About Me

Hey There! I’m Jake Vanness, the maker behind Steadfast Industries.

I’m 29 years old, born and raised in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. I headed over to Wisconsin for school and graduated in 2019 with a degree in Product Design. Since then, I’ve been working as a design engineer for a fixture design company—spending my days solving problems, refining ideas, and obsessing over the details that make great products… well, great.

Knife making started for me in 2021, right in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Like a lot of people, I needed something productive, challenging, and meaningful to pour my time into. What started as a hobby quickly became a passion. I’ve been continuously evolving my designs ever since—pushing myself to create knives that are functional, rugged, and thoughtfully designed, while still being visually striking and uniquely “mine.”

I love the design side just as much as the hands-on work. Creating challenging 3D models, experimenting with shapes, ergonomics, and aesthetics, and turning those ideas into real-world tools is something I genuinely get excited about. I don’t want to make “just another knife.” I want to make something that stands out, feels special, and earns its place in your hand and in your life.

When I’m not designing or building, you’ll probably find me bow hunting—anywhere from the whitetail woods of the Midwest, to high country mule deer in Colorado, to chasing elk in Montana. I love the adventure, the challenge, and the connection to nature… and yeah, it also gives me the perfect opportunity to truly test my knives in the environments they’re built for.

Why “Steadfast Industries”?

The name Steadfast is incredibly meaningful to me. It comes from my grandfather. At his funeral, one thing everyone kept saying was how steadfast he was in his faith, his character, and the way he lived his life. That word stuck with me. It represents loyalty, strength, consistency, and integrity—the exact qualities I want to embody in my work and in every knife I make.

Steadfast isn’t just a brand name. It’s a promise:
To stay committed. To build with integrity. To keep improving. To stand behind every blade I send out into the world.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for being here, supporting small business, and trusting me with something I truly love to create.

— Jake Vanness
Steadfast Industries