It’s not hard to be overwhelmed walking into Timber Knives in Heber City. Step in the door and you’re met with long wooden tables lined with knives of all kinds, several of which were made by Utah blade smiths: switchblades, butterfly knives, cleavers, set knives leaning on leather sheaths, folding knives with serrated edges and throwing knives.
Above the handheld bladed tools are larger handheld bladed tools: axes and hatchets of adorn shelves and sit on hangers mounted to walls. A second room is stocked with upscale, sharp kitchen knives. Collections of the utensils sit in wooden blocks.
Though some of the bladed products cost several hundred dollars, there’s not a single pane of glass separating customers from the store’s most expensive inventory. Kevin Dahl, who runs the store with his brother Sam and father Bruce, mentions this as one of the ways Timber Knives stands out: Customers are free to browse and hold the knives as they please, and sometimes at their peril.
The three have also gone to other lengths to attract customers and promote business. Bruce, who bought the store from its original owner a few years ago, explains how he’s expanded the shop’s inventory, including the Utah-made knives, and further promoted sharpening and engraving services.
About eight months ago, the store launched a website. While Bruce said they’re still growing traffic, they’re already receiving orders from across the nation.
Within the next week, the Dahls plan on adding knives they make themselves from scratch. And they’re hoping to keep growing, both online and at their physical location, on Main Street.
Bruce says that while he enjoys running the niche business with his sons, he’s also fascinated by the legacy their product has left on humanity: “One of the first things that changed the world was a knife, because then they could do better hunting, agriculture, shelter-construction, home-construction, and that gave them more free time to expand out,” he explains.
“People like knives. They still like knives after all these years.”
Kevin and Sam have begun collecting knives since the family started running the store.
“It’s kind of the same thing like if you’re picking out T-shirts,” Kevin said. “That’s a cool T-shirt, that’s a cool jacket… Same with knives. Some of them I like, some of them I don’t.”
Everyone has their preferences, Bruce explained, and he often has a front-row seat as people discover what feels right to them.
“They’re just so into feeling and opening and looking and going to the next one,” he said. “They finally make that discovery. It’s eureka moment for them. This is it.”
Sometimes when they watch someone’s selection process, it turns into a new experience altogether.
“We had a guy cut himself three different times on three different knives in here in the span of like 10 minutes,” Sam recalled when asked if people ever have mishaps handling the sharp objects. “The first two weren’t that bad, but the last one he went to go put a fixed blade into the sheath, and I saw it go straight into his hand.”
The man left quickly, Sam added.
Despite the possible danger and weight of the decision when customers shop for a knife, Bruce said, most people who come into the store don’t leave empty-handed.
Though each of the knives in the shop comes with a high price tag compared to knives that can be purchased elsewhere, Sam and Kevin explained that the cost is worth it for those seeking a quality tool.
“It will last a lot longer,” Sam said. “If you spend money on cheap knives, you’re going to replace it quite a bit compared to if you get a nice one.”
“I sharpen a lot of cheap knives, and they’re hard to sharpen. They don’t hold an edge for very long,” Kevin added. “With the nicer knives, they come in no chips, no bends, nothing.”
As Timber Knives continues to grow, so does the family’s plans. Eventually, Bruce said, they want to offer courses to teach people how to make their own knives.