Moore, Jon P (Sharp Decision Knives)

I started making knives in August of 2002 after attending a knife show in Denver Colorado. I returned home and started making my own tools and equipment to forge my own knives. Let me explain the two methods to make knives, forging and stock removal. Stock removal is to start with a piece of high carbon or stainless steel and cut or grind away everything that doesn't look like a knife. To forge a knife is to heat the piece of steel and pound it into the shape you desire using a hammer and anvil or power hammer or press. I use a combination of hydraulic press and hand hammering on an anvil to shape and form my knives. Except for modern power equipment this is the way knives have been made for thousands of years. I also make knives from “Damascus” steel. This steel is made from many layers of different steel welded together then drawn (crushed) out into a bar of steel close to the thickness of the knife I want to make. Different steels can be mixed together and the billet can be crushed different ways making the layers of steel appear as lines that run in crazy formations. The combinations of steels used, and the ways to draw out the steel can create endless patterns and formations in the blade steel.