Knifemaking Archives

Rockin’ The Joint: Haunting Hunt For Slip Joint Perfection

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April 8, 2026

Rockin’ The Joint: Haunting Hunt For Slip Joint Perfection

These slip joint knives overcome the mechanical challenges of the style to qualify as works of art.

The slip joint is the most recognized of any folding knife design. Variations on the theme continue to guide the custom knifemaker and the consumer through a journey of creativity and craftsmanship that is indeed endless.

The latest slip joints are true to this standard and don’t disappoint in looks or legs—easy on the eyes while walking and talking at the same time. They complement their makers’ personalities and demonstrate their skill sets in fit and finish, as well as mechanics. They provide pure inspiration for collectors and buyers alike, setting their own standard of excellence.

Standley Caldwell Five-Blade Cattle Knife

“The five-blade cattle knife is a very difficult build,” Stanley Burzek confesses. Not only are aesthetics at play, but mechanical aspects, such as the blades clearing frame and timed right, not to mention executing multiple grinds. Tackling more complex slip joints has been a natural progression for Stanley. The Texas maker began with single- up to three-blade stockmen but saw the more difficult projects as pushing his craftmanship to the next level. (Jocelyn Frasier image)

A slip joint maker for 18 years, Stanley Buzek of Caldwell, Texas, brought a beautiful five-blade cattle knife to life recently. Featuring a CPM 154 hollow ground blade with 416 stainless integral bolsters and liner, along with stag handle scales, the knife was a particular challenge.

“The five-blade cattle knife is a very difficult build, getting all the blades timed and working properly with everything flush in all positions,” Stanley explained, “and getting the blades to clear inside the frame in such a small area. The multiple offset grinds and the dagger grind of the awl blade make it especially challenging.”

Tackling the cattleman works right into the increasingly difficult projects Stanley has pitted himself against—even if it was a daunting proposition. “The five-blade was just a natural progression from the single-blade trapper, two-blade, three-bladed Stockman, and so on, to push myself to the next level of knifemaking,” he confided. “Actually, the hardest part was just getting over my fear of screwing it up and getting started on the build. It is an intimidating knife to build, having to pack so much into such a small area that you can paralyze yourself with the fear of getting started.”

Buzek got the pattern for the five-blade from Tim Robertson. He drew inspiration from the work of Tony Bose, whom he credits with bringing the pattern back. He has also seen photos of Reese Bose’s take on the pattern.

“I have received help from many great makers through the years,” Stanley reflected. “Bill Ruple and Rusty Preston were a huge help, and the South Texas Slip Joint School that I went to back in 2011 really increased my knowledge in how slip joints actually work. Right now, a lot of credit goes to Tim Robertson for pushing me and helping me with problems and us bouncing ideas off each other.”

Buzek makes all his slip joints with integral liners and bolsters accompanied by jeweling on the interior. He prefers slanted bolsters while gravitating toward natural handle materials such as jigged bone, mammoth and stag. “I think the single-blade slip joint will be the most popular for a long time for ease of carry and ease of build in the custom world,” he predicted. “Multi-blades, though not as popular, will push makers to step outside their comfort zone and show collectors and the general public alike the technicality and perfection and precision at which some of these pieces are made and will help makers improve their overall methods.”

Ted Friesenhahn Two-Blade Trapper

Like most custom makers, the most challenging aspect of the slip joint for Friesenhahn is getting the rise and fall of the blade correct. Add in embellishments, like the delicate vine filework down the center of his trapper’s handle, and the project becomes a taxing undertaking. (SharpByCoop image)

When Ted Friesenhahn took up the task of making his two-bladed trapper, he chose to make the second blade a “simmy” skinner. “This is the most popular slip joint, especially in Texas,” said the resident of Seguin, who has been a toolmaker since the age of 18. “I’ve worked in several different tool shops and have had the pleasure of teaching mill classes at hammer-ins.”

For his trapper, Ted chose a hollow ground blade of CPM 154 with a 416 stainless steel frame and bolster and a jigged bone handle. He added, “All of my knives have integral liners, and in this knife, the center is left standing. I have had this idea in my head for a while before I finally did it. I wanted something different and to be able to embellish it, so I chose to do vine filework.”

