One-of-a-kind blades forged, ground, heat-treated and handled by hand in Greenacres, Washington. Hunters, chef's knives, Bowies, and everything in between, made for you.
Order a Custom Knife See the KnivesThe knife is humanity's oldest tool, older than fire-making, writing or the wheel. Every blade made today carries millions of years of craft behind it.
Early humans struck sharp flakes off river stones. The first cutting tools, found at Gona in Ethiopia, were used to butcher game. Later, knappers shaped flint and volcanic obsidian into edges sharper than a modern razor.
Smiths learned to smelt copper and alloy it with tin. Bronze could be cast into molds, hammered and resharpened, and for the first time a blade could be repaired instead of thrown away.
Iron ore was everywhere, so iron blades spread fast. Smiths found that heating iron in charcoal soaked carbon into its surface and made steel, and that plunging hot steel into water made it far harder. That was the birth of quenching and heat treatment.
Crucible "wootz" steel from India and Sri Lanka was traded across the Middle East and forged into the legendary watery-patterned Damascus blades. The exact recipe was lost by the 1700s and is still studied by metallurgists today.
Celtic, Germanic and Viking smiths twisted and forge-welded layers of iron and steel together, which made blades both tough and beautiful. The single-edged seax was the everyday knife of the Anglo-Saxons and Norse.
Japanese smiths smelted tamahagane steel in clay tatara furnaces, folded it many times to refine it, and coated blades in clay before quenching. This gave them a glass-hard edge, a springy spine and the wavy hamon line. Those methods still shape kitchen knives today.
Sheffield, England became the cutlery capital of the world. In America, the 1827 Sandbar Fight made Jim Bowie famous, and the big clip-point "Bowie knife" became the iconic American blade of the frontier.
Harry Brearley of Sheffield found that adding chromium to steel stopped it from rusting. Stainless steel changed kitchens and cutlery forever.
The Knifemakers' Guild was founded in 1970. In 1973 bladesmith Bill Moran showed his Damascus knives and brought pattern-welded steel back to life. He went on to help found the American Bladesmith Society in 1976.
Modern makers combine hammer-and-anvil forging with belt grinders, precise heat-treat ovens and advanced powder-metal steels. Shows like Forged in Fire have inspired a whole new generation to light a forge, and every custom knife is still made one at a time by hand.
Blade shapes Dillan can build for you. Pick a style, choose your steel and handle, and make it your own.
The legendary American fighting knife: a big clip-point blade in layered pattern-welded steel, a brass guard and a stabilized burl handle.
A Japanese-style chef's knife with a dark forged finish near the spine, a mirror-polished edge, a visible hamon line and an octagonal ebony handle.
The go-to field knife for elk and deer season. A strong tip and a curved belly for clean skinning, with a stag or bone handle.
A reinforced, angular tip built for piercing, with a black oxide blade and a paracord-wrapped handle. Rugged and tactical.
A broken-back blade straight out of the Norse sagas, forge-welded from twisted Damascus with a carved wooden handle.
A hefty rustic chopper that keeps the black forge scale on the spine, paired with a green canvas Micarta handle. It goes through bone and squash.
A compact Japanese utility knife with a chisel-ground edge, perfect for whittling, carving or everyday carry. A great first forged knife.
The bolster is forged from the same bar as the blade, a sign of serious skill. It has a deep, sweeping belly for skinning and an amboyna burl handle.
These drawings show the style of each knife. Every custom knife is one of a kind, so yours will be built to your own size, steel and handle choices.
Know the parts and you'll know exactly what to ask for in a custom build.
Everything you need to go from a bar of steel to a finished knife. Tap any picture to shop for it.
Shop links open an Amazon search, so you can compare brands and prices. The specialty suppliers above carry knife steel and handle material too.
Every custom knife goes through the same time-honored steps.
Sketch the profile, choose the steel and handle material, and size it to your hand and what you'll use it for.
Heat the bar to orange-yellow and hammer it into shape on the anvil, drawing out the tip, setting the bevels and shaping the tang.
Heat and air-cool the blade several times to refine the grain and relieve the stress left by hammering.
Use the belt grinder to true up the profile and grind the bevels, leaving the edge about a dime thick before hardening.
Heat to critical temperature (non-magnetic) and quench in oil, then temper in an oven to trade a little hardness for toughness.
Refine the bevels and hand-sand through finer grits for a satin, mirror or rustic forged finish.
Fit the guard, glue on the scales with epoxy and pins, then shape and polish the handle until it feels just right.
Hone a razor edge on the stones, strop it, and test it on paper. Then it's ready for a lifetime of use.
Before thermometers, smiths judged steel by its color. Here's the cheat sheet. Temperatures are approximate and best judged in dim light.
The steel decides how a knife holds an edge, resists rust and takes a beating. Here are popular choices.
| Steel | Edge Holding | Toughness | Rust Resist | Best For |
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Tell Dillan what you have in mind. This form opens an email with your details already filled in, ready to send.
1. Send your request. 2. Dillan calls or emails to talk through the design and price. 3. Your knife is forged, heat-treated and handled. 4. Pick it up at the shop or have it shipped.
Hand-wash and dry right away, never in the dishwasher. Wipe carbon steel with a thin coat of mineral oil; a gray patina is normal and protects it. Store it dry, out of the sheath. Hone often and you'll rarely need to sharpen.
Call ahead to visit the forge and see work in progress. Questions about knives, sharpening or getting started in bladesmithing are always welcome.
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