Past Work

Damascus and Human Femur Dagger

Commissioned by a collector of antique human skulls and bones. This dagger is forged from a 288 layer bar of Damascus I forged myself, handled with an antique human femur in a frame tang style of construction. The handle has a coffin shape to it with a very traditional, iron butt cap that wraps around the coffin end and is secured with small iron pins. I have had a long time interest in creepy, odd antiques and art. This knife connects my two interests of knife making and oddities, I am very proud of this piece and wish I had it for my own collection! The femur was provided to me from the client‘s personal collection. It served its life (or after life, ha) as a medical cadaver, studied by students learning the human anatomy. Real human skeletons in universities/classrooms has been very common, but a lot of these cadavers have been replaced by plastic copies. Instead of just throwing away the old sets, they are collected, and in this case, turned into a piece of art.

The Great Sioux War Tacked Bowie

After the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota territory in 1874, (by Gen. George A. Custer) folks seeking fortune set out to start mining. Only hiccup was the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie granted the Black Hills to the Lakota-Sioux. Between 1875 and 1877, war between the Lakota- Sioux and the invading US began and blood was shed. This was considered the Great Sioux War of 1876. With the Agreement of 1877, the US pushed out the Natives and started the mining town that we all know as Deadwood.

This small piece of American history is what I inspired this small Bowie knife after. Perhaps a US miner pushed his way into the Black Hills and ran into some Lakota-Sioux. The miner was ambushed and a Sioux pulled this Bowie off the corpse. In true Native American fashion, tacks were added to the slick oak handle and the Sioux carried the small Bowie there forth.

This small Bowie is forged from 1084 spring steel, 5 1/2” long blade and 9 3/4” overall length. The handle is curly White Oak and decorated with 6 antique iron tacks. The guard, ferrule and buttcap are all heavily antiqued iron to match the blade. The sheath is brown dyed bullhide stitched with black waxed thread. The presentation stand is forged iron and was antiqued just as the knife was. The base is the same piece of curly White Oak, and was treated with Aqua fortis and Safflower Oil, just as the knife handle was.

10” Integral French Chef Knife

This chef’s knife is the largest, most complicated blade I’ve forged as of the Winter of 2018-2019. I really pushed myself with this commission. Fitting and shaping the scales while retaining the forged finish on the bolster was no joke. The blade is 10” of 1084 high carbon steel, .130” at the spine, with forged flats. The bolster is 2 pieces of antique wrought iron forged welded to the blade. The handle itself is California claro walnut with bronze pins. This piece resides in Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

2018 CLA New and Aspiring Artist Submission

This was one of my more serious projects I made in my development as an artist. I finished the piece in the spring of 2018 and submitted it to be presented at the Contemporary Longrifle Association show in August at Lexington, Kentucky. Luckily it was accepted and the show was great fun. The knife was forged from 1075 high carbon steel, hammered very close to final thickness and shape, then chisel engraved (quite crudely) with my initials. The iron S guard and ferrule were forged, hot punched, and then brazed together with copper in the coals of the forge. The butt cap is forged from the same iron and has the tang peened over, mechanically holding everything together. The octagonal handle is curly hickory treated with aqua fortis and finished with oil and beeswax. Everything was glued together with pine pitch. The belt sheath is veg-tanned leather dyed with dye made from walnuts I collected myself and stitched with black linen thread. All natural, all traditional, all American. This blade was sent to Belgium along with a couple more knives to a collector of mine.

A Set of 6 Moose Knives

A great customer of mine, George wanted to memorialize the harvest of two Newfoundland Moose. “6 knives, 3 drop points, 3 clip points”. These antler handled, heirloom knives were crafted to be gifted on Christmas, 2018. So thankful for George, the Moose, and the opportunity to bring them together once again. .

Coffin Vest Bowie