Made in the USA. Not “designed in”. Made.
Hand forged in Memphis, TN with select imported materials. Every blade is shaped, heat treated, fitted, finished and inspected in our own shop. What we bring in from outside the US, and why, is written out further down this page.
A small shop, a lot of nerve
Black Mamba Knives began in 2009 on the quiet outskirts of Chicago, in a workshop that could barely hold the tools we owned. Passion, raw skill and not much else.
As the designs multiplied, the equipment got heavier and the space ran out. One move turned into another. Each relocation marked a step up: a tiny workshop became a properly equipped manufacturing facility, and today that facility sits in Memphis, Tennessee, turning out hundreds of knives a month — every one handmade in Memphis.
Motorcycles, jewellery, and a biker’s boot
We built custom motorcycles
Fabrication, tolerance, finish. If a part looked wrong, it was wrong. That habit never left.
We made fine jewellery
A trade where a fraction of a millimetre is visible to the naked eye. Perfection was not optional — it was the only setting.
Then came the request that started everything: bikers wanted a reliable everyday carry knife that would sit properly inside a boot. One idea became a dozen. A dozen became a collection. Before long the collection had a name.
From boot knife to 490+ models
- Hunting knives
- Skinning & gut hook
- Bowies
- Balisong butterfly
- Folding pocket knives
- Laguiole
- Chef & kitchen
- Swords
- Axes & tomahawks
Each one shaped by skill, tradition and an obsessive amount of attention to detail.
We forge most of our own metal
At the heart of this shop is metallurgy — not assembly. Forges, precision lathes and heavy hammers working together to take raw material all the way to a finished blade.
This is the building. These are the people.
Most billets forged here
Most of our Damascus is forged in this shop. A share arrives as hand forged billets from outside the US and gets the same grinding, heat treat and finish in Memphis.
Complex customs, no drama
Because we control the whole process, difficult one-off projects are a normal Tuesday.
200–400 knife runs
We have delivered corporate orders at that scale with the same care given to a single blade.
Hand forged in Memphis, TN with select imported materials
Every knife is shaped, heat treated, fitted, finished and inspected in our Memphis shop. Some of what goes into it is not American, and we would rather you read that here than find out later.
Done in Memphis
Forging and shaping, grinding, heat treatment, handle fitting, finishing, sharpening, engraving and the final inspection.
Brought in
A share of our hand forged steel billets, some handle woods that do not grow in America, and a few other materials depending on the model.
Why import anything at all? Some of these materials simply are not available in the United States. Some are, but not in the quantity a shop our size goes through in a month. And some we bring in because it keeps our prices fair without cutting corners on the knife itself.
The mix changes from model to model. If you want to know what went into a particular knife, ask us before you order and we will tell you.
Selling our knives in your own store? Please describe them the same way, Hand forged in Memphis, TN with select imported materials. The full terms for resellers are on our wholesale page.
This is our story. This is our craft.
This is Black Mamba Knives.
From that first spark near Chicago to the shop floor in Memphis, one thing never changed: American-made knives that bring pride and lasting value to the people who carry them.
