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Hand Forged Wood Carving Knives     Since 1987

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Kitchen Cutlery Knives

These knives are "one-offs". Each one is different, from the size and shape of the blade, to the details of the handle. When someone buys one, it is gone. I offer them in this way so my customers can choose a truly individual and unique knife for their kitchen.

About the Blades:

Besides their very different appearance, these knives are unlike normally available cutlery in several other ways:
  • Virtually all other cutlery is cut and ground from flat sheets of steel. These knives are forged from round bars of very high carbon steel, called "O-1". It is the same steel I use for all my wood carving knives, with a little bit of chromium to help ward off rusting.
  • Forging these blades is the most difficult part because they are forged to a fine taper both in length and width. I do this partly so that very little grinding needs to be done. It is a real challenge. The forging marks are left on the blades, except at the very edge where they are sharpened.
  • Most other cutlery has a bevel of at least 25 degrees. These knives have the same bevel as my wood carving knives of about 16 degrees, so they will cut through things much easier.
  • The blades are differentially hardened, so that they are very hard at the edge, yet tough along the back so they can't break. During this step in the heat treatment, the blade is heated to glowing red and just the edge is dipped into a tray of oil to quickly cool and harden it.
  • The beautiful coloration on the blades is a result of the last step in the heat treating, called "tempering". The parts of the blade that are the hardest are straw colored, the softer and tougher parts are purple and blue. I purposely avoid grinding these colors away, as they also add a bit of rust resistance.
  • After the edges have been sharpened and honed razor sharp, they are gun blued. This is a simple procedure and does a great deal to prevent rusting (that's why it is used on gun barrels).
  • From forging, through heat treating, to final honing, I make these knives the same as my wood carving knives which do a great job of slicing through hard woods. As Cutlery they perform incredibly well.

Blade Protection:

Each of the paring knifes come with a plastic blade protector. It is reusable and offers some protection to the blade. But it will not last a very long time. I strongly recommend the use of a counter top wood knife block or a magnetic knife holder that mounts on a wall.
For most of the chef's knives, I offer individually made and fitted wooden sheaths (see below).

About the Handle Wood:

Over the years, customers and friends have given me some of their special woods, sometimes intending them as handles for custom tools. They all have a story (some of them I remember!). Walter Henderson, a master carver on Orcas Island, has welcomed me to take many of his vast special wood scraps hiding in all corners of his shop. Bruce Harvie of Orcas Island Tonewoods has given me a great deal of "unusable wood" from his incredible stash of fine woods for musical instruments. These are the woods I use for my cutlery knives. Strangely, I have paid money for none of this wood, yet I value them as my most prized possessions, and am glad to use them here.
The woods are epoxied and brass riveted onto the handles. After final hand sanding with "0000" steel wool (that is the finest steel wool, used in fine woodworking for the ultimate luster), they are sealed with penetrating epoxy to make them waterproof. A final coat of wax is buffed on.

Products

Double Edge Bent Knives
 
mini Double Edge Bent Knives
 
Large Single Edge Bent Knives
 
Straight Knives
 
Drawknives
 
Adzes
 
Scorps
 
Cutlery
 
Custom Tools
 
New Tools
 
 

About the Knives

  Tool Update
 
  Russian Spoon Carver
 
  Recommended Selections
 
  Features
 
  Testimonials
 
 * Using Them
 
 * Sharpening Them
 
 * Forging a Blade
 
(* contain very short videos)
 

Galleries

Artists' Carvings
 
Decorative Ironwork
 
Classes
 
The look, feel, and performance of these knives is meant to be the favorite of the kitchen - the knife that stands out in your knife block. If it is not, it shouldn't be there, and I ask that you return it, fully refunded. That is my guarantee.

