Ken Coats is an avid outdoorsman and a self-taught custom knife maker with a life-long love of sharp things.
“I’ve never been without a pocket knife in my pocket since I could walk,” said Coats.
A resident and native of Stevens Point, Coats has been making custom knives for about 35 years. He’s been making knives full-time for more than four. “It’s always been a passion,” he said. “I can’t not make knives.”
Though he said he made his first knife when he was a kid, Coats’ various other passions and occupations intervened, including building hot rods as a teen, repairing planes as a flight line mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, painting houses, hunting, fishing, making lures, and once mounting his own ducks. But he always returned to making knives. “I’m blessed. There’s not a lot of people that get to do what they truly love,” said Coats.
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