Design Minds / Elishewitz Rolls Out Tool for Fellow Knife Makers

Elishewitz Rolls Out Tool for Fellow Knife Makers

April 27, 2017

Knife makers are usually focused on the tools they make for end-users rather than the tools they use themselves. But Allen Elishewitz‘s latest product is not a knife. Instead, the new Elishewitz E-Tool solves a common knife making problem.

A typical knife making workshop is a hodge podge of modified tools and homemade contraptions. Often working with non-specialized equipment, makers must be resourceful when it comes to finding solutions that will get the job done. By introducing the E-Tool, Elishewitz is sharing one of his workarounds to a common problem – standard screw sizes don’t always fit. The E-Tool is made to cut standard screws to custom sizes.

Naturally, off-the-shelf parts aren’t always going to be the length a maker needs. The required length can vary depending on what part of the knife the screw is holding together, how many layers of material it passes through, and the general design of the knife itself.  “Every maker has to deal with this,” Elishewitz tells us.

It is possible to order custom-length screws, but it’s only worth it if you buy in bulk. “They’ll say, ‘Sure, we’ll make you 20 custom screws but it’ll cost you the same as 500,000.’” Elishewitz explains.

The E-Tool also has a series of three dimples that can be used to accurately set detent balls into a liner – a notoriously finicky process with a lot of room for error. The E-Tool is made from D2 steel and Elishewitz says users can expect to get decades of service out of it.

In addition to the E-Tool and the recently-announced Hogue OTFs, there will be other Elishewitz projects to watch for in 2017. He is working on a mid-tech hollow handle fixed blade modeled after the famous survival knives of 80s action heroes like Rambo. According to Elishewitz this modern interpretation will feature a complicated saw on the spine that wouldn’t have been possible in Stallone’s heyday. “I don’t think there’s been a hollow handle knife with this kind of a saw, because when they were popular the technology wasn’t there to make them.”

> > Keep your folders awesome. Grab a Pack of 5 Microfiber Blade Sleeves for $8.99 < <

A long-simmering pet project may finally come to light this year as well. Elishewitz has spent more than a decade contemplating a new locking mechanism and 2017 may very well be the year it becomes a reality. “I’ve had it in my head for 12 years, so I’ve worked out all the problems. I want to go ahead and start working on it.”

As for other EDC gear, Elishewitz tells us that’s just not in the cards. “I don’t make spinners, bottle openers, knuckles – any of those kinds of things,” he says. “But I will make a tool for myself and other knife makers to use.”

Knife featured in image: Necromonger (left) and E-Tool (right)

Related Items