Will Moon Custom Knives

Will Moon – sturdy folders and pretty butterfly knives’ author

Will Moon Custom Knives is a custom knife brand founded by a young American knifemaker Will Moon. Will’s workshop is located in his hometown Apex, North Carolina – a nice quiet place, the worst cataclysm of which was a fire at an MRF (nobody was hurt). The slow pace of life and beautiful nature are the reasons why CNN included the city in the top 50 places to live in.

Curiously enough, you will find a lot of hostile Yankees who consider the USA the best country in the world and think of American army representatives as formidable angels of justice. Moons are no exception. Will’s father raised his son as a patriot and instilled him with admiration for the military. Military and police officers can always count on a 10% discount on any knife from Will Moon Knives.

Moon Senior passed to the son not only the patriotism but also dexterous hands. Will received all the basic knowledge and skills for knifemaking from his father. We might fairly call Will Moon Knives a family business. Even though Will’s father doesn’t attend Blade Show and other shows, he actively participates in creating new modes. Will is in charge of the design, invention of folders’ mechanics includes Moon Senior. 

The path of all the creators of folding knives is quite the same: one makes his first tool from a piece of crap, works on fixed knives till one day makes a folder. Will’s way was different. He entered this magical world of knifemaking through customization. The designer was decorating Spyderco’s handles with anodizing, changing Benchmade’s black overlays to orange ones, adorning Kershaw knives with glow-in-the-dark bolsters, customizing pocket clips.

Amazing that his first experience with cutting tools Will got at the age of 16. As the master says, changing overlays on serial folders was way more interesting than doing homework. Having got experience with cheap knives, Moon moved to the more expensive models and also started crafting his own fixed blade knives. Master called those models Rectifier and Celestion. They were made of S110V steel with overlays from G10 and modified drop-point blades. At the same time, the master presented his first balisong Luna-Song made of the same materials with colored handles and a Persian blade.

In 2001 20-year-old craftsman had so many clients that he refused to take orders from abroad (too much bother with delivery). That year, Will made his first folder – it was a funny little tool with a spanto blade (spear point/tanto hybrid) made of 440C steel. The liner of the handle was made from expensive titanium and decorated with G11 (cheaper analog of G10) overlays.

Apparently, Will was not happy with his first folder. He didn’t name it after all, and for a long time quit working with folding knives. He instead concentrated on producing balisongs. As a result, came out a “butterfly” Orion which was exposed on the website of the famous Blade HQ shop. Knives flew off the shelves pretty quickly.

Soon, master was able to cope with folders. His flipper Mark with a frame lock was appreciated by the knife fans. Various versions of the tool appeared in stock of the leading sellers. Having gained enough experience with flippers, Will Moon started working on the folders with a thumb stud. A particular feature of them was the author's lock.

Moon Spindle Lock was first implemented in the Moon Banshee model which was decorated with a lock that looked similar to the Axis McHenry-Williams from Benchmade. Will Moon was indeed inspired by the legendary mechanism. At first, Will simply changed details’ size, replaced bronze ball bearings with the ceramic, and threw away the omega-spring (so the whole system became “springless”). After that, some other modifications were made to the lock and in the end, it additionally got a spindle and ultra-thin synthetic frame. According to the master, Spindle Lock does not fear dirt and sand and doesn’t catch on a pocket. 

For the blades, knifemaker prefers to use steel of CPM category, for the overlays he favors modern synthetic materials. His unusual knives are often decorated with phosphorescent elements, handles might feature C-Tek (resin-infused aluminum honeycomb material), Kydex (acrylic polyvinyl chloride thermoplastic) and other amazing composites. All Will Moon’s products are made of only American materials. 

Craftsman still lives in Apex, plays guitar, bass, trombone and is fond of shooting. Since he started his career as a knifemaker Will has graduated, married his old girlfriend Leslie and became a constant member of the Blade Show. Master continues to experiment with design and mechanics. His dream is to create a perfect knife affordable for any fan of knifemaking.