03-24-2017, 07:51 PM
Hi Bud, Welcome to the Forum! Thank you for the kind words!
Wade has the right basic description. I don't know of a simpler answer than "bladesmithing involves forging".
"Knifemaking" means almost everything else. From $25 kits that that come ready to be assembled, to priceless masterpieces from incredibly gifted artists. 99.999% of knives produced in the past century fall into this category.
Folding knives are almost always totally stock removal, and hand made folders can be astonishingly intricate and heavily jewelled. Gayle Bradley is one of my favorite knife makers. His knives run from $5k- $25k, and he's one of several 'smiths in that layer of the stratosphere.
Bladesmithing begins with a piece of steel and something to make it really hot so you can put it on a big old chunk of steel and start hammering away. I think it speaks to the caveman in us all. It's a much cruder way to start, which seems to make a blade more interesting when the finished product has the "Wow!" appeal.
Overall performance is most important to everyone. There are things that bladesmiths do to maximize performance far beyond what I've seen from stock removal blades. Mostly the good old simple high carbon steels that have continued in use, unchanged for 100 years, like 52100, can be manipulated to have extraordinary performance that you almost have to see to believe, but I have videos.
Sorry for being long winded. Hopefully I'm getting off on the right foot with good information.
Wade has the right basic description. I don't know of a simpler answer than "bladesmithing involves forging".
"Knifemaking" means almost everything else. From $25 kits that that come ready to be assembled, to priceless masterpieces from incredibly gifted artists. 99.999% of knives produced in the past century fall into this category.
Folding knives are almost always totally stock removal, and hand made folders can be astonishingly intricate and heavily jewelled. Gayle Bradley is one of my favorite knife makers. His knives run from $5k- $25k, and he's one of several 'smiths in that layer of the stratosphere.
Bladesmithing begins with a piece of steel and something to make it really hot so you can put it on a big old chunk of steel and start hammering away. I think it speaks to the caveman in us all. It's a much cruder way to start, which seems to make a blade more interesting when the finished product has the "Wow!" appeal.
Overall performance is most important to everyone. There are things that bladesmiths do to maximize performance far beyond what I've seen from stock removal blades. Mostly the good old simple high carbon steels that have continued in use, unchanged for 100 years, like 52100, can be manipulated to have extraordinary performance that you almost have to see to believe, but I have videos.
Sorry for being long winded. Hopefully I'm getting off on the right foot with good information.