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About Forest Forge Knives
The Forest Forge LLC is a small business that focuses on crafting durable, hard working knives that with care will provide a lifetime of service. I use time honored methods to craft my blades and quality steel from reputable sources.
Steel selection: I mostly use high carbon steel of the following types
- 52100 A premier steel renowned for offering a balance of good edge retention and good toughness. 52100 is more difficult to work with than many other steels and requires careful forging and heat treating to get the most potential from the steel. For these reasons it often comes at a premium price.
- 8670 A steel that excels at providing a very tough blade, reducing the chances of edge chipping, snapping and significant edge rolling. I exclusively use this steel for all my Bushcraft knives due to the toughness needed for such blades. This steel also resharpens quickly and easily for maintenance while in the field.
- 5160 A spring steel that I use for long blades and swords that need to flex
Methods
Most of the blades I craft are fully hand forged. Some, mostly in my culinary collection, are hand made using the stock removal method, instead of hand forged. Each item description will state the method used.
Heat treatment
The heat treatment is the most crucial step in the process. I use a state-of-the-art heat treating kiln designed for maximum precision and reliability. Each blade is put through a multi step process to refine the steel through thermal cycles before being hardened and tempered.
Designs
All knives I make and sell are my original designs or my versions of a classic design, such as a chef's knife for example. Additionally, every blade I forge will be unique and have minor variations compared to my other knives of the same model.
I give careful consideration to designing knives that fit ergonomically in the hand and provides users with the optimal weight, leverage and geometry for the tasks the blade is intended for.
The Forest Forge Philosophy
Why I choose to forge blades...
One of the very first tools humans created was a sharp edge. We learned how to use sharp rock edges to cut up our food and craft tools and build our shelters with. Those primitive blades revolutionized our way of life. Eventually, we learned how we could use metal to create even better blades that could be even more useful.
As a bladesmith, I carry on the tradition of turning raw materials into highly functional tools we depend on for everyday living and even survival. I work in an open air log structure that is my forge, just as my ancestors did for countless generations before me. Each knife I forge is a link in a long chain that stretches back to the very beginning, when we first picked up that sharp rock and discovered just how useful it could be.
My love of nature and of wilderness survival is a major reason why I'm passionate about blades. When I use my Bushcraft knife it becomes an extension of my body. I seek to design and build knives that I would not be able find anywhere else, and I want to share that joy with other people by offering these knives to others.
In this era of plastics and artificial materials I will only ever offer premium hardwood handles on my knives and not resin or plastic, or whatever else goes into most handle materials these days. Additionally, my sheaths are constructed out of premium vegetable tanned leather for durability.