The most difficult aspect of the slip joint for Friesenhahn is common to most custom knifemakers—getting the rise and fall of the blade correct and flushed at closed, half stop, and open positions. “Of course, the walk and talk are key after all that fit and finish,” he said. “My first knife was an Old Timer Stockman that I had when I was growing up in the country. I have always carried a pocketknife, so like most makers and knife enthusiasts in this area, I had heard of Bill Ruple.

Ted friesenhahn in his shop. — Ted Friesenhahn in his shop.

“Many years ago now, Johnny Stout and [ABS master smith and BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® member] Harvey Dean put on a hammer-in at Johnny’s shop in New Braunfels, Texas, where I first met Bill Ruple,” Ted continued. “He was teaching the slip joint classes, and he had a jig he came up with to measure the rise and fall of the blade and spring. It came to be called the Ruple jig … I still use this jig on every knife I build.”

Interestingly, Friesenhahn sees variations on patterns as emerging in popularity. “The current direction is in patterns being turned into different patterns,” he said, “in multi-blades like the stockman lockback whittler and sowbelly whittler. There seems to be a craze with the whittler, and of course, I have one of these variations in the works.”

Bill Burke Single-Blade Trapper

“This knife came about as a class demo for slip joint folders that I taught at Jim Poor’s Flatland Forge in Tuscola, Texas,” said Bill Burke of his single blade trapper, with a 3-inch stainless damascus blade and blacklip mother-of-pearl handle scale. (SharpByCoop image)

Master smith Bill Burke of Boise, Idaho, recently produced a handsome single-blade trapper with a hollow ground 3-inch blade of stainless damascus steel, blacklip mother-of-pearl handle scales, and 416 stainless integral bolster and liner.

“This knife came about as a class demo for slip joint folders that I taught at Jim Poor’s Flatland Forge in Tuscola, Texas,” said Bill. “The pattern for the class was the ever-popular large single-blade trapper. I added my personal preferences of filework and bolster fluting to this knife, as well as incorporating a piece of Jim Poor’s waterfall pattern damascus into the blade. The only guide I had was a pattern drawn on a piece of paper and e-mailed to me by Luke Swenson.”

Burke has found the most challenging aspect of the slip joint to be mechanical, sharing that observation with other makers. “The most difficult part of any slip joint, at least for me, is getting the timing right so that the spring is level with the frame/liners in all three positions, closed, half stop and open, while also keeping the end of the spring even with the end of the tang in the closed position,” he commented.

“I made my first slip joint folder in about 2001,” Burke continued. “It was a large trapper like this knife. I traced a friend’s knife on a piece of paper and used calipers to measure the dimensions of the tang. This knife was made because I had carried a slip joint pocketknife with me since I was about 5 years old. I can remember sharpening a pencil for a first grade teacher with my pocketknife.

“Over the years, I continued to make slip joints, and they did get better,” he observed. “But I always struggled with the spring timing. Fast-forward 16 years, and a friend of mine from Australia, [journeyman smith] Bruce Barnett, and I went to visit the maestro of the South Texas Slip Joint Cartel, Bill Ruple. We were at Bill’s shop for four days making slip joints. While there, Bill taught me the proper use of the Ruple jig, that little contraption he had put together to make timing of a slip joint something of a science instead of a swag. This little bit of knowledge changed my slip joints from being functional to well-working tools that I am proud of. Bill Ruple and Luke Swenson continue to motivate me to make better slip joint knives.”

As a master smith and forger of knives, Burke sometimes takes on that dimension completing the slip joint. “The only challenge is forging the steel, whether damascus, carbon or stainless, which is not commonly forged,” he advised. “Most people who do forge do not actually forge folder blades but instead forge the steel and then stock remove the blade from the forged steel. There are some who will forge damascus folder blades to get a specific pattern of damascus to follow the curve of the blade shape. This can be seen in the knives made by Owen Wood, Tim Foster, [master smith] Mike Quesenberry and a few others.

