Officer Chris Rondeau hails from Rhode Island, but now calls Oregon his home. His story is a unique one – see, alongside his day job of serving and protecting the small coastal town of Rockaway Beach, he’s a craftsman. His craft? Beautiful, unique, handmade knives. What started out as a childhood fascination has now grown into true craftsmanship and artistry with the opening of his own small business, Swamp Hollow Forge. 

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Chris’s first knife was a small nail clipper type knife that his parents let him have to appease his interests. He said it was terrible – not very sharp, wouldn’t lock open and pretty much couldn’t cut anything. Now we see the real reason his parents let him have it. His desire to own a knife only grew from this disappointing first blade and he often slipped out of the house with one of his mother’s kitchen knives. Hanging out in the woods and whittling, these kitchen knives left Chris wanting. He found his first “true” blade when he was 12, while attending a Native American Pow Wow. There was a man selling knives – old, ugly looking butcher knives. Chris picked out an old rusty one that wasn’t sharp, had a rounded tip and looked like it had two boards strapped to it for a handle. As he puts it, “It looked like a spoon”, but his mind was already working. He learned he had bought an Old Hickory skinning blade, a pretty decent knife, and he took to cleaning and sharpening it. He loved his knife and for the next 5 years he carried it with him everywhere until his brother took it, cut himself and got it confiscated by the police.