Reviewer: UNKNOWN

This is one of the first videos I rented here. It is very good the guy has a big following in the coustom knife world. His wife even gets into the video casting silver for the cap and finger guard. lots of info on tempering the blade and making it hold an edge with a good demo at the end of the video.

Reviewer: John N.

I bought this DVD before I found this site. It was well worth it. All hand tools used to make a beautiful and functional knife! Very nice.

Reviewer: Keith S.

Good video over-all. A lot of good information to be gleened from this. Only drawback is that because of how bright it is there (Arizona), you can't get a good look at the color of the steel at the various temperatures.

Reviewer: David B.

I forge knives myself, and it is interesting to see someone do it in the simplest manner possible, but it looked like he didn't have enough heat to do much work, and I am not convinced charcoal is at all ideal as a forge fuel. It was interesting and understandable.

Reviewer: samuel c.

I watched this video and I thought it was great. I'm a beginning bladesmith and I'm looking for different technique. This video helped me with some of them. I suggest any one how is starting out to watch it well give you ideas.

Reviewer: Tracy L.

Good video overall. I have some criticisms though:

1) He frequently worked the blade well into the cold range. It appeared that he was not getting it hot enough in the first place. This can introduce a good deal of stress into the blade and a beginning smith following this example could crack their work partway through. It also means forging a blade is a lot more effort. I presume that's why he's using a 4 pound hammer to do his forging work. If he'd get the blade hotter in the forge and only work it at the higher heat he'd be able to use a 2.5-3 pound hammer. This gives more precision and is a lot easier on the smith. If you're working the forge all day on a number of items you learn to work the metal hot or you're putting out much more effort than is needed.

2) The section on sandcasting was kind of nice to include, but they should have given a little more detail. You can make a flask on your own fairly easily, and there are many cheaper materials to use for casting than petrobond. It would have been nice to discuss this in the video rather than just showing the commercial cope/drag. Much of the video concentrates on basic starting equipment and low-cost options. It felt odd to see them just assume you need a commercial flask and petrobond.

3) When doing the sandcasting, she cast a large ingot of silver alloy, then cut off a small piece and spent a lot of time cutting and shaping it. Lots of wasted effort there. It's better to cast the parts you actually need as close as you can to their final size. This keeps the shaping and filing to a minimum.

4) This is the only time I have seen a smith temper a blade in three stages. There's no reason you can't temper a blade in one step, and most do. I suspect he does it in three stages because he normalizes three times and hardens three times first. It smacks of mysticism; there's lots of practices among smithing that have no scientific use, but smiths continue them because they think they are important without knowing why. This feels like the same kind of thing.

These are minor criticisms though, and overall the video was well produced and is well worth watching. Just remember to get your metal a good deal hotter than he does and you'll have a much easier time of it.

Reviewer: Chris R.

I have mixed feelings about this video. It's interesting, and there's some good info, but all in all I found it a bit boring. Maybe it's just me. I've talked with a number of blacksmiths that don't seem to recommend using charcoal in knifemaking because of the temp not getting hot enough. I also thought it was a bit long. I guess it's good that they go into a lot of detail but for the most part I thought it was a bit long. In fact the first time I watched it I actually fell asleep.

Reviewer: Thomas D.

Just as far as the scientific basis of multiple quenches etc... there are quite a few folks out there who are working hand in hand with admirers who have lab access and these traditional techniques are performing. It's certainly true that great blades can be made without this kind of approach, but normally there is a reason within the process for proceeding this way. One reason, as suggested, can be the difference between what can be done in holding temperatures in an electric oven, and in an open flame. Essentially you are getting similar results but duration in the heat is being handled differently.

There probably aren't any serious "scientists" doing work on ABS style knives, so what science tells us directly about these things is probably pretty close to zero. We have excellent science on heat treating pursued by other means for other purposes.

I'm not being argumentative. There are some who might be interested in the primative end of bladesmithing. There is quite a lot of interest in so called neo-tribal methods. True there are other methods that are more technical, and use propane etc... in preference to charcoal. Still if you want a simpler cheaper to enter approach, this might be it.

Reviewer: K.C. M.

Great Video...Very informative. Video quality was much better than I expected. Must buy if a beginner in bladesmithing.

Reviewer: Ernie B.

I didn't expect much but I was pleasantly surprised. This has to be one of the best videos for a beginner who wants to forge a knife.

It covers making charcoal, building a forge, cutting and forging a big blade from a leafspring. Also shown were heat treating, sand casting a silver Copper alloy, making ferrules, making the knife handle and sheath making.