Jim Buchan passed away in 2006.

He lived in a small town in British Columbia and designed and ground knives from 1996 until when he passed away. It all began with a keen interest in the art of knifemaking as a collector. He then decided to try his hand at completing pre-ground blades by Bob Engnath and adding his own handles. As an avid hunter, he began hollow grinding and heat treating his own knives -- initially including hunters, skinners, utilities, and finally on to larger Bowie knives and small miniatures. In 2002, Jim had the honer of winning the Best Miniature at the Oregon Knife Collectors Association Show. Jim makes the majority of his knives from 440C, with some knives made from ATS34 and Damascus by makers such as Gerome Weinand. One distinction of his knives is the filing along the spine of the knife, together with a variety of spacer materials such as buffalo horn, amber, malachite, sugalite, and other such gems. He used Asian water buffalo, Canadian elk, and many varieties of natural hardwoods harvested from Africa, South America and North America. Nickel silver and brass is sometimes used, but his usual guard and butt material is 416 stainless steel.  Jim always attained a top quality of product to be enjoyed, used, and admired.

Sheaths were designed by his wife, Frankie, who used various styles of leather tooling and a distinctive stamp on the backside of the sheath. Frankie and Jim attended knife shows throughout the United States and Canada.

Awards

• Best Bowie Knife -- Western Canada Knife Association show, 2004
• Best Miniature -- Oregon Knife Collectors Association, 2002