When Bobby Lee was a young kid, he loved knives but couldn’t find one that would fit his hands properly. This sparked a lifelong passion for making his own knives to his own standards.
He started creating handmade knives in 1984, and in 1985 he donated his first knife to an RMEF banquet. He’s since made over 500 knives and donated 42 of them to RMEF banquets to help raise thousands for conservation.
The knife he made for the Central Alabama Chapter banquet in 2025 was a Bouie-style knife that earned $538 for conservation at the banquet live auction. His personal goal is for his knife to sell for more money than the official banquet knife.
“And they usually do,” he says.
It takes Bobby 5-10 days to make each knife.
“Some of them, they just kind of fall in place,” he says. “Some of them I have to work on them a bit, because it doesn’t feel right at first.”
The forge where Bobby makes his knives at his home in Georgia still uses a late-1800s blower to deliver air to the fire. He crafts the knives using 440 stainless steel or Damascus steel and 1040 carbon with full-tang antler handles, made of antlers from mostly elk and mule deer. His steel knives start as pieces of steel 5/16th to a ¼-inch wide. Then he heats the metal and grinds it down to shape.
Every year he donates a knife to the RMEF banquet in Riverton, Wyoming, and has made numerous others for the Chattanooga Chapter in Tennessee, including a special knife for the chapter’s 25th anniversary.
His knives hold an edge well. He tells a story about a customer, a guide and outfitter from Wyoming, who told him, “I have a problem with your knife.” Bobby was surprised and was prepared to make him a new one, until the customer revealed he’d skinned six elk, four mule deer, a buffalo and two bears with it before he needed to touch up the edge. Bewildered, Bobby asked what his problem was with the knife, as it seemed to have performed well. “My problem was I didn’t buy that other one you had there for sale,” the guide answered and then promptly bought another knife from Bobby.
The knife business is more of a hobby, a small, word-of-mouth operation with his wife acting as his “quality control inspector” and no website or Facebook page, but Bobby stands behind every meticulously formed knife. “I don’t make anything I wouldn’t keep for myself,” he says.
(Photo credit: Bobby Lee)