“I have forged san mai and damascus folder blades to shape when circumstances made it necessary but do not commonly do so,” Burke concluded. “The challenge making a slip joint knife from forged materials in my opinion is no different than doing stock removal with the possible exception of san mai blades and springs where careful attention has to be paid to ensure the hard core of blade and spring line up precisely so the components stay in alignment, keeping the spring from wandering off to one side of the blade. If this happens and is not corrected, eventually the bolsters will be forced apart and the spring will continue to wear on one side of the blade making the knife useless.”

Bubba Crouch Single-Blade Trapper

Bubba Crouch points to the influence of Slip Joint Cartel icon Bill Ruple in his career. More than anything, Ruple taught him to “make the next knife better than the last one.” Crouch’s pearl-handled trapper demonstrates that the knifemaker has taken this lesson to heart. The natural scale presented concerns in chipping, shattering, and even burning. (SharpByCoop image)

Bubba Crouch has been making knives in Pleasanton, Texas, since 2001 and lives just down the road from his friend and mentor Bill Ruple. While Ruple is the leader of the South Texas Slip Joint Cartel, Crouch is a founding member and revels in the lively exchange of ideas and the friendly banter that it provides.

Ruple’s influence is pervasive among slip joint makers, and Crouch is no different. “Bill taught me everything I know about knives,” commented Bubba. “I guess the most important thing he has taught me is to make the next knife better than the last one. That is hard to do!”

Recently, Crouch completed and sold the featured single-blade trapper to a resident of Philadelphia. His available knives sold out in two days during the last 10-day Las Vegas show, and the demand for his work is on the rise. This particular trapper features a 3¾-inch hollow-ground blade of CPM 154 stainless steel, an integral 416 stainless steel frame, and handle scales of pearl with an abalone arrowhead inlay.

“I do all 416 integrals,” Bubba noted. “So, I mill my liners instead of spot welding or soldering, and I have had a lot more luck keeping them flat and even. That makes a better knife, I think, and the integral frame prevents issues with warping and that type of thing.”

The biggest challenge in creating this trapper came with working in pearl, a natural material that presents concerns in chipping, shattering, and even burning. When working with the pearl, Bubba uses a thin liner material glued to the surface to stabilize it, and with the final grind, he removes the liner material while shaping the pearl to fit the handle space.

“If you look at the pearl on some knives, you can see a yellow edge from the heat sometimes,” he said. “I fit the pearl in the handle and then remove it, shaping it to the bolster to avoid the heat before putting it back in. When I’m sanding the pearl, I wet sand, and when I drill, I squirt water on it after starting the hole.”

The abalone inlay gives Bubba’s trapper a distinctive flair, and the process of inserting it is relatively simple. “I have a pantograph machine and use templates to cut the abalone and cut the pocket for it in the pearl,” he said. “You’ve got to be careful and don’t want to pop it in and out too many times. I drill a hole through the pocket that is pretty small and comes out the liner to test fit.”

Crouch enjoys building what he likes, and for now, that is the single- and two-blade slip joint. Multi-blades don’t have great appeal. “My clientele is the everyday carry guy,” he concluded. “So, I build those knives. I don’t see the slip joint market getting soft. It’s traditional and will stay stable. It’s what your grandpa and your dad carried, and as long as there are memories like that, there will always be a market for the slip joint.”

Demand doesn’t seem to waver with the slip joint, and today’s makers are eager to oblige the marketplace.

Keepin’ Those Day Jobs: Knifemaking Side Hustle

Knifemaking

Jason Fry

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October 7, 2022

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For Many Makers, Knifemaking Isn’t A Full-Time Job. Here’s How Some Fill Their Days When They Aren’t Sharpening Steel.

One of the more memorable henchmen of the James Bond series is the stout little fellow Odd Job, played in Goldfinger by Harold Sakata, and a popular character in the Nintendo series of Bond video games. He has a hat with a razor-sharp brim that decapitates a marble statue in the movie and guarantees an instant kill in the game.

