Forged By Fire

The furnace breathes like a living thing, exhaling air that feels hotter than the surface of the sun. Knifemaker Will Manning extracts the orange-red material with tongs and transfers the glowing metal to an anvil. He pounds and pounds, leaning into each hammer strike. This is just one step in the long, arduous process, as the metal slowly transforms from raw bar stock into something both functional and beautiful.

Though Manning once worked as a living-history blacksmith, today he focuses his efforts on creating sharp-edged culinary tools for harvesting and preparing food. He is not alone as a leader in the bladesmithing renaissance. The American Bladesmith Society (ABS) reports a growing interest in the craft, saying, “We had 832 members in 2009, in 2015 we had 1,165 and by 2025 we have as many as 2,800.” This statistic does not count the thousands of knife-makers who are not affiliated with the ABS.

Will Manning grinding down blade (Images Provided by Nick Kelley, Geoff Wood and David Fason)

Outdoorsmen are now opting for custom tools that hold their edges through countless field dressings, and chefs are reaching for blades that slice and dice with precision. A growing segment of the population is turning toward commissioning custom pieces that can take weeks, even months, to complete, signaling a return to hand-forged craftsmanship.

A HOT HISTORY

During the Iron Age, beginning between 1200 and 600 B.C., blacksmiths revolutionized civilization by mastering working with iron and steel. These skilled craftsmen transformed raw iron ore into durable tools and weapons through intense heating and hammering. Their greatest achievement came with the discovery of steel-making — heating iron with carbon to create a harder and more resilient metal. The Hittites of ancient Turkey were likely the first to perfect this steel-working technique. As blacksmithing knowledge spread throughout Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, entire societies rose beyond the limitations of stone and bronze implements.

Hammer and Anvil

Blacksmiths also played a vital role in America’s development, forging everything from horseshoes to axe blades, nails to knives, with techniques passed down through generations. The clanging of hammer on anvil echoed across every community.

The Industrial Revolution impacted everything, especially blacksmithing. Initially, the era relied on blacksmiths to create the components needed for machinery, but as factories and mass production developed, the demand for hand-forged items declined. By the mid-twentieth century, the ancient craft teetered on the edge of extinction, kept alive only by a handful of passionate artisans.

Quenching Process

FIRE, FORGE AND FINESSE

At Bloodroot Blades outside of Athens, Georgia, knifemakers David Van Wyk and Luke Snyder pursue a unique reverence by transforming raw materials into instruments of precision.

“There’s a lot of science — and art — in knifemaking,” says Van Wyk, “We balance the science and the art to create something functional, durable and lovely.”

A custom knife’s life begins not at the anvil, but in conversations between maker and user. This process varies by knife as creation unfolds in several steps — forging, profiling, heat-treating, testing, grinding, finishing and sharpening.

The forging stage sees metal roller bearings from large machines heated to a supernova glow before being hammered and shaped. The profiling comes next, which is coaxing the metal into the familiar silhouette of the knife design.

Blade removed from the forge

Following the initial steps is the delicate dance of heat-treating, involving multiple steps in itself, beginning with normalization. The molecular structure of the steel is reset with a trip to the heat-treating kiln, resulting in an even distribution of the alloying elements in the steel. Thermal cycling heats and cools the blades rapidly to refine the grain structure even further.

In the quenching step, the steel is heated, then rapidly cooled by submerging the piece in vats of brines or oils. “The quenching is a highly controlled step, requiring specific temperatures, soak times and rates of cooling,” Van Wyk says. “If the heat is too high, the steel will be brittle. Too low and it won’t harden.”

After the quench, craftsmen are left with a chemical lattice structure with a Rockwell C hardness (HRC) of approximately 67. This form is hard but brittle, so the last step, tempering, brings the steel to more optimum HRC measurements between 63 and 64.

Blade Flexing Test

“Now we have a piece of steel that we can make a quality knife from,” Van Wyk says. “In the grinding and polishing steps, we transform the blade into its final shape, geometry and purpose.”

