Chef’s Knives
I was always interested on how things are made, specially if it involves manual labour and crafting.
So it was natural that the several hours I spent on YouTube watching long bearded men forging knives, axes, swords or ornamental pieces would motivate me to try and learn the ropes of blacksmithing.
And just like that I enrolled on a course, taking me 3 days of 9 working hours to forge a small paring knife and a damascus steel chef’s knife.
I feel like my design background helped me in shaping the blades and the handle – an importante lesson on how skills should be transferrable.
Damascus Steel
Oak Handle
Ox Bone and Horn Bolster
The forging process was the regular one: starting with a metal slab, heating it up and hammering it to the desired shape. Once the shape was done, the sanding work started. The students were allowed to only take the chef’s knife home, and not the paring one, which was mainly to learn the technique. But my teacher (who was commissioned by Game of Thrones for 12 swords) actually liked the design of mine, and challenged me to try to finish sanding both of them in time. Challenge accepted – and completed :) .
