Quintin Middleton, craftsman and owner Middleton kniveshe discovered his passion for blades at a young age, inspired by Eighties fantasy movies akin to star Wars AND Conan the Barbarian. “I wanted to imitate what I saw,” he recalls, “and [in] in some scenes in the movies, the blacksmith was forging the hero’s sword and it just enchanted me.”
As a child, Middleton experimented with the craft, sticking household objects – akin to his mother’s shower curtain rod – into the handle of a knife. But it wasn’t until 2003, when he was studying in college to change into an aircraft mechanic, that Middleton was capable of try his hand at a real job. Middleton worked at a local knife and cigar shop to earn extra money during his time as a legendary blacksmith Jason Knight he walked through the door.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Middleton Made Knives
“He bought a few things and started telling me about himself and said, ‘Well, I make knives for a living,’” Middleton says. “And so [I] lit up and I asked him, “Hey, are you able to teach me?” Can I come to your studio workshop one day? And he graciously allowed me to do so.” Middleton apprenticed with Knight for about six years.
Middleton emphasizes that “it takes a lifetime to be really good at anything,” but after about a year of working with Knight, he concluded he was a “competent knife maker” – and saw the potential to build his own business around that skill “from day one.” ” After college, Middleton worked as an industrial mechanic at Mercedes-Benz, but all the while he was “making knives, learning, pushing and creating.”
Eventually, Middleton’s skills expanded to incorporate a variety of knives and swords. However, he says that he had a dream in which “the Holy Spirit said [him] make kitchen knives” and “it was as if someone was giving him direction [he] I had to go.”
Photo credit: Courtesy of Middleton Made Knives
“They are knives, yes, but they are not what a professional chef would want.”
So Middleton began researching, trying to recreate the chef’s knives he had seen in photos and wondering what the chef would need from the tool. Then, after he had made a few knives, he called “all the best chefs in Charleston, South Carolina like a telemarketer” – and was met with rejection after rejection. So he tried a different tactic: He contacted Craig Deihl, executive chef of Cypress and Artisan Meat Share, and asked if he could help develop a chef’s knife.
“He let me come to his restaurant,” Middleton says. “I brought some knives, laid them out and let his crew check them out. And I think I might walk away with a few hundred dollars. And someone will buy something. Nobody bought anything. And I was so depressed, so he told me, “OK, these are knives, that is true, but they are not what a skilled chef would want.”
Middleton asked why this was, and Deihl explained that Middleton’s knives, sharpened from his experience with hunting knives and swords, were too heavy and thick for the chef’s needs. Instead, a chef’s ideal tool would strike a balance between “needle and axe,” Middleton says.
Like an axe, a chef’s knife “have to be strong and very durable,” but like a needle, “it have to be precise” and “go exactly where it must go,” he explains. So that is what Middleton created.
Deihl told his friends about Middleton’s chef knives, and the business began to take off. “It’s almost like throwing a stone into a pond,” Middleton says. “I caused a little wave that spread to other people.”
“This is my future dream – to create a production company in or near my city.”
Middleton Made Knives was officially launched in 2010, and in 2011, Middleton was interviewed Entrepreneur AND Garden and weaponswhich “created a lot of buzz” that “established him as a creator,” he says.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Middleton Made Knives
Since then, Middleton Made Knives has continued to determine itself in the industry by providing handcrafted high carbon steel knives that may be sold for over $1000 to some of the best chefs in the country, including Sean Brock, Michael Anthony, Mike Lat and more.
Middleton also wants to achieve one other milestone in his blade business: hiring people in his hometown of Saint Stephen, South Carolina, a predominantly African American town of fewer than 2,000 people. “This is my future dream – to create a manufacturing company in my city or nearby where we can produce high-end knives.”
And his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to appreciate their great ambitions in business?
“Money comes in, money goes out and money comes in again,” Middleton says. “But when the time comes, time just flies by. So appreciate your time.”