Page 245 - The Lost Ways

- By M. Richard -

“A sharp knife is safer than a dull one.” –
Unknown

The knife has been one of mankind’s most essential tools since the first cave man

found a stone that was broken to form a sharp edge and discovered how useful it was.

Since that time, countless designs of knives have been made in a constant effort to
develop a better knife. Of course, there is no one perfect design, as knives are used for

many different purposes.

Modern knives are made cookie-cutter fashion in factories around the world. But in olden
times, knives were each handcrafted works of art. While there were some factories that
made knives in the 1800s, these knives were thought to be inferior and useful only as
trade goods with the Indians.

Nobody who truly depended on their knife wanted a factory knife; they wanted one that
was handmade by a skilled blacksmith or knife maker.

Today’s factory-produced knives are mostly ground from stainless steel, a material that
didn’t exist in the 1800s. While grinding has always been a necessary part of knife making,
in times past, knives weren’t fully formed by grinding but rather by forging.

Forging a Knife Blank

The beginning of any knife was making the blank out of high carbon steel. High carbon

steels were used as they were harder and would hold a better edge. Steel making wasn’t
developed to today’s highly scientific state, and some knife makers would actually cast
their own steel; however, the majority used the commercially available steels of the day.

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