Handmade Knives by Brome McCreary
I am the soul author of my knives. I design, grind, assemble, heat treat and construct the sheaths for all my knives. That is not to say, however, that I don’t borrow ideas and concepts from other knives I have seen or used.
My Knives Annuals and back issues of various cutlery magazines are very useful at stimulating my creativity. Although I have never taken a “knifemaking class” (and have been to only a few other maker’s shops) and some may say I am self-taught, I feel I owe a great deal of what I know to the knifemaking community.
I learned from asking many questions and reading a great deal of what other makers have written. It is other maker’s willingness to take the time to explain things that has helped me learn.
I prefer to make what I term “using knives” as I feel a knife should be practical before anything else. Although I am not unable to appreciate and truly enjoy some of the beautiful work by makers that is far from practical. I don’t typically make “combat” or “fighting” knives per se, or daggers and don’t have the skills or tools, yet, to make folders.
Knives are presented in reverse chronological order, so you can see how my style and abilities have developed.
 |
 |
 |
| Gallery 1 | Gallery 2 | Gallery 3 |
By exploring the galleries above you can see the knives I have made over the many years I have dabbling in knifemaking as a hobby.
I still have a lot to learn, and hopefully a long way to go. But I do think I can see how I have improved (hopefully) both in craftsmanship and developing my own style. I have included my early knives (if you can call them that) to reiterate that we all have to start somewhere.
I have just gotten started setting up a forging operation, so almost all of my pieces have been stock removal so far.
I differentially heat treat almost all my blades in Canola oil, use an Evenheat oven for heat treating and use a utilitarian brushed finish on my blades.
I prefer to use natural handle materials and am currently using O-1, 1095 and lumber mill bandsaw steel (15N20) for my blades. I hope to start using some of the “stainless” steels like ATS-34 in the future.