BOKER 2019 ANNUAL DAMASCUS| Powder metallurgical Damascus blade| Grenadill wood scales |999 pieces worldwide | Blade: 2.75” | Overall: 6.38” | Model No.: 1132019DAMbokerusa.com
36 BLADE SEPTEMBER 2019
TROPHY KNIVES^ |^
LUCAS BURNLEY
L
ucas Burnley is known for his
outstanding custom knives and his
custom/factory collaboration models with
CRKT and Boker. But there’s another side
of Lucas and his wife Maddie you may not
know about.
Lucas has used his work and visibility
within the world of knives to benefi t
others. His motto of “Work Hard, Do
Good” is engrained in the Burnley Knives
culture and championed by his tight-knit
group of collectors whose generosity has
far-reaching eff ects on individuals and
communities across the USA.
His Cypop bottle opener is the driving
force behind his annual Cypop for Tots
fundraiser benefi ting Marine Toys for
Tots. Each year since 2013, he has made a
special Cypop bottle opener to raffl e, with
100 percent of the proceeds going toward
the purchase of toys for a local Toys for
Tots organization. In 2018, the 24-hour
raffl e made national news and raised over
$91,000 for kids and their families during
the holidays.
Because Marine Toys for Tots has a
spending cap per toy that doesn’t apply
to private citizens, Lucas and Maddie
gather their families and those interested
in joining them and spend days shopping
locally, hand-selecting high-quality toyschildren of all ages love. Lucas received toys
from Toys for Tots as a kid and knows that
supporting this incredible organization is
about giving hope to young ones and their
families during a time of year that can be
challenging. Since starting the tradition in
2013, the Burnley Knives community has
raised close to $200,000 for Marine Toys
for Tots.
Lucas uses his platform of knives and
tools to try and bring about positive
change. Like many in the industry, he has
supported the American Knife & Tool
Institute the past several years through
donations of his work for AKTI’s BLADE
Show auction. He also supports other
causes near and dear to him through
special projects where a percentage of sales
is donated to charitable organizations.
Most recently, a percentage of the profi ts
from his Nita Chef Knife project went
toward supporting FoodCorps, a group
that helps ensure that our nation’s children
know what healthy food is, care about
where it comes from, and have access to
it every day.
What Lucas and Maddie have done
transcends the knife industry and
addresses the needs of our future: our
children and their families. Please join us
in recognizing the winner of the BLADE
Magazine 2019 Industry Achievement
Award, Lucas Burnley.Lucas,Lucas, Maddie and Barlow BurnleyMaddieandBarlowBurnley