The process goes as follows:

1. Layer high carbon steel & steel with 2% nickel, alternating each and stacking 15 high.
2. Weld ends of stack together.
3. Put stack into forge and get red hot
4. Pound out stack to be flat and put back in forge.
5. Fold layers.
6. Repeat until you’ve folded many, many times.
   These first six steps are actually forging your own metal. For learning purposes, we skipped these steps because it is a difficult thing to master and takes a long time. We started, rather, with a method called stock removal.
7. Trace blade design onto stock / forged metal.
   
8. Cut out design using a band saw & grind edges to smooth and round.
   
9. Using the grinder, taper the blade (both length and width) & drill holes in the tang for the handle.
   
10. Heat treat.
    1. Get forge hot and place blade in fire.
    2. When the blade turns hot yellow, take it out and place it in oil to cool to 400°.
    3. Place in oven at 425° for two hours.

    And that’s as far as I’ve gotten! Next week we’ll finish the knife, putting the wood on for the handle and grinding it down to fit the contours, then buff and sharpen. w00t!

Today I drove down south about an hour and met up with one of the best knife makers on the west coast, if not, in the United States. He and I will trade services—in January we will work for two days together on making a knife. His understanding of and philosophy around knife making exceeds most in the neighborhood. He is extremely skilled and very savvy for what appears to be a down home country boy. I did not expect his acuteness with business and technologically. Fantastic. So in January we will talk about his website and what he needs. There is also a show he is putting on that will continue to grow and we may work together on that site as well.

In the meantime, while I am not a world renown knife maker, I am going to continue to do web stuff as long as it pays the bills. My guess is it will take me longer than a few months to get really good at knife making since I have limited access to a shop and proper tools. Regardless, I am very excited about learning more and become a very skilled knife maker!

Turns out, I was way off.

The knife making community here in Washington has been extremely welcome and very helpful. They are all willing to help in one way or another. Who knew that knife makers would be so incredibly kind?!

I had about five or six responses within the last week. One man emailed me a list of three names and contact information. He told me how he knew the guys and what he thought of them. His top listed guy is a Master knife maker. It may sound dumb but it takes a really long time and a ton of popularity to become known as a “Master.” I emailed the people on the list as well. Next Monday I am meeting up with a guy who, turns out, is a friend of a friend. He actually didn’t email me back, he called offering to have me come to his shop so he can show me what it is all about. We might work out a trade for services—show me how to make knives, I design him a slick website.

Just now I received an email back from the #1 dude, the Master. He is known in the community and some people think he is the best knife maker in the world. Holy craps. BTW, I am fairly certain knife makers of his stature sell their knives for upwards of $5000. Holy craps. He has offered to teach me in exchange for a website. Holy craps.

How cool is that?

What I hope to do is learn from more than one person, so that I have a more well rounded understanding of knife making. I don’t want any titles, I just want to be damn good at what I do.

“I did it. I f*ckin’ did it!”

A few days ago I talked about moving to the east side of the mountains and trying to figure out what the hizzle I will do for work. I’ve had a few measly ideas that all involved more money upfront than I could save in a year. I am trying to be practical here people. So how does one find the perfect job? Let alone, the perfect business that could, feasibly, support oneself?

Yesterday morning, before I drove back from Portland, I had breakfast and coffee with a friend of mine. Just two weeks ago she got married and I have yet to get them a gift. Don’t judge. So, while driving home I was thinking about something I could make them. She expressed interest in more art to hang on the walls. As I thought, my mind took me down a little rabbit trail. On that trail I discovered, quite possibly, the greatest self-suiting business idea.

Allow me to digress and provide a backdrop for my new idea.

Since I was quite young, I have been enamored with knives. Don’t judge. For many years, more than my age, my grandpa has collected knives. Pocket knives, hunting knives, trinket knives, antique, collector, unique, etc. For either my 10th birthday or the Christmas after, he gave me my first pocket knife, of the Swiss make. Since then I have slowly started my own collection and have about five or six. They can be spendy. Just a few years ago, on my way back from my beast’s family-in-law’s cabin, I stopped at a custom knife shop in the foothills of the Cascades. I discovered that the strange but kind man who owns the place, offers a knife making course. It has been several years since this discovery but I have so badly wanted to learn.

Around this same time, I purchased a domain name. During my drive back to Seattle I remembered this preemptive purchase. My intention with the domain name was to someday make and sell custom knives online. As I this inkling brewed in my brain, it began to effectuate. Knife making involves both design and precision, creativity and technique and fulfills my desire to not work at the computer.

There are many details yet to be hashed out. I need to take a knife making course, find out if it is actually a process I will enjoy. After that, I need to figure out what type of equipment I will need and price it out. Then I must add that cost to the cost of living without income for a few months, while I get the business up and running. So far I’ve come up with three different avenues of sales: online, gun & knife shows, and in local stores. In addition to knives, I would make sheaths and gun holsters, though the holsters would be a secondary and second phase product.

Also, I met a guy a few years back at a show who made knives and I could easily contact him and see if I could do an apprenticeship or something. Maybe he needs a website :0)

Other contingent factors: finding a place for a reasonable price, finding a place with a garage or something that can be made into a shop, finding a place near where Tamms and her hubster buy a place (assuming it will happen).

Here are a few pictures of the type of work I would like to do: