Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

Thanks for the memories!
(Photos by Kimberley Fisher and Lynne Fairbanks)

I'm writing this in early March of 2020, and the production team left the studio yesterday. Kim and I were honored that this team of professionals set aside the time and invested considerable effort to come to Sharp Instinct Studio to learn about me and knives, and our family, and our place on this planet.

Production teams (at  least five of them) have made known their interest in the past, alas, Clovis, New Mexico is typically considered at the far reaches of the great expanse, unattainable by the current limited technology of interstellar travel. We have a saying here that they would rather take an ass-whipping than come to Clovis.

After all, what's here? We have no beach, no skyscrapers, no pub walk, only incredible miles of dairy land, the largest cheddar cheese factory in the world, one of the most important Special Operations Air Force bases in the world, and one of the birthplaces of Rock and Roll and the music of Buddy Holly. Otherwise, it's quiet, and well-off the interstate, and not a place bothered by entertainment or the hoards of glitzy clingers that the industry requires. The only flouncing around is done by Prairie Chickens, with their colorful displays among the milo, sorghum, and winter wheat while the wind turbines quietly revolve overhead.

It's particularly unpalatable when you consider that our location is the home of Blackwater Draw and Clovis Man (Clovis prehistoric Paleo-Indian Culture), dating back 13,000 years. No, I'm not that old, but I've been making knives almost as long—at least it feels that way sometimes, and it's hard to feel hip, slick, cool, and young among the scattered bison and mammoth bones.

The guys showed up in "Blue," got the nickel tour, and we started to learn about each other. By the time the three days were over, I would be proud to have any one of them attend any family gathering, on any holiday, at any event. What a great group of professional, dedicated, kind, honest, and hard-working men. But enough about me (heh heh heh).

Blue arrives on the compound!

This old knifemaker was deeply touched, so we took them in like family, and even the dogs and cats found some new hands for a good pet and a couple kind words. They set up, rigged a lot of gear, did a lot of room sound testing, clapped the oldest IPad clapboard made in history, and we rolled and rolled and rolled. A few stumbles were caught by "we'll get that in the editing," and we worked up an appetite. Mine came from exhausting my big mouth with constant yammering (okay, there was some ranting) about knives and the art and science of knives. Naw, really? Their appetites came from the immense arm strength, twisted contortions, and technical discussions required in a huge studio that is really only made for the body width of one man, surrounded by a ridiculous amount of tools and equipment and materials.

A special recognition belongs to my wife, Kim, who kept all of the wheels rolling in the home, in the studio, and performed the immense preparation required to make us all comfortable. She had the help of her sister, Lynne, and it was no small task.

I had great help preparing the studio for the visit, fixing broken windows, painting, cleaning, and my helpers were James Beauchamp, my son in law, and Donnie Land and Hunter Plant. These guys even showed up when we had to suddenly dig up the front of the shop when a large root cracked an underground water line, just before the shoot.

You're never really ready for this; at some point you just surrender and hope it all goes well. Without Kim's and everybody's help, it wouldn't have happened, at all!

I'm sure you'll get their perspective when their work becomes available to the public, and I'm absolutely certain nothing can stop them!

Todd Westphal, Matt Levinson, Jay Fisher, Tommy Brown, and Ken Korpi ready for dinner!

I thought if might be cool if I gave my perspective, so you can see who they are through my eyes.

It's not enough to praise them; these are serious, dedicated, certain, and determined individuals, all working together as a professional team, with plenty of humor to cover the serious skill in their thinking, arrangement, and direction. Serious questions were asked of your favorite knifemaker; even a few tears were shed as we reached into the heart of passion and creativity for the craft, both theirs and mine. You're going to see that when their work hits the little screen, the tiny screen, and the goog-stream.

I've cleverly trapped them into the shop to begin their knifemaking apprenticships.

The best part for me was the honesty and humor. Somebody actually does get my twisted view and sarcasm; they really do, at least, pretend to laugh at my jokes.

Setting up for heat treating video segment

Todd Westphal is an exceptional professional photographer, a deeply thoughtful considerate person who creates some wonderful work; please go also to his Instagram site to see more. He won't admit how sublime his capturing of human emotion is through light, but he will ask repeatedly what color of light emanates from all the fixtures in the studio. So, if you work with Todd, you had better know the color temperature of each of your light sources in every room, within 100 degrees of accuracy of color temperature. His results are worth it, so I'll have to contact lighting specialists for that information.

Todd "Lincoln" with early 1800s beaver top hat from my wife's family

Matt Levinson made certain that our sound was balanced, focused, and true during the whole shoot, and was able to come up with enough extra cable to route the lavaleir microphone from my collar to the back of my belt, no small distance! More importantly, Matt is a man who is able to take a handful of old shoestrings, some paste wax, dried leaves, and a rusty skillet and cook a five course meal suitable for a three Michelin star restaurant. Really! I've seen it, I've tasted it; it's true. But even better than the Michelin description of "exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey," Matt actually came to us. We're building a shrine on the corner of the property, with a little cutting board and skillet and everything, hoping that he returns some day.

Matt creating food for the angels with... nothing!

Actor and Director Ken Korpi is a visionary genius, who found us (and Clovis) by carefully considering the entire path and goal taking root in his cerebral cortex. Ken is the guy you want coaching your life coach, letting your life's guidance counselor know just what will work, what won't, and exactly why. He's got some gift of seeing through a viewer's eyes, politely listening to my lame ideas, while a symphony to galactic grandiosity plays on in his head. I sometimes got the impression that there were at least three independent minds working within his skull, and they were all discussing the relationship of gravity, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and electromagnetism with each other. One of them insists that we are not ready the answer, so he just nods and smiles, albeit politely. Damned mastermind...

Ken is so focused, lasers are about to shoot from his glasses. Tommy chews.

Tommy Badger Brown is the guy you want in your family; he's kind and smart, and intelligent, and funny and witty, and deep, and within five minutes, he's got control of all your dogs, they have thrown themselves down  in submission. The cats would be there, too, but the dogs have circled around Tommy, growling and snapping at anyone outside of his circle, and won't even let me near. While his knifemaking skills are at the early stages, he will be a formidable opponent one day, and I may lose my place in history, as he's too good looking as well. I'll have to figure a way to out-dance him, but I'm way too old. Life can be very cruel.

Tommy thinks an apron makes him a lapidary; we'll see.

I wouldn't hesitate for an instant to have these guys in our home and studio again. It was a serious amount of fun, all while sharing stories, illustrating knives and knifemaking, and we are honored to have experienced these professionals. Even if they don't use the footage at all, my wife, family, and I were happy for the times shared.

Todd converses with nearby Roswell aliens via a cleverly designed receiver in a language no one understands

Todd and Tommy muse over 18th century land transaction documents from my wife's family history

Ken and Matt ready the arsenal with focused precision while I wait to be sacrificed

Jay, Tommy, Kimberley, Ken, and Matt scheme on ways to make Jay look better (I hope).

Behind the scenes.
Ken's brain is emitting radiant energy...again.

The real star of the show, cut up and prepared with a great knife. Come back, Matt...come back please!!!

The welds on the cargo carrier should hold until they arrive at next artist in their production, and that may be the only reason they came (to get Blue cobbled together, enough for another few miles through New Mexico), but they sure fooled us! From everybody who experienced this: my wife Kimberley, her sister Lynne, my mother Jean, my friend Donnie Land, and our neighbor Maria, our deepest thanks and respect; we had a great time.

Season Two!!! Please!