He’s a master of body paint, a capable golf caddy, and can crush a golf ball with his bare hands. He’s a chauffeur capable of skilled pursuit and evasion in the inevitable Bond car chases. In the end, this man of many talents meets an untimely death by electrocution in the vault at Fort Knox.

Many who make knives choose not to make it a full-time career but a mega-hobby or part-time job instead. There are many of us, both known and unknown, who work “regular” and “boring” jobs to fund our knife passion. Though I write and make knives, I’m a behavior analyst in my day job. My brother Travis is a knifemaker and accountant—boring! I bet you’ll be surprised at some of the unusual talents that support some knifemakers in the daytime so they can pursue their blade craft on nights and weekends.

Michael Quesenberry

ABS master smith Michael Quesenberry is well known for his intricate integrals, precise damascus and meticulous attention to every detail. He’s a professional engineer in his day job but not one of the calculator-and-pocket-protector types; he drives a train. He’s been a full-time locomotive engineer for the past 27 years with the Union Pacific Railroad. Meanwhile, whenever knifemaking starts coming with medical, dental and 401(k), he promises to switch careers.

Ricky Bob Menefee

Ricky Bob Menefee describes himself as a “dog catcher.” For the past 24 years he’s been a full-time trapper for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sometimes his job is predator control, setting foot traps, snares or poison for calf-eating coyotes or lamb-snatching bobcats. Other times he hunts crop-destroying wild hogs via a helicopter or uses dynamite to blast out beaver dams.

“I’ve been lucky my whole life,” Ricky says. “The only thing I’ve ever done was hunt, fish and make knives. Knives have allowed me not to have to find a ‘real job’ because my federal job has good benefits to go along with bad pay.” Ricky specializes in fixed blades and slip joints well suited to outdoor tasks, and his tiny tapered tangs are legendary.

Jason Floyd

After 20 years in the golf course business, Jason Floyd says he’s a “professional grass grower.” He started as a turf expert and ended up as a golf course superintendent. Now he works as a forge and blacksmithing tool fabricator for Well Shod Farrier Supply and supplements his income with knifemaking. He says knifemaking is better than watching the grass grow. Jason specializes in forged and damascus fixed blades.

Kelly Kring

I learned a new word from Kelly Kring, who used to work as a “diener” or autopsy technician. He was responsible for moving and cleaning bodies, assisting the pathologist with autopsies and collecting evidence. After that he became an occupational therapy technician in a hospital burn unit. Now he describes himself as “a full-time blacksmith who happens to teach smithing classes at a local college.” He says, “I’ve made knives for many, many people, but don’t call myself a knifemaker.” Kelly is well known in blacksmith circles for being an excellent hands-on instructor.

John Thunert

All the bugs and creepy-crawly varmints better watch out for John Thunert, a self-described “killer for hire.” John works full time as an exterminator. When the pandemic shut down his business, knifemaking took up the slack. John is a Forged in Fire runner-up from season six, episode 18, and has been making knives for four years. “I’ve gotten bored with the other hobbies I’ve been proficient in. Knifemaking and the challenges it presents should see me through another 20 years,” he observes, “and I still won’t accomplish all the things I want to do.” John prefers making fixed blades and forges his own damascus and san-mai.

Josh Howard

Many knifemakers know how to weld. Josh Howard of Deerlick Ridge Forge can beat that—he teaches robots how to weld. In the daytime, he works for Polaris Industries in the factory where they manufacture the four-wheeled side-by-side Ranger robots and the three-wheeled go-fast Slingshots.

He writes the programs that drive the automated welding robots, placing precise welds at critical structural points on the vehicles as they are assembled. Josh is a Forged in Fire competitor from season six and specializes in damascus kitchen and hunting knives. He says “Deerlick” is the name of the creek down the hill from his shop, and that nobody actually licks the deer.

Jason Wilder

The apostle Paul was a tent maker and did enough of that work over the years to support his ministry. Jason Wilder is a Church of Christ minister and supplements his work with knifemaking. After all, the Bible does say “the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword.” Jason admits that he may occasionally carry a sidearm and a knife in the pulpit and on pastoral hospital visits.

