Robert Wayne Lum  (1943 - 2007)  This is a picture of Bob Lum, holding his "Encounter" folder at the Oregon Knife Show, in 2006. Unfortunately, Bob passed away in December, 2007. We've lost a great knife designer and maker.

 Born in Astoria, Oregon, USA, in 1943, Bob was a 3rd Generation Chinese American. He received a Diploma from the Brooks Institute of Photography and gained over 30 years of experience in the field of photography and camera sales. He was also a keen fisherman and hunter, which is where he gained his appreciation for fine knives.

 Bob began making knives in 1976, became a member of the "Knifemakers Guild" in 1979, and stuck with the profession for the rest of his life, over 31 years. As a full time knifemaker, Bob received many awards, such as "Best Hunting Knife" at the Southern California Blade Show, "Number One Tactical Knife Award-1999" at the Contemporary Metal Werks Expo., and many others. He was the first custom knifemaker to introduce the Tanto-style blade to the United States and he collaborated on knife designs with Spyderco (Bob Lum Folding Tanto and Bob Lum Chinese Folder) and Seki-Cut (Bob Lum "Encounter"), His latest collaborative work was with Benchmade, for the 740 "Dejavoo" and the 745 "Mini-Dejavoo".

 In 1999, we were involved with the Seki Cutlery Association's project (For the Seki-Cut brand) to develop a new line of knives, which were to be designed by world-renowned knife designers and manufactured by a select group of Seki knifemakers. One of the designers we chose to collaborate with was Bob Lum, and we worked closely with him to create the "Encounter" tactical folder series (Produced by Suetake) and the "Hunter" fixed blade series (Produced by Hattori).

 We are very sad to have lost such a talented knife maker and designer.

 A Limited Quantity of knives from the Bob Lum Design Knife Collections are currently available for purchase.