Forging
a blade		 Heat Treating
a blade		 Sold
cutlery

Wooden Sheaths

One reason the second batch of cutlery knives took a lot longer than expected was that I wanted to provide some means of protecting these blades for those customers who would not be using a knife block or magnetic holder on a wall. These wooden sheaths are made of multiple layers of door skins and are lined on the inside with silver cloth (the material used to line silverware chests to prevent tarnishing.) If you won't be storing your knife in a safe place (safe for the knife, to keep it's edge from contacting other metals) or might want to travel with it, then a sheath will protect it.
These wooden sheaths are individually made and fitted. They are sold separately and are available for most of the chef's knifes.

Chef's Knives

 Please click on pictures below for enlargements
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-1     $325.00      add to cart
Blade is 6 1/2 inches long, 2 1/2 inch max. width
Handle is Rosewood, medium/small size with 1 inch max. width
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-4     $300.00      add to cart
Blade is 7 inches long, 2 1/4 inch max. width
Handle is Rosewood, medium/large size with 1 1/8 inch max. width
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-12     $280.00      add to cart
Blade is 7 inches long, 2 inch max. width
Handle is Mahogany, small size with 7/8 inch max. width
Most of the tempering colors have been removed from the blade.
Forging marks remain.
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-13     $300.00      add to cart
Blade is 8 1/2 inches long, 1 3/4 inch max. width
Handle is Mountain Mahogany, small size with 7/8 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
Below is the new batch. Please be aware that they actually don't look that much different than the knives above. The pictures are just not as clear. I may try taking more pictures and replacing these in a few weeks.
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-24     $215.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 1/2 inches long, 1 5/8 inch max. width
Handle is Brown Mesquite, small size with 3/4 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-25     $220.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 1/2 inches long, 1 3/4 inch max. width
Handle is Brown Mesquite, medium size with 1 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-26     $235.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 1/2 inches long, 2 inch max. width
Handle is Fiddleback Red Mesquite, medium/large size with 1 1/8 inch max. width
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-28     $210.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 inches long, 1 5/8 inches max. width
Handle is Fiddleback Red Mesquite, medium/large size with 1 1/8 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-32     $230.00      add to cart
Blade is 6 inches long, 1 3/4 inch max. width
Handle is Figured Maple, medium size with 1 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-33     $250.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 1/2 inches long, 2 1/4 inch max. width
Handle is Figured Maple, medium/small size with 7/8 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-34     $230.00      add to cart
Blade is 6 inches long, 1 3/4 inch max. width
Handle is Figured Maple, medium/small size with 7/8 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-36     $325.00      add to cart
Blade is 9 1/2 inches long, 2 1/8 inch max. width
Handle is Red Mesquite, Large size with 1 3/16 inch max. width
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-37     $210.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 inches long, 1 5/8 inch max. width
Handle is Red Mesquite, medium/small size with 7/8 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-39     $220.00      add to cart
Blade is 5 1/2 inches long, 1 3/4 inch max. width
Handle is Brown Mesquite, medium size with 1 inch max. width
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart
hand forged Cutlery knife KN-40     $200.00      add to cart
Blade is 4 1/2 inches long, 1 3/4 inch max. width
Handle is Fiddleback Red Mesquite, medium/small size with 7/8 inch max. width
Most of the tempering colors have been removed from the blade.
Forging marks remain.
Wooden Sheath     $50.00      add to cart

Paring Knives

  
(Sort of like larger size versions of my wood carving knives. These are actually very good for wood carving too. The shanks were ground square and set into the handles with epoxy.)

Blades are about 3 1/2 inches long

hand forged Cutlery knife PN-9     $85.00      add to cart
Handle is spalted maple, medium/large size
hand forged Cutlery knife PN-11     $85.00      add to cart
Handle is red mesquite, large size
hand forged Cutlery knife PN-25     $85.00      add to cart
Handle is rosewood, medium/small size

My carving knives are intended for serious wood carvers. They are razor sharp and can be very dangerous if used improperly. Please be careful and don't allow young people to use them unsupervised.

Your satisfaction is fully guaranteed. If you have a problem of any kind with one of my knives, please let me know. I will make it right with you.

 
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Copyright © 2005 North Bay Forge by Jim Wester
with thanks to Tina Rose
feedback welcome   jimwester@northbayforge.com