“Nobody goes into church work or knifemaking to get rich, but my family gets by on the combination of the two,” he notes. “My ministry schedule allows me to make knives, and my knifemaking supports my vocation as a minister.” Jason makes Sunday-go-to-meeting-quality fixed blades, both forged and stock removal.

Terry Vandeventer

In addition to forging impressive fixed blades, ABS master smith Terry Vandeventer is an expert snake handler. Terry has enjoyed a long career as a professional herpetologist, an expert in reptiles and amphibians. He started out with snakes as a zookeeper, and eventually built a business breeding rare and unusual snakes for zoos.

While he says he’s past his prime in the snake business, he still has “only” about 75 snakes in his current lab. Terry continues to make knives as a source of stress relief, and says “When the knife business gets stressful, it doesn’t serve its purpose for me.” I don’t know about you, but I’d find the North American pit viper collection a bit more stressful than knifemaking.

Bryan Borton

Where do birdbaths come from, anyway? Besides, were birds dirty before people started making birdbaths? Do baby birds prefer baths and older birds prefer showers? My friend Bryan Borton has spent nearly 30 years in the concrete-sculpture-casting business with his wife Kristy. He claims to have made thousands of concrete birdbaths, and his most unusual casting jobs include giant mushrooms, his brother-in-law’s headstone, and some great big soda bottle replicas.

He began making knives seven years ago, learning first from me and then from Travis Payne and some members of the Texas Knifemakers’ Guild. His knives are popular among the rodeo and ranching crowd, as you might suspect given his West Texas location.

Robert George

Robert George is an electrical engineer. Boring, right? Not at all. Robert was the chief architect at AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) for the computer chips used in the Playstation 4, PS4 Pro and PS5 video games.

If you’re a gamer, you’ve probably used his work and didn’t know it. Robert describes himself as a “100 percent bladesmith” because he enjoys the artistic expression of forging close to the final shape. He studied with ABS master smiths Jim Crowell, Timothy Potier and J.R. Cook at the Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing in 2010 and has been passionate about knives ever since.

The List Goes On And On

There are some lists that will always be incomplete, and this is certainly one destined for deficiency. I didn’t have time or space to include BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member James Batson the rocket scientist, Les Adams the bomb squad technician, Jeremy Spake, who builds armatures for stop-motion animation films, or Grace Horne, who builds custom lingerie. I

also left out a bunch of knifemakers with exotic hobbies like ABS master smith Jordan LaMothe, who performs in musicals, Ryan Breuer, who does ballroom dancing contests, and I’m sure I left out plenty of great stories about people I haven’t met yet.

You and I may have different vocations from each other, and surely don’t have the same jobs as some of these knifemakers. Even so, one thing that joins us all together is our appreciation for knives. Handmade or user grade, for display or cosplay, for vegetable cutting or whitetail gutting, our love of knives brings all of us together in our occupational diversity.

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Cool Customs: Isaiah Schroeder’s Gyuto

BLADE Staff

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May 1, 2023

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Isaiah Schroeder’s Gyuto Comes In A Spectacular Damascus Pattern And Showcases The Maker’s Skill.

Isaiah Schroeder considers his gyuto the best knife he’s made, and the blade’s electrifying stainless damascus pattern and the ergonomic handle make it hard to argue the point.

Of the blade Isaiah said, “It’s a pretty simple pattern, one I’ve done in carbon steel quite a bit. A low-layer lazy twist is what I call it.” It consists of only 11 or so alternating layers that he twists three or four times. “That’s pretty much all it is,” he observed. “I love the way it turns out with the bold layer lines and everything. It looks kind of topographical and I always like that.” The darker steel is AEB-L stainless and the lighter parts are 154CM stainless.

He said the convex blade grind works great for food release. He is especially proud of the look and feel of his thin handle design that includes silver fittings done in the lost-wax-casting method. Combined with the 1/8-inch-thick blade, he said it’s, “Thin to win for a kitchen knife.”

A full-time knifemaker based in Madison, Wisconsin, Schroeder makes kitchen knives of all types in the Japanese style including a sujihiki, a long knife made for fine slicing of meats, fish, and precisely cutting through sinew. He also makes a petty knife as well in damascus.

