[hso]

There's 30 - 40 knifemakers in Knoxville this weekend off of Millertown Pike making and presenting on techniques of forged knives. Knives will be sold. Cutting contests will be won (and lost) and some great custom makers will be rubbing elbows with us mortals.

Already saw 2 knives heated and beated into shape this evening!

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=1295835#post1295835

[Jim March]

Taiwan forges a lot of knives. They look just like the brand-name models they rip off :).

[hso]

The hammer-in's over and it was great!

Everything from no power, hand cranked blower, coal fired forging to gas forge, hydraulic press forging was done. Great knives were raffled off (nope, didn't win one:mad: ) but it was all fun.

Knives made or shown ranged from camp knives, to skinners, utilities, swords, fighters and tomahawks. All were forged by hand by the makers and all the makers were more than happy to talk about how they did what.

Historical knife presentations were made on primative forging techniuques, still in use by a couple of makers, how to make steel from magnetite sands, and Bowie knife origins and evolution. All these had hands-on aspects. All were great!

Anyone thinking about coming to Knoxville in the fall should consider coming to this hammer-in as part of the trip.

[twoblink]

Jim, only 1 place in Taiwan that has the skillset to forge the good stuff.

Kinmen island. They are famous for their knives, and the quality is on par with the best in the world. I own 2. They make it from cannon shells that were lobbed from China at Kinmen back in the days. China lobbed at the rate of over 10,000 an hour at this small island, and did so for a full month, around the clock. I love the island, the food is great, and the knives, even better.