Chris Reeve

Christopher Stanley Reeve (born December 4, 1953) is a South African-American knife maker, recognized as one of the most influential people in knife making history. Reeve founded Chris Reeve Knives (CRK) in 1984. In 2014, Reeve retired and was inducted into the Blade Magazine Hall of Fame in 2015. Background Christopher Stanley Reeve was born on December 4, 1953, in Durban, South Africa. His original vocation was that of tool and die making. Reeve trained at the Pineware Manufacturing Company, serving a four-year tool- and die-making apprenticeship that finished in 1978. Reeve credits his experience in tool and die for developing his grinding skills and giving him the manufacturing and materials knowledge he needed to jumpstart him in professional knife making. As a young man, Reeve’s spare time was largely spent engaged in motorcycle racing. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a regular competitor in South Africa’s Grand Prix motorcycle racing circuit. Unlike many of his competitors, Reeve did not have corporate funding. As a result, Reeve used the highly competitive race setting to hone his problem-solving skills, custom tuning his motorcycle with components often designed and fabricated in his own shop. In 1987, Chris married Anne Cameron in Johannesburg, South Africa. In order to pursue improved business opportunities, Chris and Anne moved to the United States in 1989, and settled in Boise, Idaho. In 2003, Chris and Anne were granted US citizenship.