Published: June 16th, 2025

Paul Bos did not set out to become a legend in the knife world. He started, like many others, with a curiosity about metal and how it behaves under heat. That interest began all the way back in the ninth grade. In a high school metal shop class, he was assigned to make a cold chisel. He did what the textbook instructed: he heated it up and quenched it in water. It snapped. So did the next one. Confused but intrigued, he began asking questions and was eventually pointed toward an old blacksmith named Herman who worked at Star Heat Treat in San Diego. That blacksmith gave him some practical advice that changed everything: “You’re doing it wrong. You do not quench it in water. You quench it in oil.”

That was the moment it all started. After that, Paul began spending more time around Star Heat Treat. While most teenagers were working part-time jobs in retail or fast food, Paul was handling tool steels and learning the trade from the ground up. He worked with steels like 1095 and O1, long before exotic alloys dominated the industry. He came to understand heat treating not simply as a technical process but as a craft. It took time, attention, feel, and precision.

In the late 1970s, Buck Knives approached Paul to help set up their internal heat treat department. He helped them select equipment, trained their people, and got the system running at a professional level. They eventually worked out an arrangement where Paul would move his business inside Buck’s factory, continuing to heat treat knives for Buck and for other custom makers as well. When Buck Knives relocated to Post Falls, Idaho, in 2001, Paul sold Certified Metal Craft to the company and moved with them. He remained as the in-house expert, ensuring that his methods and standards stayed intact.

Over the decades, Paul Bos built a reputation not only for his precision and consistency but for his willingness to help others. He treated makers with respect and offered real advice. If someone sent him a batch of blades and something was off, whether from overheating, poor grinding, or bad steel, he would let them know and offer guidance. His goal was never to criticize, but to help makers succeed. For many rising knifemakers, Paul Bos was the quiet expert behind their first big success.