A well-crafted outdoor knife should feel sure in the hand. Steady. Predictable. Inevitable. Whether you’re skinning an elk, gutting a trout or prepping your dinner by the campfire, a great knife is always a cut above.
Corey Milligan knows this. Milligan founded New West KnifeWorks (NWKW) in Jackson, Wyoming, a place he calls the “mountain man capital of the world.” While fur trappers no longer roam the Tetons, today’s mountain men spend their time skiing, biking, climbing, hunting, fishing and snowmobiling. Jackson is home to just about every activity an outdoor enthusiast could think of, and it’s been the proving grounds for NWKW knives.
Milligan was living in Jackson, cooking in a fine dining establishment to support a hardcore outdoor lifestyle. As a skilled craftsman, he wondered if he could build his own knife and found out that he certainly could, selling his creations at some of the most prestigious juried art shows in the country. As time went on and NWKW kitchen knives gained respect among professional chefs and home cooks alike, Milligan turned his thoughts once again to the great outdoors. After all, he says, the experience of using a world-class knife shouldn’t be left at home when one ventures outside.
“Chefs use their knives more in a single day than most people hunting in a year,” Milligan says. “Chef knives need to be a lot tougher and are more challenging to design as high-performance tools.” He set out to apply his knowledge to making outdoor knives, which soon bloomed — like hot steel from a furnace — into a range of outdoor tools.
These can be found at the MTN Man Toy Shop in Jackson Town Square and Park City Main Street, an experience within the experience of the NWKW gallery. Buffalo fur coats and hats, classic axes and a tomahawk throwing zone draw guests in. Things even get a little silly with a beaver fur beer cuzi. “Loose is tight,” Milligan says, a reminder that the best outdoor posture is one that’s relaxed and having fun but ready for anything.
NWKW manufactured outdoor knives are hand finished and made with high quality MagnaCut steel in the company’s factory in Victor, Idaho, using a combination of machine precision and human touch.
Custom knives are made completely by hand on the factory’s forge, using Damascus steel wrought on site. Each custom knife is made by a single artisan from start to finish.
One of NWKW’s custom knife artisans is renowned craftsman Jack Rellstab, who was already making his own hunting knives when he was just in high school. “You don’t rush a knife like this,” says Rellstab, whose years of experience go into each tool he makes. “The process is the point.”
Glory Folder pocketknives, intended to be the perfect everyday carry object, were designed in collaboration with guides, hunters and anglers and tested in the real world to create a universal tool, good for everything from fighting off a grizzly bear to opening an Amazon box. The knife handle might be made from wooly mammoth ivory, ironwood or brightly colored super conductor material.
The Tactical Outdoor Chef was designed with a Navy Seal to be a chef’s knife married to a Rambo knife. “If things get Western, it’s tactical,” Milligan says, “It’s bomb proof.”
NWKW accessories are also a cut above. Custom knife holders, called Rock Blocks, are made by artisan Sarah Gage as pieces of functional sculpture. Gage says she likes “the balance between playfulness and precision.”
Maybe this is the best way to describe NWKW: a manufacturer of artisan goods that knows how to be both fun and serious and to craft knives that are among the finest in the world. Find out more at newwestknifeworks.com.
