Kaplan's Morvant makes his own knives

During the recent Celebrity Waiter Dinner benefiting the Boys & Girls Club, a custom knife auctioned for $1,000.
The knife maker, Ray Morvant of Kaplan.
“I always give a knife for the Boys & Girls Club organization,” Morvant said. “It brings in a lot more money than I could possibly give them if I gave them cash.
“I am always glad to give them one.”
The Abbeville Kiwanis Club invited Morvant to speak to members Tuesday about what goes into knife making.
Morvant, who has made knives for more than 20 years, brought with him a collection that included a knife made specially for Gov. Bobby Jindal.
“I made 120 of those,” Morvant explained to the Kiwanians. “He gave them out as gifts.”
Jindal is not the only one of the state’s top elected officials for whom Morvant has crafted a knife. He has also gifted his work to former Gov. Edwin Edwards and former Gov. Mike Foster.
Morvant has also produced knives for royalty. Well, country music royalty.
“I have made knives for Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr. and Kris Kristofferson,” Morvant said.
Making knives with designer handles adds to the return on the effort. Such is the case for the special knife made for Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price during the trio’s “Last of the Breed” tour.
“I like to put things on them that give them a little more value,” Morvant said. “When you start out making a knife, it is just a drawing on a piece of metal.
“In the end it can be a knife that says something and have more to it than being a knife.”
As for a majority of the knives Morvant creates, he keeps that to a local interest.
“I make a lot of hunting knives,” Morvant said. “That is what seems to sell.”
Many of those handles are crafted from deer horn. The good news for many of the deer, they didn’t have to die.
“You don’t have to kill the dear to get the horn,” Morvant said. “The dear sheds its horn.”
That process has grown pricey during the past couple of decades.
“About 18 to 20 years ago,” Morvant said, “you could get a horn for about $5. Now they are $60. If you ever wonder why knives are so expensive, that is part of the reason.”
What Morvant, or any maker, can fetch for one of his knifes depends.
“I could get $500 for a knife,” Morvant said, “while another guy could get $2,000 for the same knife. A more famous (knife maker) is going to get more for a knife. I can make the same knife, for the same amount of (cost).”
He said he can see the flaws in other makers’ work.
“They could also see the flaws in mine,” Morvant said.
There are steps when it comes to making any of his knives.
“I get the knives heat treated and that is about an eight-hour process,” Morvant said. “When someone asks how long it takes to make a knife, I can make a knife this afternoon. It won’t be heat treated. It would just be a blade with a handle on it, worthless.”
The heat treatment hardens the knife.
“Then you temper it by three processes of two hours apiece,” Morvant said. “That makes it to where the knife is not as brittle. If you just heated it, the knife would be hard, but brittle. If you threw it against a brick wall, it would break. You heat to harden and temper to make the knife more pliable.
“That’s what makes a knife.”
In all, making knives is a pleasure for Morvant.
“I have done this for a long time and really enjoy doing it,” Morvant said.