Description

Welcome to a new kind of knifemaking book. Books about “how to make a knife” are numerous and well worth the read, which is why I made Knifemaking for Everyone different. 

While other knifemaking books may follow a linear path from beginning to end, this approach forces specialization into a single methodology. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, as Wayne Goddard’s classic The $50 Knife Shop showed. Goddard focuses on forging and building forging tools by making do with what you have. On the other hand, the timeless Richard Barney and Bob Loveless book How to Make Knives focuses on building a stock removal stainless knife in the Loveless style. Both books came from an era when supplies were hard to get, equipment was limited, and knifemaking was niche. The world is different now, with knifemaking supply houses all over the internet, dozens of tool manufacturers, and a cultural shift away from having a good pile of “resources” in your backyard to work with. 

Today’s knifemaking landscape is shaped by the 11-season run of History Channel’s hit show Forged in Fire. The show put knifemaking front and center, and interest exploded. Now that the explosion has cooled, the used tool market is starting to pick up again, while the variety of new tools available also remains high. Never has so much information, equipment, and resources been available to the beginner. 

As a knifemaker, I am eclectic, doing a bit of everything depending on what I feel like in a given season: forging or stock removal, art pieces or functional users, fixed blades or folders, affordable or exotic, etc. This book follows my approach, trying to cover a variety of paths while allowing the reader to “choose your own adventure.”  I have set the book up to flow logically when read straight through from beginning to end, but also in such a way that you can follow your own path and avoid what to you is irrelevant.

Every knifemaking book must talk about tools. Whether you plan on files, hammers, forges, or a multi-attachment 2×72 grinder, tools are part of the process. But how do you know which tools you really need? How do you know what’s a good value? How do you know which tools are actually improvements on other tools? Is the more expensive tool always going to make you better at a specific task, or is there a simple shortcut that will get you to the same destination? I hope to give you the information you need to make the choices that are right for you. 

Only you will know your budget, your preferences, your skills and limitations, so I wrote this book for many different approaches.  Ultimately that’s what this book is all about: knifemaking for everyone.