Mission Statement
L.T. Wright Handcrafted Knives wants to give you the best experience using a knife that you’ve ever had. We strive to provide the best fit, finish, and function for a fair price. Our knives are handmade by hard working craftsmen in our shop here in Wintersville, Ohio. We build them to last for generations and back it up with our lifetime warranty.
Here at L.T. Wright Knives, we pride ourselves on our customer service. Phone calls, emails, and messages over social media are always answered in a timely manner. We stand by our products with our lifetime guarantee. These knives are meant to be used for generations and we plan to continue making high quality, hand-crafted knives right here in the United States of America for years to come.
Thanks for visiting our web site.
God Bless,
The LTWK Team
About LT
L.T. Wright has always been interested in knives. The first knife he made was a kit knife that he put together for his father as a Christmas present. L.T.’s father took the knife to work to show his friends and came home with orders for more knives. That’s how the idea to become a full-time knife maker was born. He now needed to learn more about making knives, selling knives, and the knife industry.
Enter R.W. Wilson. The two abbreviation enthusiasts met at a gun and knife show and quickly hit it off. R.W. was soon teaching L.T. about knife making. R.W. would take L.T. with him to gun and knife shows and let L.T. put knives out for sale on his table while teaching how to sell knives well. L.T. used the money that he made from attending these shows to buy his first grinder. It was built by R.W. and it’s still in use at the LTWK shop to this day.
L.T. worked at a stair shop at the time. He would work at the stair shop during the day, come home, have dinner with his wife and daughter, and then go down into the basement to make knives. He created his own shop in the basement and would work on knives until bedtime.
L.T. continued taking his knives to shows on the weekends. He and his wife Elaine would camp at campgrounds or rest stops instead of staying in a hotel to save money. Many weekends the knives sold were just enough to cover the cost of gas to get back home. He did make some friends and some sales and used his earnings to buy better machines and additional materials. He eventually decided to take the leap and quit his full-time job at the stair shop to make knives for a living. He built his own web site, participated on forums, and went to knife shows. This helped him build up a loyal customer base.
L.T. started out making hunting knives. At the time, that’s what he and his most loyal customer (his Dad) were interested in. After getting to know a few of his customers and being active on knife forums he began to see the opportunity in creating knives for use in bushcraft. This spurred a new interest in L.T. and he began to learn all that he could about it.
L.T. still takes his customer’s wants and opinions into consideration. All knife designs or changes in steel are tested before being added to our selection. The knives will be passed around the Pout House (our members’ only private forum) and we evaluate the feedback. Only knives and steels that excel at each task will be put into production.
Over the years, L.T. has put together a talented team of knife makers. L.T. oversees their work and takes pride in training each new team member. He enjoys assisting them as they progress in their knife making abilities. Their talent and dedication is integral to the success of the business. They take pride not only in their job, but also the end product. L.T.’s goal is for his crew to become better knife makers than he is. This is not just a job, it is a lifestyle.
Here at L.T. Wright Knives, we pride ourselves on our customer service. Phone calls, emails, and messages over social media are always answered in a timely manner. We stand by our products with our lifetime guarantee. These knives are meant to be used for generations and we plan to continue making high quality, hand-crafted knives right here in the United States of America for years to come.
Thanks for visiting our web site.
LTWK Logo
What’s in a story? Stories make up a lot of our history. They tell where we came from and where we are headed. They allow us to dream a little and to envision what it must have been like way back when. Stories give us ideas of what we can be and what we can do. They fill us with hopes and dreams. We love hearing stories of “the good ole days” so what’s in a story? Everything or nothing at all. Let’s just keep telling them to the next generations that come along.
There is an old building on L.T. Wright’s property called the Pout House. L.T. has heard bits and pieces of The Pout House story from his family members over the years. If you were to sit around the fire with L.T. and ask him to tell the story, this is what you would hear…
“Years ago my Grandmother’s uncle lived up on a mountain in the hills of West Virginia. He lived there with his wife and children and farmed the land. He built a little shack in the woods where he would go from time to time to get away from it all. It was a little one room place built up on sandstone with rough sawn lumber that he cut down and had a local saw mill rough saw. He did all the work himself. He didn’t use a tractor or power tools— just a blind horse. He did all the work by hand. The roof was just overlapped wood and all the walls had cracks you could see through. Nothing special, just a couple of windows and a door with a sign on it that said KEEP OUT. No running water, no electric, and no insulation or drywall on the walls. It truly was a shack. Well a number of years ago while out hunting I found this shack. It was in rough repair and was barely visible through the underbrush. Being a youngster, I just had to investigate.
What I found was the remnants of what appeared to be just some old building. I asked my father about it and he told me my great, great, uncle had built it. He wasn’t really sure why. Years went by and my father and I bought the farm and the old shack was part of the property. I just loved going up near there to hunt, it just seemed to call me to it. Every year I would start my hunt from that place. A couple of summers ago I asked my Grandmother about the old building up in the woods and she told me that her uncle had built it just to have somewhere to go. She said when her uncle would go up to the shack that her aunt used to say, “There he goes again up to that Pout House.” She said that’s where he would go when she had scolded him for something. I don’t know all of the story or even how much of it is true, but from that moment on we referred to that shack as The Pout House.”
That is the story of the Pout House. A remnant from generations before left on the family property. L.T. can go up to the Pout House and be reminded of his family members that came before him. He can admire the work that was done by hand so long ago and still holds up to this day. It has inspired him to work hard and create tools that can be passed from generation to generation just like good stories or even a Pout House.