Black Mamba Knives is a working shop in Memphis, Tennessee. Every knife on this site is forged, ground, fitted, heat treated, etched and sharpened here, and a Damascus billet passes through several pairs of hands before it becomes a finished piece. These are the people behind it.
In memory of Mark Kovalsky
Mark, our founder and bladesmith, has passed away. The shop he built in 2009 carries on, held to the standards he set. Our thoughts are with his family, and we are grateful to everyone who has shared a kind word about him.
Mark Kovalsky
Founder and Bladesmith — in memoriam
Mark started Black Mamba Knives in 2009 with a coal forge and a secondhand anvil, and worked the fire nearly every day after that. He forge welded his own Damascus from 1095 and 15N20 rather than buying in patterned bar stock, because a forged pattern runs all the way through the steel while a printed one only sits on the surface.
He worked almost everything to 58–60 HRC and was firm about why: harder steel chips when it meets bone, softer steel rolls, and a working knife belongs in between. He would rather a knife came back for sharpening than came back broken. The rule that anything not right comes back to the shop is his, and it stands.
Cole Ransom
Owner and Artisan
Cole runs Black Mamba Knives and still works the bench. The shop Mark founded in 2009 is carried on the same way it was built: billets forge welded here from 1095 and 15N20, blades ground, fitted, heat treated, etched and sharpened here, engraving done in house. Nothing is bought in finished and relabelled.
His own work is at the finishing end — handle fitting, heat treat, and the final inspection every piece gets before it is packed. He holds the shop to 58–60 HRC for the reason Mark always gave, and he is the one who decides what the shop will and will not take on.
Virgil Shovelhead
Bladesmith and Fabricator — here since 2009
The name is the engine. Virgil and Mark were friends and riding partners long before there was a shop, and spent years doing custom motorcycle fabrication together before either of them made knives for a living. When Mark lit the forge in 2009, Virgil was there for it, and he has been part of Black Mamba Knives ever since.
His work here is design and fabrication — profiles, guards, bolsters, handle geometry, and the awkward one-off a customer asks for that has to be figured out from scratch. A fabricator is used to making the single part nobody sells, which is exactly what a custom knife is.
Jack Kowalski
Sales, Marketing and Shipping
Jack is who you actually talk to. Sales and customer enquiries, custom order pricing, engraving quotes, wholesale — and he would rather talk you out of the wrong knife than sell you one. He also runs the newsletter, the offers and the social accounts, held to the same rule as the knives: no claim goes out that the bench cannot back up.
Every order that leaves this building is packed, labelled and handed over by Jack, which is why he is usually the one who knows where your parcel is.
Russ Burke
Staff Writer
Russ writes the guides — blade steel, grinds, construction, sharpening and care — and works alongside the bench to keep them accurate rather than generic. If a guide states a number or a claim, he checked it against how the piece is actually made here in Memphis before it went up.
He joined Black Mamba Knives in 2026 and covers everything from kitchen and EDC knives through to balisong construction, with an emphasis on explaining the geometry and the tradeoffs rather than the sales pitch.
The bench
Not everyone in the shop wants their name on a website, and we would rather not put words in anyone’s mouth. What we can tell you is what happens here: one person stacks and welds the billet, another draws it out and folds it, someone grinds the bevels, someone fits the handle scales, someone runs the heat treat, the acid etch, the sharpening and the final inspection. Engraving is done in house, not sent out. When a knife has taken a week, a week of somebody’s hands went into it.
More about the workshop · Where our knives are made · Contact the shop
