The Frank Beltrame Story

Frank Beltrame was born Feb 14, 1941 in Maniago Italy. He grew up in a home with his mother, father, and his brother. They also shared the duplex style home with his paternal Uncles, from where they ran a small knife factory.

Son of Ivano Beltrame, Frank learned at an early age how to work, and to take pride in his jobs around his father's Knife factory.

He started out doing miscellaneous jobs such as carefully packing knives for shipping, and eventually became an apprentice of his Father.

They made fishing knives, multi purpose knives, and knives like the Opinel, with a wood scale.

In 1956, at the age of 15, after Frank had attended 2 years at a Professional Cutlery School, he officially went to work with his father and his Uncles, making knives full time. He went to school in the evenings, learning all about the various materials and the latest technology as well as the traditional old world style of knife design.

Little did Frank know, this was the beginning of a legendary career, as he would grow up to be one of the worlds greatest knife makers, setting the standard for Italian Cutlery.

In 1958, Frank's Family Company began making switchblades. Frank had an instant interest in the mechanism of an automatic knife.

In 1969, sadly, Frank's father died of a heart attack while working in the factory one day.

The following year in 1970, Frank founded F.lli Beltrame. In the years to follow Frank Beltrame continued to study and research the switchblade mechanism.

In 1982 he patented the Atlas kit, which was a switchblade without the spring installed. He distributed those to THE EDGE CO. These were the original switchblade kits that people still look for to this day.

During this time, as the Italian switchblade market was expanding, there were other companies in Italy who attempted to jump into the knife making industry.

Some of these companies had a lack of quality control. They used sub standard materials and mass produced poor quality lines of switchblades.

In 1990 Frank Unveiled and patented a model Switchblade for the German market. Although his knife was very popular, Taiwan had begun mass producing cheap imitation clones of Italian stilettos, so now Frank faced a new problem. He had to compete in the knife market against poorly made copies of his own knives.

Luckily, quality speaks for itself, as any knife collector knows that there is NO COMPARISON between a genuine Frank Beltrame stiletto and anything ever made in Taiwan!

In 1996 Frank decided to restructure the company, so Frank founded F.lli Beltrame F&C with his daughter Sara and his son Ivano (named after Frank's father). They had already been working with Frank for 2 years by then.

Ivano helped Frank in the workshop, and Sara, who learned to read, write and speak English, became the sales Representative and interpreter between Frank and the USA buyers.

When asked of his favorite hobby, no surprise Frank said "My hobby is my job," and he still works full time in his work shop, making beautiful knives.

Making knives is his passion.

He also enjoys time with his family, including his wife, 2 children, and grandsons Mattia 4 yrs old (son of Ivano) and Antonio 3 yrs old (son of Sara).

Maybe someday, they will join the Beltrame knife making empire and continue the family legacy.

When asked which knife from his product line is his favorite, he couldn't answer.

He puts such time and dedication into designing and producing each knife that he loves them all equally.

Frank Beltrame and Walt / Latama went in on a joint venture which has resulted in a 5mm thick stiletto called Walt's Classic. These are unsurpassed in quality and design.

Together, Frank and Ivano have designed for Walt, the finest example of an Italian stiletto on the market.

The handles are from Frank, and the 5mm blades are from Walt (Latama). The blade is laser cut for precision, and polished to a mirrored finish. The scales come in exotic colors such as Ram, Brazilian Buffalo Horn, Blond Horn, Abalone, and French Tip. The bolsters are solid nickel silver.

Since 2005, all stilettos stamped frank B have the Quality Mark Maniago.

This Quality Mark means they have exceeded the European standards of quality.

This is re-evaluated every year. This means an Inspector comes out and tests the quality of the material and the blades. These high quality stilettos are guaranteed free of defects for a full 2 years.

Frank Beltrame stands behind the quality of his work.

His years of experience, his education in the art of knife design, and his family tradition of knife making have made Frank Beltrame a leading expert in his field.

I am very honored that Frank allowed me to interview him for this article and I would like to thank Sara for helping to translate for us!

Jody -The Blade Girl http://www.knifegirl.com