About
I suppose I should start by admitting that for me, bladesmithing is a distraction from my normal day job, which is very stressful. Some years back, a co-worker brought in some custom pens that he had made with his lathe, and that put the hook in me for a couple of years. I couldn't begin to guess how many knives I made, but I know it must be over a hundred.
So you might be able to see my problem, right? I made so many pens, handed them out as Christmas presets, or just to friends and family that wanted something specific. The issue is, after everybody had a knife, all I ended up doing was filling more space in a large box with them.
You may ask 'why not just sell them?'
Well, I had thought about that, but the market is flooded with custom knives and unless you are at the top of the food chain, and are building masterpieces using mammoth teeth, and selling for more than a thousand dollars each, you'll be competing against other hobbyists, and not really making enough money to justify the time and expenses of custom pen-making.
I needed a new distraction, and one that I might be able to make a bit of money with. Enter bladesmithing.
Three years ago, I started with knife-blanks, and simply glued up scales and developed some basic shaping skills. I knew that I wanted to create my own knives, my own designs, and ultimately, forge damascus but all of that was impossible on the porch of my apartment. Then two years ago, I moved into a house with a large garage and went all in again.
I took my time, starting with normal stock-removal knives, I even experimented with Damascus, and Cu-mai although I didn't own a press at the time. I'll admit all that hammering was kicking my butt, so at the end of 2024, I bought a forging press, and the plan was to concentrate on Damascus moving forward.
Well, that's still the plan, but I started later this year that I would have liked to. That being said, I finally have the new shop mostly organized, and hope to get back to that welcomed distraction from work, and channeling my efforts into a hobby that allows an outlet for my creativity, creating tools (not show-pieces) that will last for many years to come.