Who We Are

It all started with a wood carver…..Ken Helvie® from Gas City, IN. He created the Helvie® Knife in 1988. It started out as a wood carver just simply making his own knives for wood carving. Ken belonged to the Eastern Woodland Carving Club in Converse, IN. For a while the knives were only locally known around central Indiana. By word of mouth, and some help from the club, the knives become known throughout the central states.

Rich and Holli Smithson own and operate Helvie® Knives LLC. They acquired it from Ken Helvie® in July of 2004 when he decided to sell. Rich had been working for Ken since 1993. It was an easy decision to make when Ken decided to sell. The business was then moved from Gas City, IN to Tipton, IN, where it currently resides.

Rich also works a full-time journeyman's job as a mechanized mechanic. Holli is a home-school mother to their daughter, Skylar. Together they operate and manufacture Helvie® Knives.

As a husband and wife team we can honestly say you have to really "LOVE YOUR PARTNER" to spend this much time together! All kidding aside, we make a great team. We have a beautiful daughter, Skylar, that joins us on this journey. We have learned a lot, picked a lot of splinters, kept the band aid industry in business, grown quite a bit, and met some wonderful people that have become lifelong friends and extended family members. We work diligently to provide handmade quality knives and tools to the wood carving industry and are thankful for the opportunity to do so.

As a team, we work with many wood carvers. We are blessed to be able to work with so many talented individuals to make and bring the "Signature Series" collections to other wood carvers. These individual wood carvers work with us to design their blades and handle styles. Rich hand wood burns every single knife (most people probably don't realize this). They are truly a work of art themselves.

Since we are a small husband/wife business, we deal with every customer personally. We listen to everyone, take the good and the bad, and grow from it. Some great ideas have come from the feedback we receive from our customers. We sincerely enjoy what we do and the people. We want to make all your carving experiences fun and unforgettable!