Everyone creates their blades differently. Each smith adapts what works best for them in forging, heat treating, and finishing. The method outlined below is how I create a blade. This is not the only way to do it, but this is what works for me. If you have any suggestions, I am more than open to trying new techniques and processes, so please feel free to give me some constructive feedback! That being said, here's the method to MY madness...well...the madness that concerns you, anyways ;~)

The first step to creating a knife is choosing what steel you want to use. I typically use either 5160 or 1095 carbon steels. I also use 1084 every once in a while, depending on my mood ;~) For any stainless steel blades that I create, I use either 440c, 154cm, or ATS34 Stainless Steels. I'm always up for experimenting with new steels, so any suggestions are more than welcome!

It is important to know what type of blade you plan to make before you start. It is never a good idea to just start forging and see what happens...most of the time, the results will not be to your liking! Before I begin with the forging, I always determine what type of blade I'm going to make, exactly how I want the shape to be, and how big I'm going to make it. I often have a drawing of the blade to use as a template. Once I know what I am going to create, then I am ready for forging. I have a NC Tools Knifemaker's Forge that I run off propane. It has two burners and front and rear doors that can be opened to accommodate sword length blades. It's a great forge and I would recommend it to anyone who can come up with the money.

-The trick to creating a quality blade without killing yourself is forging the blade to shape. This basically means that, when the forging is complete, the blade should look as close to the finished shape as possible. Of course, it's easy to grind anything into a blade if I sit at the grinder long enough...but 5 minutes at the forge can save an hour at the grinder. The way I look at it...why bother forging at all if I'm going to grind the blade to something completely different? I really would have just wasted all of my time at the forge.

-The heating temperature of the steel varies depending on what type of steel is used. While there is a specific temperature that every steel reaches 'critical', most smiths learn to gauge it by color. For most common high carbon steels, the best working color is cherry red to dark orange. It is very important that the steel only be hit while it is in this critical or working color range. Once the steel cools down and loses its color, it can crack if it is still being hit. A wise smith once told me, "There are only two reasons a knifemaker will go to hell...one is underselling his product, and the other is hitting cold steel!"

-As any smith will tell you, use the biggest hammer that you can ACCURATELY hit with :~) The larger the hammer, the more steel that can be moved each heating. Accuracy, however, is extremely important...there is very little to match the annoyance of finding stray, unwanted hammer marks when you are at the grinder! I currently use a 3 1/2 pound cross peen hammer for most of my forging. On some larger blades, I will move up to a 6 pound sledge to forge the general shape, then move smaller to fine tune it. On smaller blades, I will even move down to a 1 1/2 pound ball peen just to give me more accuracy.

-After the blade is forged to the desired shape, I normalize it in the forge prior to annealing. For this process, I heat the blade to critical and then let it air cool until the color is gone. This allows the grain composition of the steel to spread evenly throughout the blade and relieve any stress clusters that may have formed during the forging. I normalize the blade three times.

-I then anneal the blade after normalization. This process consists of heating the blade evenly to critical temperature, then immediately completely burying it in vermiculite. As vermiculite is excellent for retaining heat, this will allow the blade to cool at a very slow rate. With this process, the Austenite formed in heating the blade produces a smaller grain size, softness, and good ductility. This allows for, among other things, ease of grinding.

After the blade has cooled, it's ready for rough grinding.

-I start with a 36 grit belt and profile the blade. This gives me the clean, defined lines around the border of my blade. When this is finished, the blade will be at its final shape.

-Once the blade is profiled, I begin grinding the blade. I use a Bader B3 Belt Grinder. Most of my blades are flat ground, however I do make some hollow ground blades on request or if I am in the mood. I grind first with the 36 grit belt and then cover those grit marks with a 60 grit belt. Occasionally, I only grind to 36 grit and then hand sand to 64 grit prior to heat treating...this depends on the type and size of the blade and the style of the grind. By finishing with the 60 grit grinding or sanding, I make sure the blade is nice and smooth and there are no dips or ripples along the entirety of the blade. I also accent my lines and shoulders at this point.

Profiled	Rough ground and sanded

With the grinding and sanding complete, I move to heat treating.

-The first step in the heat treating process was done with annealing the blade after it was forged. This caused the Austenite to form and made the steel workable. Now, the steel has to be hardened if it is going to take and hold a good edge. To achieve this, the Austenite must be converted to Martensite. For this, I heat the blade to critical or non-magnetic temperature, and then rapidly drop that temperature from about 1450 degrees F to 400 degrees F or less in 6 to 8 seconds. This shock on the steel causes the formation of the hard, needle-like structure of Martensite to form. At this point, the blade is at its absolute hardest, though it is also very brittle.