Gyuto Knife Specs
Pattern: Gyuto Japanese chef’s knife
Blade length: 9.44 inches
Blade material: Low-layer lazy twist damascus of AEB-L and 154CM stainless steels
Blade grind: Convex
Handle material: African blackwood
Fittings: Fine silver (2 ozs. worth)
Overall length: 14.44 inches
Maker’s price for a similar knife: $2,000
Knife to know: Isaiah is a full-time knifemaker

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How To Build An Appalachian Spring Helve Hammer

Knifemaking

Jason Fry

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December 18, 2023

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How To Build An Appalachian Spring Helve Hammer

The Appalachian spring helve hammer, including springs, hammer head/tup and more.

Some people find great joy in precision and following rules and plans. For those of you who do, this is probably not your power hammer series. I enjoy the creativity of making a thing from scratch. It’s not the precision that turns my crank, it’s that eureka moment of, “It works!”

In this installment I’ll talk through the process of building a junkyard hammer in the Appalachian style. Junkyard refers to the DIY-type build made with what you can find. Appalachian refers to a common design that uses a spring helve. The most popular earlier Appalachian hammer designs were called the “Rusty” and the “Dusty.”

Rocker-Arm Springs

I used a set of leaf springs for my rocker arm. The arm is also called a helve. When it comes to selecting your springs, if you have several to choose from, choose a sufficiently stiff set. If you have the choice between sets that are more curved vs. those that are straighter, choose the straighter ones. If you have the choice between sets that are longer or shorter in overall length, either one will work, but you’ll have to consider whichever length you choose as you lay out the distance between the center post, the anvil and the drive wheel. The length of your spring pack coupled with your stroke length will impact the speed at which your hammer will safely run. The spring action and whip action of the spring set during cycling increase head speed at contact, which improves performance.

leaf springs for the rocker arm a power hammer. — The author used a set of leaf springs for the rocker arm of his power hammer. The arm is also called a helve.

Your spring set needs to swivel or rock on top of your center post. I built my hammer with the springs riding on top of the shaft, and the shaft riding in pillow block bearings. Others are built with flange bearings, and others with the shaft above the springs. Any configuration is fine provided you have the clearance you need for the springs to rock back and forth as the hammer operates.

Your spring set will need a swivel on the end where it connects to the pitman arm (the rod that connects the spring arm to the drive wheel). Like the top pivot, there are as many different designs as there are guys building hammers.

The end of the spring set near the hammer head needs to be connected in a way where the arc of the spring travel is converted into direct linear up and down energy. Again, there are multiple ways to accomplish this. I went with a set of rollers on the hammer head, and the spring rides in and out on the rollers as it arcs up and down. I have seen designs with toggle linkage as well.

Hammer Head And Tup

The entire assembly that makes up the hammer head is called the tup. When a smith says he has a 25-pound power hammer, he’s referring to the tup weight. You are looking for a tup weight that is roughly 1/10 of your anvil weight. I built my hammer with a piece of 2-inch-solid-square stock long enough to make a 40-pound tup. For heads that weigh less, you can use a piece of solid stock for the contact area, and tubing or pipe to make up the extra length you need. While a solid anvil is critical to the function of the hammer, the hammer head itself only needs to be solid on the striking end to properly transfer the force.

The DIY spring helve hammer built freestyle by Doug Davis of Lubbock, Texas, is shown in both instances here from the pulley side.

The tup rides up and down in a set of guides. You’re converting an arcing spring movement into a linear up-and-down hammer movement. One consideration is that your guides need to account for lateral movement in all four directions. The simplest way is for the guide to completely enclose the hammer shaft. Contact surfaces between the hammer head and guide should be lubricated, and steel on steel is not advised. Bearing surfaces should be made of UMHW (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) plastic or of bronze. These surfaces benefit from a degree of adjustability to make sure that the hammer head is aligned properly with the anvil.

