Petite' French Knife

This is a new size knife for me. I think it will be a popular one for just about every kitchen. I am calling it a Petite French Knife because that is exactly what it is.

Forged to shape 1095 with a subtle etch and some very dark desert ironwood. OAl is 11.25" and the blade is 6.25"

This was made for my brother in law who bought an anvil and forge from me but never used them & traded them in on a knife. I think it came out great. I really made it with the whole family in mind. For his wife and young children who will soon be getting to the age to help in the kitchen; this will be the perfect knife for them to learn to cook with.

Enjoy the images.

Bracelet Show Submissions

Maxter Moerman Jewelers in San Luis Obispo had a Call for Entries fr a fun show entitled Bracelet. It is open to local artists and other artist from abroad. The requirements were as follows:

Baxter Moerman Jewelry would like to invite you to
participate in a group show of unique bracelet designs. We welcome your
interpretations of the bracelet form. Any medium, style, & scale are
acceptable as long as the piece can be worn on the arm, fits in our shop,
and doesnʼt attract ants. Entries will be loosely juried.

I created the two pieces below. Keep in mind that I am not a jewelery maker but have always like the idea, so it was a fun opportunity for me to do something new and different.

The First piece is forged from some specially formulated forging bronze called Navel Bronze. I drew the entire piece out of a small 3/16" X 3/16" X  3.5" chunk of this special bronze. It features a hammer textured finish using one of the hammers featured earlier in this months blog.

The second piece is Leather Lichen and Silver Nugget.  The leather was split, glued and stitched over a piece of Bronze wire to keep it's form, and has some tree Lichen mounted to it, along with a very organic pure silver nugget.

It was lots of fun to make these:)  I hope you enjoy the image.

The selected pieces will be on display March 1st - 9th with a
reception during ART AFTER DARK on Friday, March 4th 2011 from 6-9pm. @ Baxter Moerman Jewelry 1118 Morro Street, Downtown San Luis Obispo, CA.

Introducing Godzilla !!!

According the the maker Raymond Richard, Godzilla is said to be feed best by beating every day!  And there is NO Doubt that Godzilla is the Monster of all Anvil Hardy Tools!!!

Ray Richard is a 3-rd generation bladesmith, super talented, fun to talk to and an all around swell guy. I met him at a Hammerjamin at Tai Goo's place in Feb 2010 and we had a blast. He brought along a Godzilla on that trip and it was the first of this type of fullering tool I had ever seen. My affinity with integral knives made me see the great possibilities with this tool. It was great to see it in action then, and over time, to think about how one would benefit me in my own studio.

As many of you know I use very limited power tools and do not have a drill press (at this time:) So I asked Ray if he would make me A Godzilla and he said yes. I had no way to drill through the thick steel it takes to create such a fine Anvil Tool such as the Godzilla, so needless to say I was super stoked that he created one for me.

I first had to give Godzilla a quick trial run on a small piece of .50" round bar. I did not have to much time that first day but got the quick impression that Godzilla was an asset....I mean, who would not want Godzilla in their shop? Right! The Next day I created an integral out of .75" round W2. It was still tons of work, but drawing the tang portion was much easier after the forging of the blade, and no doubt, the initial "pinch" to begin drawing the blade out of the bar was more equal than I could have done all by hand, resulting in much less torquing on the blade....but it does have a different look, very symmetrical! I will for sure still do some of the initial "pinches" by hand on certain knives.

Enough gab, now for the images:) Enjoy!

 

Small Integral Bowie / Utility Hunter

This is a very sweet little knife and the first integral I have done in some time. I has been over a year since I have forged from any round bar and I am so excited about this new little knife. It is a very handy size for daily carry and feels wonderful in the hand. After this one I am certainly planning on creating more integral knives throughout this year.

It is 9.5" OAL and with 4.5" blade with nice Desert Ironwood Handle. Forged from 3/4" W2 drawn down to just over 1/2", and the blade and enclosed tang then forged from that. It exhibits some nice Arizona Desert Ironwood for the handle.

I hope you enjoy the images:)

Two Classic Chef Knives

What can I say! I am so very excited about both of these new chef knife designs I have produced.

I intended to create two very classic style French chef knives. I feel very positive about how each of these turned out. The knife with the dark Desert Ironwood Handles features a new handle style for me and a classic triangular style blade reminiscent of the knives produced by Wustof once upon a time. The second knife is a very traditional French Knife Shape and exhibits a traditional style handle that can be seen on American and European cutlery of the past and perhaps even present. Each knife feels quite comfortable in the hand. Both are light and quick, and yet heavy enough to function as a main knife in a commercial or home kitchen. 

Both of these blades are hand forged from 1080+ High Carbon Tool Steel with a radiused and polished spine and satin finish. The overall length is 12 & 15/16" and the blade is 8.25" long; one with very tight-grained dark desert ironwood with detailed grooves for control. The second exhibits some rare and beautiful spalted desert ironwood. This was the first time I had ever used spalted wood and it is truly beautiful to behold. The link above will describe what spalted wood is in detail. I was unable to find any information specifically about spalted desert ironwood.

I sincerely hope you enjoy seeing these new knives. I plan to make more like these...of course all will have a presence and feel all their own:)

 

I really do love forging blades

So what is so different about the forged blade? >>> Heat and Hammers!

Often I will work out several designs in the forged state to see what I like. And then moving into the finishing process of descaling, filing, thermal cycles, more filing, and then sanding and on to heat treatment. Then creating a handle, doing some carving on the wood and possibly even a sheath for certain knives.

The look of a knife after being forged is something to behold. The blade at this stage has taken shape; and is much what the knife will look like when finished but still with the scale from from forging. Borne out of fire and sweat,....... to me they just look so darn cool.
It is a great time to rest and reflect on how to proceed. Making plans about edge geometry, and the various types of finish that will eventually take place.

A Job Well Done.......
Below are a few freshly forged blades in various styles that I have done so far in 2011. It is already an exciting year and I am planning to do different things along with refining and creating new chef and camp knife designs.

Custom Hammers

I have been using texturing hammers and other specialty hammers in my forging process for years. What I have not done is to actually heat treat the hammer after altering it so that it would last for a long time! Well I finally did it, heat treated them both after I modified them. Both were ball peen hammers and each were created for special purposes. I am very pleased with the results.

The larger is a new de-scaling and texture hammer and the, smaller is a detail drawing hammer for smaller knives and for moving the metal back towards the choil area of the integrally forged blade.

I hope you enjoy the images:)