-I full-quench most of my blades. While I do edge-quench occasionally or by request, I don't typically prefer this method. Definitions before I go any further:

Full-Quench: To heat the entire blade up to critical temperature all at once and then quench the whole blade in the quenching medium. This causes the Martensite to form throughout the entire blade. At this point, the entire blade is at its maximum hardness.

Edge-Quench: To heat only the cutting edge of the blade to critical temperature and quench only that edge in the quenching medium. This allows the Martensite to form in the cutting edge, bringing the edge to maximum hardness while maintaining the softer, Austenite structure in the rest of the blade.

-The reason I prefer to full quench is that it often produces a stronger, more durable blade. Some argue that edge quenched blades are less likely to break under strenuous conditions because the spine is much softer and more prone to bending than breaking. Personally I think it depends on what the blade will be used for...but if I'm going to use a knife for hunting or something that requires it to perform over and over again, I really don't want it bending! Edge quenching does produce a perty temper line in some steels, though! ;~)

-Most common blade steels are oil hardening steels. This means that the quenching medium used is oil based. Every smith has their preferred medium. While there are many excellent oils out there that are specifically quenching oils, mediums such as basic peanut oil or transmission fluid are just as effective as well. There are some steels that are water hardening and some that are air hardening, but these are less common steels and I have not worked with any of them. Some stainless steels benefit from a sub-zero quench to attain maximum strength and durability. This consists of quenching the blade in acetone and dry ice after the standard oil quench.

-After the quench, I relieve the stress in the steel by tempering it. First, I have to remove the oil by hand sanding the blade with 120 grit paper. This effectively removes the oil and all the 60 grit marks. When the blade is a nice, shinny silver, I place it in the oven at 375 to 425 degrees (depending on the type of steel) for about 2 hours. This brings the blade to a light straw color. It is very important to make sure that the oven is accurate for this. If using a home oven, make sure that when it is set at a certain temperature, that it really is that temperature inside. This process of slowly bringing the temperature of the blade up to a controlled level relieves the stress in the steel without removing all the hardness by forming hard Cementite particles which are held in a tough matrix of Martensite.

-Once the blade has achieved a light straw color, I then draw the spine to further soften the spine of the blade for greater flexibility. This is achieved by placing the edge of the blade in a pan of water and heating the spine until the colors run down to about a half inch from the edge. This ensures that the edge retains its hardness and only the spine is softened up. I typically draw the spine twice, sanding the colors off in between. If a blade is full quenched, I will, however, always draw the spine 3 to 4 times.

-After the last draw of the spine, I do a final sanding of the blade. I usually leave my blades sanded to 320 or 400 grit as it leaves a nice satin finish. I hate the idea of putting a mirror finish on a blade as I feel it serves no useful purpose other than to look pretty. I create all of my blades with the intent of being used, whether they are or not.

After the final sanding of the blade, I do the final tough-ups prior to putting on the handle. If the blade is a hidden tang construction, I file the shoulders and make sure that they are flat and even so they will meet up seamlessly with the guard. On full tang blades, I make sure the tang is completely flat on both sides so the scales will set without any gaps. On full tang blades, I will drill the holes for the pins prior to heat treating to ensure ease of drilling.

Making the guard and ferrell: As I have a picture (on paper or in my head) of what the knife is going to look like prior to forging, the material selection for the guard and ferrell have already been decided. This also is true if the knife will have a butt cap or any spacers throughout the handle. The style of the guard depends largely on the type and size of the knife. Most of the time I use nickel silver or brass sheets to make the guards. Occasionally I will use a stainless steel or I will forge the guard from carbon steel. I typically only forge guards for larger blades if I want to have an 'S' curve guard on a bowie or an up-swept guard on a dagger or such.

-For knives sporting nickel silver or brass, I will measure the piece to be cut from the sheet depending on how long and wide I want the guard to be. Once the piece is cut with the band saw, I then mark the center line and trace the tang of the blade so I know how long to mill the hole. After the guard is all marked up, I use a caliper to measure the thickness of the tang just below the shoulders.

-I make my knives with press fit guards because I feel it looks cleaner than soldering the guard on. Because of that, I must make sure that the hole in the guard is milled perfectly so there are no gaps when everything is put together.

-Once I have the caliper measurement, I select a drill bit that is 1/16th" smaller than the thickness of the tang. This will ensure a nice, snug press fit. After I find the correct sized bit, I begin to mill the hole.

