A hunting knife is not just a knife, but an extension of your arm and your personality, says knifemaker Eddie Garamendi, Riverton.
And, while a hunting knife is a tool, it can be both functional and beautiful at the same time, he says.Garamendi's knives are works of art, fashioned of the finest stainless steel and equipped with handles of a variety of exotic materials - from Amazon blood-wood and tulip wood to deer, elk and moose antler.
Many of his knife handles are made of alternating layers of different materials to give them a variety of colors. But no matter how beautiful and artistic his knives are, they have one thing in common - they are practical.
"I make a lighter weight knife than many knifemakers because I've used knives hunting, camping and fishing most of my life, and I know what I like and I believe many other people like a light-weight knife, too. After you've cleaned a mess of fish or a deer or elk with a sheath knife, your arm can get tired, especially if you are using a heavy blade."
Garamendi said his knife blades are generally 45/8 inches long and less than a quarter of an inch thick. The metal is tapered from the back of the blade to the cutting edge, to give them the sharpest edge possible.
He is not in the knifemaking business. For Garamendi, 50, a retired Kennecott worker, knifemaking is a hobby, like painting. He has made several hundred knives, but now generally makes only about two or three a month.
"I used to love to paint in oils, but I found I like making knives better, and so whatever free time I have now - about 20 hours a week - I spend in my workshop making hunting knives."
At a recent Salt Palace gun show that Garamendi visited, he saw a familiar hunting knife on a collector's table and when he picked it up he saw that the name "Garamendi" was deeply stamped on the blade.
The collector, from the Midwest, said, "I'd like to know who the knifemaker was. It's a beautiful knife. I got it in trade for some guns."
Garamendi smiled, held out his hand and said, "I made that knife." He made a new friend of the collector immediately.
While Garamendi has sold some of his knives to get money for materials, he has given many of his knives to friends and relatives and to campaigns to raise money for charities.
The knifemaker grew up in the Salt Lake County mining town of Highland Boy, near Bingham. "The town's gone now - bulldozed into part of the Kennecott copper mine," he said.
When he was 11, he saw a movie about James Bowie, after whom the Bowie knife was named, and he decided to try making a knife himself. "I found a piece of meteorite in the Oquirrh Mountains and hammered out a blade and poured an aluminum handle for it. I've still got it. I've been making knives ever since."
Garamendi graduated from Bingham High School in 1957 and worked for Kennecott for 28 years. When he retired in 1985 on a medical disability, he began to devote more time to his knifemaking hobby.
He lives on a acre and has a horse and mule in a barn behind his home and a workshop next to the barn where he makes knives.
Through the years, Garamendi has hunted big game on horseback all over Utah. But two years ago, he quit hunting with guns and began hunting with a camera and is building a collection of wildlife photographs.
"I still carry a sheath knife whenever I go camping, hiking, horseback riding or photographing in the desert or the mountains," he said. "A knife is an outdoorsman's best tool. It can be a lifesaver."