Company History
North Arm Knives is a small knife manufacturer in British Columbia. For our first 12 years, we were based in the greater Vancouver (Canada) area, but moved to a more rural location on the east coast of Vancouver Island in March 2025. Quathiaski Cove is the name of the community.
We are a father and son team, John and Mike, with son Mike taking on a greater role of late. We take great pride in making top quality knives at competitive prices, right here in BC.
We make kitchen knives for use by anyone who is passionate about food and their cutting tools. as well as knives for hunters, fishers, campers and other outdoor adventurers. And our Skaha folding knife can be found living and travelling all over the world thanks to all the knife enthusiasts who’ve ordered it, reviewed it and loved it since its introduction in 2016.
We sell our knives direct to our customers through our online store and ship internationally. Our company is named after the North Arm of the Fraser River near where the business started.
Our Values
As shoppers ourselves, we appreciate interacting with companies that treat us courteously, answer our questions intelligently, are prompt and open to feedback and suggestions. We strive to be all those things. After you buy one of our knives we want you to be a satisfied user who recommends us to your friends. We back our products with a warranty and if for some reason your purchase does not suit you, we offer a satisfaction guarantee.
Our Niche
There’s a bewildering choice of knives out there, from barely functional stamped-out dollar store blades, to works of high art forge-welded by hand into hundreds of layers and out of most people’s price range. Where we fit in this continuum is best defined by the goals we set for ourselves when we started out:
- use top end steels and the most durable handle materials available (for instance our standard blade steel, CPM MagnaCut, holds an edge much longer than the steel used in most factory made knives).
- utilize automation to an extent that we can produce several knives per day instead of several per month.
- produce a product locally starting from raw materials
- create a look that is unique and that functions to a high standard.
- be price-competitive with mass produced fine knives made in far-off places
Check out our page on product development for more on our approach to knifemaking as well as what we are currently working on.