I had done a little reading, outside of either of two books which probably tell most everything about the shop, reading such as magazine articles, etc, written over the years, as mainly was wondering if I could ever find out how much Rudy maybe worked on my old mail ordered smokie.

In a nutshell, Rudy was by himself until Vic asked if Rudy might train him. Rudy was skeptical an electrical guy could be trained in smithing and took him on for a provisional year. Vic really wanted this. Watching Rudy work just called to him.

Before then, in the 50s, especially early 1950s, in that area, one could hardly give away a handmade to your average guy, probably same struggle most knifemakers at local shows today feel. Late 50s, and Rudy was buying a single micro typed classified space ad in Guns Magazine buried under "other", saying simply "Ruana Knives, send stamped envelope for list and prices, to:etc", which was nearly all advertising ever done.

Vic started off on light finishing, then grinding, then the forge etc, while his wife took another job as fall-back.....within about 5yrs, Vic was doing the forging and Rudy was doing the finishing as Rudy's 65th approached, and passed, and planned retirement which ended up put off another 15yrs.

Within a couple more years, Vic had dealers in Alaska, and word was spreading like wildfire, and they honestly had just too many orders flowing in, no matter how much bounce Rudy had added to his step as he returned from the post office. The decision to expand, or not, was made, and not made lightly, and they made a conscious decision to keep it small, and keep it family. And so it has stayed.

Two of Rudy's three sons were military pilots. Not interested/not there. One would assume his grandsons of remaining son were ones who worked there Saturdays in the mid 1970s while in school, simply because by 1980 they had tried their own short-lived hand with "Ruana Bros" knives. One of those, Dave, kept at it a few more years on his own, then dropped out, and then came back to the trade in the last 5-8yrs and has won numerous awards in Denver at shows.

Again, this documentary video link, showing just how small, how old, that shop is. We are talking a milling machine made with Model T parts and a grinder made from a washing machine motor, the original coal fired forge and Rudy's old anvil which was on the trailer which broke down in Finn Town/Bonner in 1938. Mainly so one can see there just never was room for more than a couple of people there. Even one person trying to train would be a major headache.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBKnLe7tYmU

Vic was out with health issues when the documentary crew came by, but was able to return and is still stitching sheaths. Their total annual production is on the order of 750-800 knives, when everything and everybody working as hoped.

A major "take-away" to me from all this info, is that the shop and Rudy would have been retired well before 1970, had not Vic stepped up to the plate for love of the smithy.

PS- having gone through a great many internet threads, one subject which gripes me is folk griping as to increased price of knives over the years.

As with my same commentary as to Bill Bagwell, people need to keep in mind that these knife makers are self-employed. They pay their own taxes, health and business insurance, Social Security and Medicaid FULL contributions, etc, and have families to care for and cover, as well. All of these costs have skyrocketed, and the choice is easy, costlier knives, or no knives at all.