This is a time consuming process and incredibly tedious...but if I was bothered by monotony, I would not be making knives ;~)

-Once the guard has been milled, I repeat the process with the ferrell and, if needed, spacers. At times, the ferrell will be water buffalo horn...this looks nice and mills oh so much faster than metal ;~) What ever the material, the mill hole on the ferrell(s) do not need to be measured for a press fit, so the holes can be made a little wider.

-Now that the guard and ferrell(s) have been milled, I now move to shaping the pieces. I want to get the shape as close to final as possible before I epoxy everything together...this just makes everything look cleaner when I'm finished. I shape the guard and ferrell on either the belt grinder or the disc grinder. I usually start at 60 grit to get the basic shape, and then clean it up with 120 grit. After everything is epoxied together, I will usually hand sand the guard and ferrell to 320 grit...but that's later.

-For full tang blades, I usually will not put on a traditional guard. On request, I may create a fork guard to fit over the tang, but I usually prefer either bolsters or just shaping the handle slabs to create a nice look under the ricasso.

Once all is completed with the guard and ferrell(s), I move to the handle. I use a lot of natural wood for my handles as I find little else to match the natural beauty provided by a well finished wood. I do, occasionally use stag (if I have any on hand) or horn. I also have used Micarta on occasion if a natural handle material was not wanted or was not practical. The one down side to using any natural handle material is that it is susceptible to environmental conditions. While it can be sealed and made generally waterproof, both wood and animal horns are very susceptible to humidity and pressure changes. Bringing the knife into a completely different environment from that which it was made has been known to cause shrinkage or expansion in the material resulting in gaps or improper fit. Any knife that I create that will be specifically used as a 'survival' type knife will have a Micarta handle to ensure durability and fit under any condition and in any environment the owner decides to bring it to.

-For hidden tang blades, I will trace the outline of the tang on the side of the wood block so I know how deep to drill the hole and how much room I have to shape the handle around it. I will then trace out the profile shape of the handle on the block. This will be my guide when I grind it. I then move to drilling the hole for the tang, using the trace outline as my guide.

-For full tang knives, I trace the outline of the tang (which is already ground to the final desired shape) on the inside of each handle slab.

-Once the hole is drilled or the tang traced, I move to the grinder to get the basic shape ground. I will typically get the piece ground and sanded very close to final before I even put it together. This makes everything fit up better and makes for less chance of screwing it up after it has been epoxied on the blade.

-So...now the guard and ferrell are milled and shaped and the handle is drilled and shaped, it's time to put it all together. I first make sure the press fit guard presses on and fits seamlessly with no gaps. If any adjustments are needed, they are made here. I will then epoxy the ferrell onto the handle and secure it with small pins. This way I can make sure the ferrell fits smoothly on the handle and everything blends well. I typically use the JB Kwick Weld 5 minute epoxy...you'd be hard pressed to break that stuff loose when it dries! I always want to make sure that any seepage out onto the handle, ferrell, guard, or blade is immediately cleaned off. It would pose a very annoying problem if excess epoxy were to dry in an unwanted area! If I am using pins through the handle, these are inserted here as well. Now I let the epoxy set overnight...

-The following day, after the epoxy is nice and dry, I proceed to the final sanding of the handle. For wood handles, I usually hand sand to 320 or 400 grit, depending on the wood. I also touch up any small scratches that may have appeared on the guard, ferrell, or butt cap. Once everything is cleaned up, I seal the handle and let it dry overnight. The following day, I buff the handle on the buffer and this removes any excess sealer and gives the wood a beautiful semi-gloss finish.

Guard, ferrells, and handle shaped and milled	Final shaping and fitting before epoxy

At this point, the knife is pretty much complete. I will touch up the blade a bit if needed and refine the edge. For carbon steel blades, I will always put a light coat of oil on the blade before shipping or for storage.

And the result of all this mayhem is a perty little sharp, pointy tool...or toy...or thing to sit in a case and just be admired...or what ever else you may want to do with it! :~) It is a good idea to let me know what you intend to use the knife for when you order so that I can ensure its performance will meet your needs. As I have said before, I create all of my knives for the purpose of being used, whether they are or not. As fancy as I may get with some of my blades, I will not create something that will break under general use.

So...that's the general method to my madness...well some of my madness anyways...at least the only madness that concerns you, hopefully ;~) Any comments or suggestions on my processes, just fire me off an email. I'm definitely open to suggestions...and if I don't agree with a suggestion, I'll at least tell you why :~)

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