FORGED: Making a Knife with Traditional Blacksmith Skills
This book will teach you to hand build a knife using the traditional method of blacksmiths of old — FORGING. Traditional forging of a knife blade is a process which uses the ancient techniques of moving hot steel with hammer and anvil alone into a knife-form that is ready for filing, heat treating and sharpening with no or very minimal electric grinding. This book also teaches traditional fit-and-finish skills using only hand tools. It explains an ancient riveted full-tang handle construction system that surpasses modern methods. In the author's words; "In my early blacksmithing years, I was lucky to get to know some old smiths who wrangled hot iron every day just to make a living. They unselfishly taught me traditional blacksmithing skills and knife forging methods. Every time I use those skills and methods, I honor their friendships, and by teaching you, the reader, we keep alive the memory of those old-time iron pounders." Hardcover, 132 pages, 150 photos and illustrations, $29.95.
This book will teach you to hand build a knife using the traditional method of blacksmiths of old — FORGING.
Traditional forging of a knife blade is a process which uses the ancient techniques of moving hot steel with hammer and anvil alone into a knife-form that is ready for filing, heat treating and sharpening with no or very minimal electric grinding.
This book also teaches traditional fit-and-finish skills using only hand tools. It explains an ancient riveted full-tang handle construction system that surpasses modern methods.
In the author's words; "In my early blacksmithing years, I was lucky to get to know some old smiths who wrangled hot iron every day just to make a living. They unselfishly taught me traditional blacksmithing skills and knife forging methods. Every time I use those skills and methods, I honor their friendships, and by teaching you, the reader, we keep alive the memory of those old-time iron pounders."
Hardcover, 132 pages, 150 photos and illustrations, $29.95.
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second line of defense from bear or river pirates was their big knife. Old tintype<br />
photos, from those early times, reveal their Bowies/Frontiers always being worn<br />
or brandished proudly and out front.<br />
They called them Bowies, but we are told by historians that Bowie knives varied<br />
widely in overall size, blade design, and handle style. The Bowie of today looks<br />
nothing like those first Bowies. To the folks of that era the word “Bowie” was a<br />
general term for any big, long, sharp knife. Today we usually regard a Bowie to<br />
have a clip point, a double quillon (aka quillion) and a fancy coffin style handle<br />
design, while a Frontier we view as a drop point <strong>with</strong> no guard and a simple<br />
handle. If you are not familiar <strong>with</strong> some of those terms, you soon will be.<br />
Read the True West magazine article about the Bowie knife by acclaimed historian<br />
of the American West, Phil Spangenberger. It is an excellent short history of the<br />
Bowie, the Americans that carried them, and its cousin, the Frontier.<br />
Frontiers and Bowies were no doubt made by both urban and rural blacksmiths.<br />
They supplied the cutlery needs of the “Go West Young Man” pioneers on that<br />
great crusade sparked by John O’Sullivan and his belief in the inevitability of<br />
Manifest Destiny.<br />
The Frontier knife taught in this book is a simple, all-purpose knife <strong>with</strong> a<br />
wooden handle, no guard, three copper rivets, and a five-inch, drop point<br />
blade, just as those knives of days gone by. The skills gained from this build will<br />
prepare you for a more involved design on your next build. Your Frontier will<br />
look and perform exactly like those few vintage, well worn blades still around<br />
that survived the actual frontier. By completing the Frontier as explained in this<br />
book you are joining in the historic experience of making a knife that is truly an<br />
American classic and will become a treasured family heirloom.<br />
The Bowie (top) <strong>with</strong> its clip point and finger guard is designed as a fighting knife. The Frontier (bottom)<br />
is more of a multipurpose blade <strong>with</strong> a drop point and simpler handle construction.<br />
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