Post 2: Getting some Blanks and Sketching Ideas

    Just out of curiosity, I checked on Amazon, and did find a couple of 10"x2"x4mm blanks for $29.99 with Prime, so I went ahead and ordered them, one Rain drop, and one Swirl. I should have them on hand by to morrow night, so it's time to grab a pencil and srart sketching out ideas for knives, forks, soup spoons, and dessert spoons, plus some serving pieces. I am very excited about this project, and very curious to see just how hard the Damascus Steel is to work with...
    I watched some videos on knife making, and believe I have pretty much most of the skills and all the tools necessary, having worked with steel, bronze, brass and aluminum for years, casting, grinding, polishing and finishing my own bronze and cast iron sculptures.
   I am definitely going to need my pneumatic sanders and grinders. My old compressor blew out a reed, and is not worth repairing. It was too weakanyway, so I am on my way to Harbor Freight to get a slightly bigger one that happens to be on sale right now:

   As I always do when I start a new Project, I researched knife making and knife makers, concentrating on Damascus Steel, and discovered some extremely talented Artists and Craftsmen. Here are some outstanding examples I gathered of fixed blade knives:

   Even if it is not exactly part of the Project, I also took an interest in Folding Knives, with the idea I might try my hand at that too. There are such outstanding examples out there:

     I am particularly interested in learning the Filework on the back edges and plates.

    I now want to single out here a very special Artist who has been doing amazing work in California, after receiving a BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from the Rhode Island School of Design, and is receiving a lot of well deserved recognition for his supremely sophisticated and elaborate work:  

 John Lewis Jensen

    Here are some of his incredible creations, on which he lavishes in the neighborhood of 400 hours:

   Now, not only is he a true Master at his craft, but unlike others, he is willing to share, and has taken time to document step by step with pictures and videos on Flickr the Making of his iconic "ALCHEMY"

Post 1: As usual, a New Project comes out of the Blue!

    Well, I suppose I am doomed to get interested in new things all the time... I was just shopping for a new pocket knife (I have a thing for knives), and had actually found the perfect Corsican one in France , very stylish, reasonably priced, and with a bottle opener, just the kind I like to have with me when we travel, except they somehow would not ship it to the US:

  So I did a Google search to find it somewhere else, and couln't. But in the process, I ran across some  other pocket knives made of Damascus steel... Some where outrageously expensive, but some were reasonable, particularly at a place called Smoky Mountain Knife Works. They had a selection of good looking Damascus blade knives at very affordable prices, and also sold an extra long  32.5"x1.75"x1/8" Raindrop Pattern Billet Blank made in Pakistan. Unfortunately, a lot of the models I like most are not in stock

    But I still did ordered two beautiful unusual small knives made in Pakistan:

   Another place called, what else, The Ultimate Knife Store also had a whole selection of already made Damascus Steel blades, as well as several choices of Billet bars about 10"x2"x4mm. It occured to me at first that some of the blade blanks were absolutely beautiful, and would make great looking table knives just as they came. I would not want to cover up the Damascus patterns with a handle:

   So I started toying with the idea of making forks and spoons to match out of the different kinds of billet available in ladder, raindrop, swirl and twist patterns:

   But of course, the next thought was: I have to design my own knives too...