ENCINITAS — A father-son team’s custom knifemaking business continues to produce high-quality blades forged in the family’s Leucadia garage.
Leucadia Blade Company is the brainchild of Scott Wing, a history teacher at El Camino High School in Oceanside, and his son and fellow knifemaker, Anthony. In 2015, the pair set out to make a custom knife at home as a fun weekend project.
After hours of research, conversations and plenty of YouTube videos, the Wings crafted their first edge.
“I went down a rabbit hole and kind of got obsessed with learning how to make knives,” Scott said. “I started posting pictures of the knives we made on Instagram and people were like, ‘Hey, can I buy one of those?’”
Thus, Leucadia Custom Knives was born. At first, the Wings created each knife from scratch in the garage after school. Each knife — from tang to hilt — was painstakingly assembled by hand. The end result was rewarding, but the process was time-consuming and laborious.
“Customers were waiting for months,” Scott said. “I felt bad. At one point, the waiting list was a year and that just sucks. A year is too long to wait for something.”
Over time, the company underwent some important changes, including changing its name to Leucadia Blade Company. The Wings also decided to trim the catalog and begin working with other American manufacturers of knife supplies to streamline the workflow.
Leucadia Blade’s knives are still custom-made in the garage, but the family works smarter to provide a consistently high-quality product more quickly.
“Growing up, I never saw my dad as a businessperson,” Anthony said. “But it’s been crazy to witness his transformation. He’s made great decisions that have helped grow the business.”
The Wing family’s shared love for cooking and fishing drove them to begin their adventure in creating artisan cutlery.
And running the family business together appears to keep them moving forward.
“Working with my kids is awesome,” Scott said, who is approaching retirement after 29 years teaching in Oceanside. “It gives us something to talk about all the time and something to do together.”
Today, Anthony is responsible for most of the production. On a typical workday, he checks his orders, grabs a blank and finishes the blade, cuts raw materials for the handle, drills holes for rivets, laser prints the logo into the blade (and any other custom engraving requests), and epoxies the blade into the handle.
Once the epoxy is set, Anthony returns to the grinder to round out the handle. The knife’s final touches include diligently hand-finishing the blade with sandpaper, oil and a whetstone.
Leucadia Blade’s catalog features several fishing and kitchen knives, including the 8.5-inch Chef model, 8-inch (Hamachi) and 10-inch (Ahi) fillet knives, the 6-inch Barracuda utility knife, and the Ono, an everyday carry knife with sheath.
All Leucadia Blade knives are stainless steel and heat-treated to 61 on the Rockwell hardness scale.
Leucadia Blade’s quality and designs have attracted the attention of some big names, including Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan, skateboarder Bucky Lasek and pro surfer Josh Kerr.
But the family company, still operating out of the Leucadia garage, is proud of its local presence and the community members who make it such a special place.
In 2020, after 13-year-old Keane Hayes survived an attack from an 11-foot great white shark while catching lobster at Beacon’s Beach, Leucadia Blade invited him to come make knives in their shop and later crafted the teenager a knife featuring a special shark fin logo.
The Wing family agreed to manufacture more knives with the special insignia if customers donated to an online fundraiser to help pay for Hayes’ medical bills.
The high-quality cutlery has also caught the eye of local celebrities, including chef Davin Waite of The Plot, Wrench and Rodent and Brine Box. Waite frequently shares social media videos depicting him effortlessly executing sashimi-style cuts with a razor-sharp knife from Leucadia Blade.
“The customers and clients we meet are just amazing,” Scott said. “We work super hard at this. Every day for the last eight years, after work, we’ve been literally grinding it out. It’s really cool how supportive everyone has been.”
