Reinhard Tschager
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"I was born in Bozen on the 14. June 1947. After finishing school I went to the school of goldsmiths in Valenza Po where I studied goldsmith. In 1964 my father took me into his company. It is now 15 years ago that my brother, who is watchmaker, and I started leading this jewelry and watch shop." Besides goldsmith works Reinhard Tschager was always interested in fine knives. And as a result he started making knives on his own while bringing in all his skills. With his first couple of works the passion caught him and from 1979 he started knifemaking as an extra profession. Ever since Reinhard Tschager crafts 12 - 14 knives in a year. The most favorite ones are integral knives which always come with nice embellishments and goldsmith elements. The results of his work are extraordinary art and jewelry knives. |
| "The blade steel in most cases is ATS-34, 440C and UHB Elmax as well as certain forged damascus from different home and foreign damascus smiths. Using oval gold pins in a rhomboid alignment is one of my typical characteristics. In addition I embed a small gold plate in the blade with my logo on it. I do not etch my logo into the blade like others do. I prefer to work with any natural material. Therefore, the handles of my knives are made from desert ironwood, other stabilized woods, fossil ivory, oosic, mother of pearl, coral, lapis lazuli and other fancy kinds. I am founding member of the Italian Knifemakers Guild, the Corporatione Italiana Coltellinai. Since 1990 I join the membership in the German Knifemakers Guild and since 1994 I am voting member in The Knifemakers´ Guild. Three years ago I also started making small real jewelry knives, the "coltello gioiello", which have an overall length between 110 and 130 mm and come with a gold chain. The knives are made to be worn with a small sheath in the pocket like a folder. Over the years I increasingly combined my goldsmith skills with those of the knifemaking and I made more gold inlays with my own engravings. Some are made by other well known Italian engravers too. I love art nouveau ornaments and occasionally I even use gemstone for them. At the very beginning I only wanted to make a knife for my own use. After more and more collectors became interested in my work I wanted to attend at knife shows as a further step. Even in my hardiest dreams I could not imagine that I might be able to go to America or even Taiwan with my knives, but my dreams came true. Special thanks go to my wife Trudi who always accompanies me at the shows. Another special thanks goes to all those collectors who gave me the opportunity to follow up with my passion." |
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