W.D. Pease  ·  Chris Meyer

For ten years, W.D. Pease held two callings: the pulpit and the workbench. He joined the Knifemakers Guild in 1976 and went full time in 1978, trading the ministry for folders exclusively — which, depending on who you ask, may have been another form of devotion.

Based in Ewing, Kentucky, Pease is drawn almost entirely to folding knives — not because fixed blades are beneath him, but because folders are harder. More demanding of fit, of geometry, of the space where the blade meets the handle. He produces roughly 100 knives per year and has carried a one-year waiting list for decades. His materials: amber stag from India, bighorn sheep, pearl in every form.

This piece pairs Pease’s stainless folder with Chris Meyer’s engraving — a lion on one bolster, a lioness on the other, each emerging from safari grass against iridescent black lip pearl. Two of the finest hands in the trade, working the same object.