I used set screws and a UMHW plastic cutting board on my hammer, with lithium grease as well. My hammer runs well with fresh grease and less well without. I grease the hammer shaft at the beginning of every forging session. The vertical position and length of your guides should accommodate the various stroke lengths of your hammer. You don’t want the hammer head hitting the bottom of the guide on the upstroke, nor the spring connector hitting the top of the guide on the downstroke.

Pitman Arm

A stiff arm connects the spring pack to the rotating wheel, converting the rotary action of the flywheel to a straight up-and-down rocking motion. This arm is called a pitman arm. It is adjustable for length, as the dimension will ultimately be changed as you tune your hammer by trial and error, or as you adjust your hammer to accommodate varying thicknesses of stock, or the use of swages, or top and bottom tools. I used a toggle linkage on the top and for the bottom of the arm I used large bolts welded to a piece of plate, which I then bolted to the hub of the tire used for a clutch. This is another area where your available parts and mechanical experience will dictate your design.

Winkler Knives Overcoming Hurricane Helene

Knifemaking

BLADE Staff

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February 10, 2025

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Winkler Knives Overcoming Hurricane Helene

The Tar Heel Hurricane turned lives upside down, but North Carolina knifemaker Winkler Knives has proven resilient.

Hurricane Helene devastated parts of Western North Carolina, East Tennessee and other states this past fall. Among those damaged was the Winkler Knives shop in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Daniel Winkler estimated the monetary loss to his business from $500,000 to $600,000, though the biggest setback was the death of one of the company’s long-time employees, Steve Limbacher.

“He could not handle the stress and his heart just gave out,” Winkler wrote. “Steve is missed every day at Winkler Knives.”

Up to 15 inches of water flowed through the Winkler shop from a creek adjacent to the structure, leaving behind one to 6 inches of mud. The company lost several machines, computers, printers, cabinets and shelves, carts and other daily use tools. Materials for handles, sheaths and other shop supplies were destroyed. Four large garage doors were damaged, as was all the flooring in the office and breakroom. All the office doors were lost.

For cleanup the Winklers bought a track hoe, dump truck and small skid steer, and also numerous hoses, pressure washers, wet vacuums, mops and scrubbers. In all, it took the full staff 2 ½ weeks to clean up the mess.
“However, compared to others in our area, we were just inconvenienced,” Daniel noted.

“Many others were devastated with lost buildings, vehicles and many lives. We are truly blessed.”

To aid those in one of the most severely damaged areas in North Carolina, through its fundraising efforts Winkler Knives presented a check for $13,018.75 to the Mitchelle County Development Foundation. The company also raised money for its own recovery efforts via tent sales of Winkler knives, tomahawks, axes and sheaths at Winkler Knives Actual on Nov. 30 and Dec. 2.

More On Winkler Knives:

Dagger Design: Fundamentals Of Dagger Construction

Travis Fry

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November 14, 2025

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Dagger Design: Fundamentals Of Dagger Construction

From maintaining symmetry to adding fullers, we break down the intricate process of making a dagger design into a physical knife.

A dagger is not a kitchen knife in disguise. It is a purpose-built instrument of thrust and that purpose demands precision at every stage of construction. Small errors that might pass unnoticed in a hunter or utility knife compound on the exacting canvas of the dagger. A centerline that begins drifting by a fraction at the ricasso becomes an off-center tip, an uncentered bevel a blade that twists, the result a thrust off target. The difference between success and failure is geometry, and nowhere does geometry matter more than in the making of a dagger.

The process begins with detailed design and planning. The execution begins with precise layout. The central axis is the spine on which the whole piece will rest, and without it symmetry is impossible—the whole blade will stand or fall on getting this right. There are some tricks that will help ensure success.

Dagger Half Template

The Line That Rules Them All. A cleanly scribed centerline on both edge and flats sets the maker up for successful layout. A centering ruler can be a useful tool to check this.

Once you have determined the blade profile, preferably in some physical form like a drawing, make a template so it can be accurately transferred to steel. Here’s the thing, though: you only need half. A template representing only half of the blade profile will allow you to use it for each edge, ensuring perfect symmetry. Include the tang on your profile, not just the blade.

