Page 77 - Blade (February 2020)

with Gerald’s wife, Sylvia, daughter Geri “In 1970, I opened up my business in
Gerald Willey has liked knives since he was
3—so much so that he also makes them.
The one he’s holding he made last year. In
front of him, from left: the fi rst two knives
he made between the ages of 32 and 35,
the third one he built at age 16, and the
last two he made when he was 10.
here was never any doubt: Gerald
Willey was always going into the
Tknife business. Aft er decades of
hard work and unwavering commitment,
that business—Willey Knives of Green-
wood, Delaware—celebrates its 50 an-
th
niversary this year.
One of the premier retail cutlery
establishments in the United States, Willey
Knives grew from humble beginnings
to rank among the most successful
independent mom-and-pop cutlery
stores of its kind. It is a family business,
Gerald mans the store today and in 1978 (right). If it cuts or
sharpens, Willey Knives has it. The store also has a full-time
sharpening service and about 90 restaurants as clients.
and son Matt each contributing to the
operation.
Of course, it started with Gerald and
his interest in knives that stretches back
to his earliest memory.
“I grew up on a farm,” he remembered,
“and my father and grandfather always
carried pocketknives. I have liked knives
since I was 3 years old. There was a
shop on the farm that had a grinder,
work bench, drill press and forge. They
butchered their own hogs every year, and
I could go up to the grinder and sharpen
the butchering knives, go to an oil stone
and then a leather strop, and the knives
would be sharp enough to shave your
arm. I could do this when I was 10 years
old. It was a gift from God.”
Gerald also tried his hand at making
knives, using old saw blades and standing
at his grandfather’s side while learning
how to use the forge by the time he was
16. He made fixed blades out of old truck
leaf springs.
“I would have had a knife store four
years before I did, but Vietnam delayed
it,” he laughed. “I was a cook in the Navy
during Vietnam, and I really enjoyed
cooking, too. I got out in 1969 but I didn’t
have enough money to start my business.”
Undeterred, Gerald got a civil service
job at nearby Dover Air Force Base, doing
essentially the same thing he did in the
Navy. He made hunting knives, and many
of his customers mentioned that their
wives could use a good kitchen knife.
That kind of dialog turned the spark
into a flame. Still, there were plenty of
challenges in the early days.
FEBRUARY 2020 blademag.com 75
a room attached to my garage,” Gerald
remembered. He was still working his day
job at the Air Force base. “My wife and I
were living in a trailer at the time, and we
had handmade knives and retail knives.
I opened the store three nights a week
and on Saturdays,” he stated. “The first
company that I started selling in 1970 was
Victorinox. In 1973, I added Buck Knives
and W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery, and it just
grew from there.”
BASEMENT BLADES
Through the years, that growth has been
steady and sustained. In 1975 the Willeys
built a house, and Gerald designed the
basement to serve as a new store.
“That has been the home of Willey
Knives to this day,” he said. “We are in
a very rural area outside a small town—
typically sitting in a soybean field, except
when they plant wheat for the winter.
It has taken years, but we have built a
good business where we are, and we
would rather be here than paying rent
somewhere else.”
After building a home and investing
in the future, Gerald and his family have
spent the past half-century building
relationships throughout the knife
industry. Among these are several
friends who remember working with the
retailer for years. In fact, Columbia River
Knife & Tool’s Rod Bremer appreciates
the strong ties CRKT and the retailer
have developed.
“I’ve known Gerald for more than
30 years—initially with Kershaw back
in the late 1980s and subsequently for