Don Cowles is an award-winning full-time knifemaker. Born in California, he has lived in Washington State, Oklahoma, Illinois, Massachusetts, Venezuela, New Jersey, New York, and currently resides in Royal Oak, Michigan.

He made his first knife in 1963, and a number of knives in the following decades. In 1995, he bought a Burr King belt grinder, and has never looked back. In the last decade, he has devoted much time to the craft of making cutlery of his own design, focusing primarily on smaller straight knives as elegant alternatives to folding knives. He is a member of the Miniature Knifemakers Society, and the American Knife and Tool Institute, contributes as a moderator to online knife discussion forums, and writes the occasional article for knife magazines.

Don is an avid fly fisherman, an accomplished singer and guitarist, and is active in his church. He loves to talk knives, and share the experience and knowledge that was so generously shared with him by others. Ernie is his erstwhile shop cat, a good listener and sometime apprentice.