The process continues with handle attachment using materials such as Georgia pecan wood or red maple, but handles can be crafted from almost anything. “We once made a knife for a U.S. servicemember who wanted a knife to honor his service and mark his retirement,” says Van Wyk. “He provided oak from the Yokosuka dry docks in Japan, fabric laminate of his Battle Dress Uniform and a steel spacer from the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan.”

Upon polishing both the blade and handle and sharpening the knife using Japanese whetstones, these craftsmen have achieved the grand finale of their labor. This culmination of science and artistry produces one-of-a-kind showpieces representing weeks of dedication and unwavering commitment to quality.

METAL WORKS

A knife is defined by the metal that composes it. With craftsmanship at the forefront of hand forging, a knife’s ingredients are shaped by its maker’s personal style. Quality is never a question, but in the discussion of sustainability versus standard, bladesmiths must decide what their metal will be made of. Pushes for sustainability have led to knifemakers switching from traditional steel products to recyclable materials, the key to achieving precision in their product.

Finished knives from Bloodroot Blades.

Bloodroot Blades built their brand using only recyclable materials in their knives. The variation in metal allows them to create a signature history behind each blade. When determining the composition of each knife, Van Wyk and Snyder are simultaneously opening the door to new people, stories and a gentle impact on the environment.

Knifemakers Daniel Moye and Quintin Middleton of the respective Cattle Dog Forge and Middleton Made Knives utilize the familiar high-carbon steel as one of the sole contributors to the metal behind their blades. In particular, Moye relies on New Jersey Steel Barons, who prioritize consistent high-caliber steel and collaborate with bladesmiths, all while keeping the forging process in mind. Moye and Middleton’s commitment to the standard complements their innovation rather than stifles creativity.

Fitting a guard and handle.

Will Manning of Heartwood Forge combines the practices of Middleton Made Knives, Cattle Dog Forge and Bloodroot Blades in his pursuit of forging his signature knives. Manning uses both recycled and top-grade materials in his blades; an amalgam of sustainability and standard. Many of his knives include unconventional materials, from bourbon barrel straps to the leaf spring of a Toyota Tacoma. These repurposed metals are seamlessly folded into more standard blade-making metals like high carbon steel, pure nickel and copper. Achieving stunning Damascus and layering of metals on his blades, Manning has produced alloys that sit at the crux of metalwork.

Sustainability and standard do not find themselves at odds in the knifemaking industry. They rather illustrate an individual style that shines through in every bladesmith’s personal craft.

A MODERN RENAISSANCE

Today, the revival of blacksmithing, as well as bladesmithing, speaks to a hunger for objects that matter, last and have histories.

Quintin Middleton beginning the forging process.

Connecting culture to craftsmanship is a “breath of fresh air” to Quintin Middleton. His roots stem from the Gullah Geechee community, historically centered along the southeastern coast. Initially, Middleton shied away from connecting bladesmithing to his background, but his deeper understanding of the resilience of the Gullah Geechee people soon reflected in his work. “They may take nothing and make something that’s usable, that can inspire. From a chef’s standpoint, they’ll take anything that can be curated into a whole meal made with passion and love.”

It takes a unique artistry to create tools that contribute to refining taste, all while emulating a rich and long-lasting history. For Middleton, this skill and passion can be found in each of his blades, in particular his ‘Geechee Boy’ collection that resonates a deep comprehension of history, culture and culinary art into one knife.

At Bloodroot Blade, knifemakers like Van Wyk and Snyder find that the most interesting knives begin with materials that have been salvaged or have already lived one life. In their workshops, knife blades are worked from machinery reclaimed from Birmingham, Alabama. Various types of aged wood are also gathered through the recycling process. “We acquired African blackwood after a clarinet factory in France rejected it,” Van Wyk says, noting that there’s a story behind every material utilized.