Welcome to Roch Custom Knives, a website that is dedicated to knife enthusiasts. My name is Dawid Markowski and I live in a beautiful western part of Scotland. The place I live in is very remote and wild, yet spectacular and unique. I’ve been living here at Loch Fyne more than six years now and I really enjoy natural beauty of this place. All my life I am interested in history and old crafts but just when I came to live here I realised what I would like to do. This place let me discover my passion for making knives and challenge myself in developing new skills.

I’ve been making my own knives for about two years and during this time I’ve been evolving as a craftsman. At the beginning I used only hard wood and leather for making handles but now I use big variety of materials. My handles are made from antlers (e.g. European deer, Indian deer sambar and reindeer), buffalo’s horns, animals’ bones (e.g. camel), hard exotic wood (e.g. cocobolo, iron wood, black wood, ebony, Indian rosewood), stabilised wood (impregnated wood), leather, soft metals (e.g. brass, nickel silver), reconstructed stones, vulcanized fibres, Micarta and mosaic pins.

However before I even start to plan a handle I think what kind of knife I would like to get from the particular blade. Everything starts from blades so I pay attention to good quality of steel. I have some knives that I made using manufactured blades such as Falkniven, Linder or Helle but I prefer to buy custom blades. Among them are my favourite Damascus blades. I choose them because they are unique, inimitable and made by people with passion.  

Each of my knives’ has sheath designed and crafted by myself. To make it I use only traditional tools such as auto awl, stitch marker, groover  and modelling tools. I choose natural materials such as natural veg.tan leather. Classic sheaths are made from 3 mm thick natural veg.tan leather and Nordic sheaths are made from 2.5 mm thick half tan leather. Once the sheath is moulded I decide how to ornament it by making prints on it and dying the leather so that the sheath matches with the colour of the handle.

I see my future in developing some new crafts skills. I would enjoy making hunting equipment and accessories but first of all I will try to progress in making my own blades.

To see all my knives and process of manufacture, please go to Gallery. To see my Nordic knives and their detailed description, please go to Nordic Knives. To see my Hunting knives and their detailed description, please go to Hunting Knives.    

I am happy to answer your questions and your feedback is always appreciated. Please feel free to contact me at info@rochcustomknives.com

Thank you

Dawid Markowski