Forging a Blade: A Story in Photographs

I recently had the pleasure of working with a local blacksmith to capture the story of how a blade is forged and finished. I had a lot of fun with this project and learned a lot about blacksmithing and knife making.

The blade begins as nine pieces of billet steel and will soon become a Damascus chef's knife.

The steel billet is welded together to prepare it for the forge welding process.

Once the billet is welded together it goes into the forge. This process heats the steel to soften it, making it workable.

A power hammer is used to forge weld the layers together. Forge welding fuses the layers and creates a beautiful layered pattern in the end product.

The forge welding process repeats several times. The steel is stretched then cut and forge welded again to create more layers and strength. A pattern is then ground into the steel and the blade is heated and worked into a rough shape.

At this point the pattern begins to come out in the steel.

The steel is then heated and allowed to cool slowly, making it soft enough to drill the holes for the handle.

Once the holes are drilled it is time to heat treat the blade. The blade is held at between 1,475º F and 1,500º F.

Once the steel is thoroughly heated it is quenched in oil. The quench quickly cools the steel hardening it.

The wood used to create the handle is cut and shaped around the steel. The wood being used on this blade is 1000 year old bog wood.

After lots of sanding, sharpening, and shining the blade is finished. From nine pieces of billet to a completed chef knife, there is a lot of hard and hot work but the results are worth it.

This was an amazing experience for me. I hope that you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed shooting. Thank you for checking out my work!