William Henry Insider

“Hey everyone, we’re super excited to tell you about some knives we are going to be carrying” Summer of 2017 I still laugh thinking about the reaction with our staff during that meeting.  They had no idea what I was talking about or what in the world was waiting for them.  Over the past 20 years, we have built up a pretty diverse collection of artists and jewelers who all bring something different to the table.  If you had told me sometime in the prior 18 years that I would somehow end up becoming addicted to collecting knives, I would have looked at you as strangely as the rest of the staff that day. In short order, most of them owned at least one knife for themselves as well.  Once in a great while, you come across something so unique, so well made, and so dang cool that you can’t help but fall in love with it Renee Taylor Gallery Sedona, Arizona And then we went through the same process with the writing instruments, the money clips, and then the jewelry.  All of it has such a broad range of materials and techniques that you can’t help but start up a conversation with complete strangers while holding it.  Whether around a camp fire, signing a piece of paperwork, or pulling out your credit card and cash to buy something, people stop and ask what you have in your hand more than you would think. Continue reading →

Have a question about the William Henry multiverse? Email community@williamhenry.com and Matt will choose a couple to answer in this monthly forum... Question:  Where do you make your products? We design and build virtually every WH piece, across all categories, in our studio in Oregon.  We have three separate shops – one for knives and money clips, one for pens...

July 2019 Journal William Henry has a simple mission – imagine the best stuff we possibly can, figure out how to make it, and challenge ourselves to keep getting better.  The rest tends to sort itself out if we keep our eye on the ball... So how do we do that?  We go wherever we have to go in the world to get the best craftsmanship, source the finest materials, and deliver enduring value one piece at a time.  A lot of that ‘best in the world’ work happens right in our studio in Oregon – but if someone else can do something better than us, I’ll happily sign up.  While we’re proud of our American heritage and studio, we don’t drape ourselves in the flag – seems disingenuous and misses the point.  I’d rather drape WH with an image of the planet than any one flag.  I’m proud of what we do, and who we work with to achieve our goals. Continue reading →

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#MyWilliamHenry By Ed Roberts Boots and Denim. Seeing that William Henry design for the first time changed my entire outlook on men wearing bracelets. More specifically, me wearing a bracelet. I’m not afraid of style that breaks tradition, but traditions run deep here in my neck of the woods. For years the standard uniform was a polo, khakis, sunglasses, croakie, and a dive watch. Fellas break that tradition during the Brewgaloo Beer Festival where it’s acceptable to wear the plastic wristband provided at the ID checking station. This wristband gives you access to the best craft beers brewed here in the Old North State. Times are changing. Or maybe I’m just getting older and a bit more daring after losing 75 pounds. Either way, there was something about 10,000-year-old fossilized woolly mammoth tooth, blue sodalite, and carved silver that just looked damn cool to me. It was me, so I bought it. Continue reading →

Have a question about the William Henry multiverse? Email community@williamhenry.com and Matt will choose a couple to answer in this monthly forum... Question:  Where do you get your amazing materials? Everywhere.  Literally.  I’ve been at this for 30 years now, and WH has been around for 22 and counting.  During all that time, I and the staff at WH have searched out rare and storied materials and where to find them.  We’ve built relationships with some of the best metal forgers, engravers, silver smiths, gold smiths and other artisans in the world. We’ve found the individuals who find fossil materials, the finest shells, the best premium natural woods, and the most exotic state of the art alloys and polymers.  It’s a global supply chain of mostly very small shops and businesses that we’ve cultivated to be able to make the coolest stuff we can imagine, one piece at a time, one day at a time. Wooly Mammoth, just one of the unique material we use to create our one-of-a-kind products Question:  Are your blades engraved? Never.  After all these years, some people still look at our forged damascus steel blades and think the patterns are ‘engraved’ on the blades.  Continue reading →

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As a child of the South, a pocketknife was as much a part of the wardrobe as the pants it was carried in, and I was no exception.  There is not a time I can remember not having a Case or Buck or Gerber knife in my pocket.  Little did I know there was a much wider world of knives out there until 2009.  While on vacation in Sandestin, Florida, I stumbled on Baytowne Jewelers tucked in between the Acme Oyster House and the Ice Cream Shop (and across the street from the Candy Store – food and sweets being a real close second to my knife passion). Continue reading →

Hi all, I’m just back from a big trade show in Vegas with William Henry.  As exhausting as these big shows are, it’s always good to step outside the bubble and see what we do in the world.  Left to right: Musician Matt Goss, William Henry Sales Associate Michelle and Matt Conable. While at the JCK event we got to enjoy the Matt Goss Vegas show. And snap a selfie. Continue reading →