How it's Made

All of my knives are made by hand, from my own designs and patterns.

I use a 2" x 72" belt grinder, to profile, grind bevels, and finish grind all my blades.

Grinding method

Knives usually have either a Hollow Grind or a Flat Grind

1.Hollow Grind, indicating that the sides of the blade cross section are concave.

2. Flat Grind, indicating that the sides of the blade cross section are linear

How it's Made: Text

Heat Treatment

Hardening and tempering. This is, without a doubt, the most important step in knife making. If the heat treatment isn't right then the performance of the knife will ultimately suffer. I Treat my blades in house using a digitally controlled Evenheat knife kiln.

How it's Made: Image

The steel is hardened through a process where the blade is heated up, to approximately 815°-1060° Celsius (or about 1500°-1950°F) dependent on the specific steel used higher temperatures are needed for stainless steels. The blade is then quenched, either in oil, between aluminum plates, or just in air. Again, dependent on the steel type. This enables a fast and uniform structural change of the steel for maximum hardness. The tempering stage follows the hardening process, where the blade is heated at a temperature between 175°C - 230°C. (350°F-450°F

Tempering imparts the steel its flexibility and toughness.

Some steels will require a cryogenic or deep cold treatment. This process involves immersing the hardened but un tempered blades into liquid nitrogen or a dry ice slurry. Cryo treatment is done in order to convert retained austenite into martensite.

How it's Made: Image

Finishing

Most of my knives get a machine satin finish. I will grind to 400 grit then I use scotchbrite belts in medium, fine, and extra fine. this leaves a very nice even satin polish.

Upon request I can do a hand rubbed finish. I wet sand, progressing up to 600 grit, and as high as 1000 grit. The higher the finish the more time is involved. I prefer not to do buffed mirror polishes

Handle Fasteners /Epoxy

I use either stainless steel or brass pin stock or lanyard tube to attach my handle scales to the tang of the knife. In addition to these mechanical fasteners I use a high grade epoxy. The epoxy is mostly there as a moisture barrier, although it does provide added security to the pins/tubes.