Bladesmithing: a Dying Art

Besides writing my extended essay and writing my extended essay I finally got to do something that I've always loved, bladesmithing. A lot of people don't know a whole lot about bladesmithing, if anything, and I hate to say it but it's a dying art. Heck, even the word document that I'm typing this in doesn't consider it to be a real word. Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, or any bladed weapons or tools, out of either blanks or billets of steel. Ever since my fourth birthday, the day I got my first swiss army knife, I've been immensely interested in knives or bladed weapons of any sort. This later evolved into a desire to make knives of my own (as well as some semi-psychopathic tendencies). I made my first knife with my dad when I was eight years old. I could never forget the day. I'd just gotten back from school (it was the last day) looking forward to the summer ahead which was when my dad brought an enormous contraption, called a belt grinder, home from work. We spent the next day grinding and profiling a blank of spring steel which eventually turned into a knife. Crude but functional. When I first moved to India I hadn't had the time to do most of what I needed to do much less make knives. Making knives isn't a fast process. Whether you choose to go the stock removal or forging route it requires patience above all else. You have to plan what the knife or bladed tool is intended to do then choose your steel, blade geometry, heat treat and temper conditions accordingly. This may seem complicated at first but, if you have the means, I urge you to try it. There's nothing easier than buying a knife from a cutlery store but, in my opinion, nothing compares to both making and wielding something of your own creation. This doesn't only apply to knives but most other things as well. What I love most about bladesmithing is watching a knife come to life from nothing other than a selected piece of steel. I would've really loved to put up some pictures of some of my completed knives as well as some works in progress but I doubt the camera on my ipod would do them any justice.

Varun
New Delhi 
India