Steiner Knife Works

I finally got around to finishing the rough blank Mace Forged at last years Hammer in at The Guilford School in CT.

This is a blade that I made over a period of 40 hours over 5 days with Burt Foster at the New England School of Metalwork in Auburne Maine. Ill post in progress pictures later but this was made using no power tools. Just hammers files and sandpaper.

So yeah this is a little knife ive been working on.  Kind of the successor to the “Little Cutter” at the bottom of the page in that the handle and sheath are the same material.  I wanted the Handle and sheath to look relatively continuous while sheathed.  Blade is O-1  tool steel and the pattern on the blade was applied using mustard.  Yup regular ole plain yellow mustard.  I am pretty sure it is the vinegar that etches the steel.  The handle and sheath is redwood burl.  This was a test run to see if I could do it so the next one should be even better.  My friend aint getting this one.

This one I guess you can call a fighter. 3/16th thick O-1.

This is a 1084 blade rough forged by Mace Vitale

It was roughly profile and the bevels roughed in. I ground in the bevels, refined the shape and heat treated the blade.

This is the only picture I found of me working a coal forge at the ashokan seminar

The Ashokan Bladesmithing Seminar is one of the oldest and most prestigious knifemaker gatherings in the country located in the Catskills Mountains. Over 80 People ranging from absolute novice to Mastersmith attend this seminar every year and it is a blast. It is a great chance to learn and practice the art of bladesmithing and knifemaking as well as meeting a lot of awesome people. The entire weekend there was not one bad word spoken. Such a great environment.

The Famous “Wobbly Bridge”

Here I am trying to understand what MasterSmith Kevin Cashen is trying to teach me about forging a blade

Kevin (left) teaching another novice like myself how to forge a blade

MasterSmith J.D. Smith of our fair city Boston, Ma showing off his serpent handled blade. I believe this one had over $2,000 worth of precious stone embedded in the handle.

I have finally finished this blade. The handle is lace wrapped and treated with super thin CA

This was forged by hand from a billet of cable and powdered 1095 steel in a  canister that was forge welded together.  Top picture is the raw billet and the bottom the knife

I think it kind of looks like a snail.  First try doing a scroll

 I made this from a cable from an old elevator.  Cable is heated and forge welded into a solid piece of steel.