Journal

Many knifemakers have a workspace where they can go be alone. It’s a refuge from the stressful elements of their life where they can put on music or a podcast and be creative. They have their shop just like they like it, whether meticulously organized or a total disaster area. We have a community instead. We find our refuge in others as well as in the setting and the work. It is harder to share a space than to have one to yourself but it is better to share. The chance to work in an environment with other creatives who...

As I sit in my tiny cubicle trailer on the Forged in Fire set between Doug Marcida's "Keel" test with the other contestant I can't help but think back on how I got here.  I was only seriously making knives a couple years before being called to participate on season 2 of Forged in Fire. Ben Abbott won that competition and went on to win other episodes and eventually become a judge on the show. I'm back after 5 years to try again, but with greater experience comes a much greater challenge. This isn't a regular FIF episode, it is...

We have a saying around the shop that goes like this: “Knife makers don’t make mistakes, just shorter knives.” But we do make mistakes, a lot of them all the time. Knowing how to fix mistakes or unexpected problems is essentially what it means to be good in any field of pursuit.

The first tool of man was a knife, well kind of. The Oldowan which takes its name from the discovery site in Tanzania is attributed to early, proto-humans. It is a cobble which is chipped in multiple angles on one side, leaving a hand held chopper in the shape of a rough teardrop. These were used to break bones at kill sites before humans were hunting. They would go in after the animal had finished with the carcasses of the large prey animals such as ancient rhinos and elephants and break open the marrow bones and skull. I have held...