Bonner knife makers stand test of time

Rudy Ruana was once quoted as saying, “You pay for the blade and the rest is free.”

While not totally true, the main goal at Ruana Knife Works in Bonner has been, and will always remain, to produce a cutting tool that will be reliable for its owner.

Most people who own an earlier Ruana knife have it tucked away with family heirlooms because they have become very valuable.

You won’t find many carried and used in the field, as they were 30 to 50 years ago for big-game hunters. But the knife factory is still in operation at its original location in Bonner, and Mike Hangas, a grandson of founder Rudy Ruana, keeps it humming along with his brother, Mark.

“My brother and I were little kids when we’d come over to watch my dad and grandpa make them right over there,” Mike said as he pointed to the manufacturing section that has not changed as much as one would think in the 80 years they’ve been in business.

The Hangas brothers are equal owners of the company today, with Mark being the main bladesmith and craftsman due to his artistic design capabilities and mechanical talent. He worked shoulder to shoulder with his grandfather from 1976 to 1983. Mike started in 1984 and does some of the knife work, but makes all the sheaths for knives, hatchets and axes. He also handles the office and administration duties.

THE KNIVES are still custom-made by hand, one at a time, with the craftsmanship that made them world-famous. The history behind Rudy Ruana and how he started making knives is fascinating.

“The very first knife blades made by grandpa from 1938 through 1943 were from Vanadium Spring steel. Then from 1944 to 1962 the blades were made from Studebaker leaf springs and had a certain stamp on them that is highly sought-after by collectors. During World War II, steel was all but impossible to come by, he said.

Today, Hangas uses 1095 high carbon steel that comes from Portland, Oregon, the closest supplier. Each Ruana blade is hammer-forged, hollow ground, individually oil-quenched, and heat-treated using a zone tempering method that makes the spine of the blade a little softer than the cutting edge.

Also known for their elk antler handles, the business still receives the majority of the antlers at the shop where credit is given on a knife or anything else in exchange for antlers that meet their specific requirements,=.

Leather knife sheaths were cut out by hand until the Hangases convinced their father to get a pneumatic press that made quick work of the sheaths.

Scraps of leather became the impetus for offshoot business, Last Best Custom Creations, which began about five years ago and now sells coasters, Christmas ornaments and even specialty items for businesses with their logos. The tiny tips of the leftover elk antlers that are too small for knife handles are made into a zipper pull or luggage tags.

Larger antler pieces are packaged for dog chews.

“We had a sweetheart of a yellow Lab named Bob, so we call them Bob’s Bone’s,” Hangas said. Today, Seamus, who is a friendly scruffy pooch is their greeter when you enter the retail end of the property.

In addition to Last Best Custom Creations' web site, www.lastbestcc.com, 17 vendors carry their products, including outlets in St. Regis, Thompson Falls, Bigfork, Kalispell and Polson, with more brick-and-mortar locations set up for next summer.

Ruana Knife Works has many celebrity customers around the world with most of its orders coming from their web site.

“Right now, we have nothing in stock. We had about nine axes left from our 80th anniversary collection last week that were pretty expensive and had a guy call and said that he’d take the rest of them,” he said. “It’s a good problem to have.”

They understand the supply and demand equation, so the Hangas brothers are extra busy building up stock.

“When we give an estimate, it’s really just that,” Mike said. “Things come up and sometimes there are delays and for that reason we don’t require any down payment as it’s not fair to tie up people’s money. We can notify folks when their order is ready and if the time frame didn’t meet their needs, there is no obligation to buy it.

"On rare occasions there will be a knife in stock for immediate shipment. Other than that, the time frame for catalog knife orders can take from one to nine months, possibly longer. We actually stopped taking custom-special orders effective July 1, 2021, because we are so far behind.”

One order came from the prop manager of the television series, "Yellowstone," which began filming in a huge building in Bonner late last year.

“What we were told is that it was featured in a scene. Discussing things with him, scenes get cut, so whether our knife makes the cut in the show, pun intended, we shall see. Regardless, it was humbling to be asked to make something that might show up in such a popular show,” Mike said.