Why should you spend your hard earned money, or for that matter, why should I dedicate countless hours of my life, time away from my family,  thousands of dollars in equipment and risk life and limb (literally) to forge a blade when I can get a pretty badass looking one with a cool “forge hammered” finish at (insert your favorite department store here)?

While I could go on about the importance of preserving craftsmanship and historical techniques essential to the evolution of humanity (or that forging hot steel just makes me feel like a badass), at the end of the day, what it really comes down to for me is one thing…

Performance.

Let’s face it, most the knives you have bouncing around in your kitchen drawer aren’t sharp… they are basically blade shaped objects that are stamped out of thin enough metal that you can mash them through things in a pinch. Heck, I have my share as well and I use them all the time. They have their place, but they are by no means a precision instrument capable of extraordinary feats designed for true professionals who need such instruments. Performing a cut with a blade that is a synergistic combination of ergonomics, properly forged geometry, and astutely heat treated steel is a game changing experience. One that can make you question your concept of reality and change your perception of what you thought was possible (at least for a knife anyway).  Modern manufacturing simply cannot recreate the nuances and subtle geometry required to create a truly high performance blades. Not cost effectively anyway… heck, I can’t either for that matter.

While it might not be the most efficient or cost efffective process, and while everyone might not need a “precision instrument” in there knife drawer, there are some that do… and that is why I forge blades.