Journal

There is a conversation happening between bladesmiths over time. The language is the blades themselves, the subject is the technique and the spirit of discourse is the art. I once heard bladesmith Joshua Prince say “Art belonged to everyone before the advent of the artist”. Whether or not something is art is clearly subjective. To the galleries and gatekeepers of fine arts, knives are of course not art but to the appreciating customer they are indeed objects of high artistic expression. Because of the rejection of the utilitarian by the art establishment, I choose to call myself an artisan rather...

Holding a knife is like handling a serpent. Just about everyone has cut themselves accidentally with a knife at some point. Likening a knife to a snake is to express that at any point if we are not careful, the thing can turn in a way we don’t expect and bite us. There is something smooth, shining and dangerous about both the knife and the serpent. There is potential in both as well. If we can master that which is the most dangerous to us, then we can move forward with our plans in confidence. If you have ever seen...

Lee and the EK dagger One fateful day sometime in the first couple years I was operating at my first Valley road shop location, a very interesting man popped into the shop unannounced. He was an older grizzled man with an oversized military surplus jacket with many pockets, round wire rimmed glasses and well worn trousers and boots. He stood shorter than average but long years as a machinist likely stooped him further. Lee Byers was his name and he was a legend at the flea markets and gun shows of the area. Not only an expert but a veritable...

  Another year has passed and another year has come. Somehow the number 2025 feel much more like the future than ever before. Maybe just because it’s an auspicious number. Each year we build on last year, produce more knives, more models and innovate new techniques. People come and go in the shop, both Hardway shop community members who work on their own knives as well as team members at Join or Die. Jamie and Jack still anchor the team and they are learning and growing all the time. Jamie is really developing his Antik Knives concept with some very...