About

“A military survival knife brand founded by a U.S. Special Operation veteran, Freebooter Blades promotes the proud, sometimes loud, unapologetic, red-blooded, beer, bacon and freedom loving brotherhood of American patriots and veterans.” Sounds good.

What started out as a curious personal challenge with an empty paint can, a file and a piece of 1095 steel, evolved (maybe devolved?) into a never-enough-time, money-pit spending, all-consuming, what-have-I-gotten-myself-into venture.

And I love it. This is what passion in what you do feels like.

I served fifteen years in Naval Special Warfare as a SWCC (Special Warfare Combatant Crewman), aka “Dirty Boat Guys/DBG’s” or more commonly, the “Boatguys”. “The best kept secret in the Navy” the saying goes. And it really was. Still is.

Shortly after retiring, I was fortunate enough to find myself serving once again in the community of warriors I loved and missed so much. This time as a civilian high-risk instructor teaching our elite Navy SWCC and SEALs in the ways of survival when shit goes really bad. Like, alone and isolated outside the wire bad.

One thing about NSW, if our operators aren’t getting the training they need, someone will say “Fuck it. We’ll just train ourselves.” And when this happens, we only go after the best. And who are the best military survival instructors? Air Force. That’s who. No, seriously it’s true.

Say what you will about AF pukes, all inter-service rivalry aside, the Air Force produces the best survival instructors in the world, hands down. So, it’s no surprise that former AF survival instructors made up the bulk of NSW survival training. It’s these pukes that I sat down with, with a blank dry erase board and brain-stormed our version of the ultimate fucking survival knife.

I’d like to say the final Overwatch design you see today was a result of years of development, truth is, we came up with the design in about twenty minutes. There’s really nothing fancy about a good survival knife. A good survival knife only needs a blade long enough with a strong spine for battening, thick and hardened for prying, a solid, comfortable grip, a just-right drop point and a couple of well placed holes (just in case you find yourself using it as the tip of a spear to kill a grizzly), and most importantly, an easy to sharpen cutting edge for skinning/processing game. That’s it. No serrated edges. No blood grooves, recurves, hard angles, titanium or other exotic steels. Nothing fancy.

The rest of the time between then and now has been spent dialing in and perfecting (nothing's perfect tho) the process of smithing these nothing-fancy, but badass, beautiful blades.

So, I started Freebooter Blades LLC because…what the hell else was I going to do? Keep making badass blades that few will ever see? Fuck no. This is me now. This is what I want to keep doing when I grow up. Blade smithing satiates my need for making something that is completely utilitarian but awesome to look at and show off to your buddies too.

Ultimately, I’m not just trying to promote and sell badass knives. I want to promote the culture I belong to. The one with a foundation built on years of hard military service, love of family, pride in the greatest country on Earth, "Merica, and the bonds of Brotherhood.

Family. Country. Brotherhood. FCB.

-ChrisK

SWCC and SEAL pre-mission brief. Somewhere in the Gulf of Oman. That's me with the black, backwards ballcap and stupid look on my face.