This is not my work, but it follows the knife making direction, and the guy that makes them, is a fellow Powder Coater also. Dude does some pretty awesome stuff. The knife in the picture would be about 350 bucks.... Lots of time, and attention to detail too. I don't think he charges enough.
Sadly, for the life of me I can not remember the guy's name (I will look it up and post it if anyone is interested) but when I was in the Army based in Sydney there was a guy that hand made 'Specialty Knives'. He had a few standard size and shape knives but would custom craft a knife to suit the application. These knives were superb! I had two made, one was a utility knife kind of like a Ka-Bar, but better built with full width tang, wedge profile blade, deep fuller (Often referred to as a 'Blood let'), the guard/ricasso was not fully weighted but balanced the knife with the weight of the of the butt that was shaped to use as an effective blunt striking surface incorporating a lanyard. The other was a 'Fairbairn-Sykes' style fighting knife, this thing was magnificent!! Construction was like the other ie; Full tang, heavy blade perfectly balanced with the guard/ricasso, the blade was double edged and quite slender with a slight planar concave profile and wedge cutting surface that was full length on both sides. This was illegal in Australia (Full length double sided) though we got away with it being Army and our particular application! These are made just for fighting/stabbing and there is no better. Not sure why but I really like knives! Though all I have now is a small SOG folding blade knife!! Making these knives are a true art form, sadly one that is rapidly disappearing from society. If we keep buying them, maintaining or even increasing demand hopefully the skill will never disappear. Doc.
For me hand crafting something brings satisfaction that is worth more than the money I can earn from it. I have always been compelled to make things, as far back as I can remember. I love to watch skilled people work. Thanks for posting the video. David
iv been hand forging knifes for the last 10 years.. fun hobbie.. 1080, 5160 etc are good back yard steels to play with.. as of late iv been focusing on a Japanese type of knife. very challenging but as you grow you want to challenge your self.. of course forging knives n az is strictly a winter hobbie. chris.
If it hasn't been mentioned yet, and not to discredit this guy, www.cartercutlery.com is another american knifemaker (originally canadian, formally trained in japan), is located in Oregon. He hand forges all his kitchen knives in the traditional japanese way. He also holds knifemaking classes I believe several times a year in his own shop. Definitely worth checking out, I own one of his knives, simply awesome and was only $180, cheaper than a machine made Shun or Wusthof.
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