Ero Knives is an American brand and the creative alias of Erik Olsby. Eric is a typical representative of one-storied America, he is a huge guy who loves to watch horror movies, eat delicious food, drink beer, believes that the United States is the best country in the world, and votes for Donald Trump. And Olsby also makes very peculiar custom knives.
Eric began to love piercing and cutting artifacts in childhood, at the same time he started to collect folders. Of course, serial knives became the firstborn of the collection, then limited samples appeared in it, and even later — custom ones. Olsby spent all his time on the Knifemaker forums and did not miss a single episode of Jim Skelton, the famous video blogger who tested new items of the knife world on his YouTube channel.
In one of Skelton's episodes, Eric saw the custom knives of the Arizona knife maker Pohan Leu. Their massive blades gave Olsby a desire to create something bulky and beautiful himself, as a massive folding knife. With the support of family and friends, Eric Olsby embarked on the challenging journey of a Knife Maker. Fortunately, he possessed a garage, the necessary minimum of tools, and sufficient distance from neighbors. Pohan Leu became his friend and gave him valuable advice at all stages of production.
Eric has passed the traditional initial stage for most knifemakers — the creation of fixed knives. He manufactured folders right away, just occasionally sharpened the fixes out of boredom. Eric Olsby was lucky, he immediately found his style. All his works are such plump hippos, the roundness of their forms is combined with the power of the blade. His firstborn was created in February 2015. It was an unusual folding knife with a frame lock, an oval handle, and an almost rectangular blade, which, frankly, remained an unfinished workpiece. In fact, in the first folder, the features of future famous models R.I.P. and Proper were already laid.
By the way, Proper's features are visible in the second knife made by Eric Olsby. The handle of the folder in the cross-section turned into an absolute oval, the place of the frame lock was taken by the liner lock, and the blade from the rectangular became semicircular (arched butt, wide flats, and a straight cutting edge, sharply curved to the tip). The master admitted that this design was inspired by the legs of an elephant.
The first full-fledged custom (Proper) was presented to the public in April 2015, that is, two months after the start of his knifemaking career. The folder is equipped with a D2 steel blade, frame lock, anodized titanium handle, bearings system.
If Eric Olsby practically did not bother with the name of the knife Proper, then the name of the second model was more carefully thought out. Olsby presented the second brainchild named R.I.P. (rest in peace) just a month after the presentation of Proper. The folder looked appropriate: gloomy and mocking at the same time.
Knife fans appreciated the black humor, R.I.P. became a personal hit for Eric Olsby. It made him a successful knifemaker and allowed him to start working with more expensive materials: steels of the highest price category, zirconium, and mokuti.
In 2016, the master made a series of chef's kitchen knives. Olsby provided the knife with a hole at the base of the blade, which allowed to turn it in the way a cowboy turns a revolver.
Eric Olsby continues to live in a cozy countryside, creating his delightful Proper and R.I.P. and promises to surprise us soon with a new weighty folding with the Ero Knives inscription on the blade.
Maria Stalina Knives' online store features the best custom models of Eric Olsby. You can order the folder online on our website.
