Frank Centofante – A Style All of His Own

Thirty years in the profession and eight years as president of the prestigious American Knifemakers Guild. The career of this craftsman from a family of Italian Immigrants has been truly faultless. Frank Centofante learned knife making from his father in Florida. When he started in the profession in 1970, he made straight models that were not particularly original. At a knife show he meet Bob Loveless, who fascinated him. He understood that in order to stand out from the competition he needed to develop a style all of his own. So he abandoned straight knives to devote himself to folding ones.

With Ron Lake the star of this game, he took his inspiration from the latter’s models, not for the interframe, which is quite difficult to produce, but for the type with the switchblade pump at the back of the handle.

For more traditional models he would place it conventionally on the back.

Since the shape of Loveless blades were characteristic and very much in vogue, Centofante asked him to make him some that he could then mount on his folding frames. A series was thus developed with much success.

Centofante then designed several models that affirmed his style before launching himself into the production of liner locks when they became fashionable, a genre that he would never leave.

His production was characterized by the quality of the mechanisms, a range of only a few models and selected materials for the handles, notably fossilized mammoth ivory.

In 1991, he left Tampa, Florida to establish himself in Madisonville, Tennessee where his son joined him so that the Centofante style would carry on for many years. His son is currently an airline pilot and he does show up at a few knife shows each year.

Frank Centofante was born May 3, 1936 and passed away on September 8, 2009 in Madisonville, Tennessee. There was a memorial service for him later on in Rhode Island.