If you’re careful, your half template can be held on your blade stock aligned on a scribed center line and scribed on each side. If you’re less careful, oversize your blade stock and template so you can drill holes for alignment pins in the end of each that is outside the final profile. Using these holes to align the half template for marking each edge is the most precise way to lay out a symmetrical profile. If the stock is oversized, you’ll grind off the alignment holes when grinding the profile.

Planning Plunge Lines

Once you’ve accurately laid the profile out on the blade stock, take the time to scribe in the planned plunge lines on the blade flats and the edge. Sweeping, curved plunges are more visually appealing and careful layout will help ensure that your vision becomes reality. These lines are not decorative. They are the stops, targets if you will, that prevent the grind from slowly creeping toward the ricasso with each grinding pass.

Grinding the Plunges. Gradual, sweeping plunges are much more appealing to the eye than straight ones. Draw them in and grind to the drawing. This is more easily done on a wheel than with a flat platen but can be accomplished either way.

When it comes to grinding these sweeping plunges, hollow grinding on a wheel is easier than flat grinding on a platen—it’s easier to grind a curve with a curve—but by all means use a flat platen if that’s what you have. If you’re already grinding on a wheel, a 1-inch-wide wheel with a 1-inch belt will be an easier path to success than the standard 2-inch wheel and belt.

Sweeping plunges also will result in a thicker edge toward the ricasso. This is fine—you shouldn’t try to sharpen this part as doing so most likely will ruin all your careful design work. Will the unsharpened part of the edge impair the stabbing function? Perhaps, but only a little. Though it pains a serious knife person to admit it, most handmade modern daggers are for show. In most societies stabbing others is frowned on, and if you’re going to all this effort, choosing to focus on aesthetics is a good bet. However, if your dagger will be deployed in combat, ignore the aesthetics, grind sharper plunges and take the edge all the way to the ricasso.

Dagger Grinding And Stock Removal

Grinding and stock removal are the way to go for daggers. This is admittedly a hot take but in a game where winning is determined by symmetry, forging introduces unnecessary variables and distorts the base stock, making accurate layout more complicated—not impossible, just not as easy. There is little to gain by forging unless the steel itself or the situation requires it, or if you simply like doing it that way. If you want a damascus pattern to taper toward the tip, or if you’re making a dagger for American Bladesmith Society testing, by all means forge. It’s an impressive skill set. If you want to make the best dagger possible with an eye toward efficiency, and thereby your profit margins, grind it. Stock removal is the more predictable path, and predictability is the soul of symmetry. Every forged blade is a stock removal blade before it’s completed; don’t get hung up on this unless you have reason to.

Delicacy Of The Dagger Tip

Forged for Continuity. An intricately patterned damascus dagger by Gregory Verizhnikov shows why sometimes forging is worth it—forging through the tip preserves the pattern’s flow.

Where the mass of the ricasso anchors the entire weapon and provides strength at the critical juncture of guard and tang, the tip, by contrast, demands delicacy. Once your profile is carefully ground to shape and you turn to grinding the bevels, grind the tip first. More specifically, grind it at a steeper angle than you plan for the main bevels, and try not to cross the centerline even at that obtuse degree, except at the very end. After that, leave it alone.

Grind the main bevels like you normally would, paying perhaps more attention than usual to your scribed lines, and try to avoid that last inch toward the tip until everything else is pretty much done. This seems a bit odd at first, but consider that the final inch must maintain its thickness in order to be strong enough to pierce effectively without deformation or fracture. If you do it right, you’ll end up with a bevel at the transition. Some makers polish the transition so it remains crisp, while others blend it smooth while polishing. Either way, it should be deliberate. Neglect this and the point will be too thin.

When To Add Fullers

Lay Out Everything. Scribe curved plunge lines on the flats and edge mark exactly where each bevel begins and ends.

Fullers, if they are to be included, should be cut early while the blank still has parallel flats. Attempting them later invites misalignment, or at the least inserts a potentially unnecessary level of difficulty. Better machinists than this writer/dagger enthusiast will likely have little difficulty either way, but life has enough complications of its own without inviting them into play.

Dagger Balance

Balance matters as much as steel. A well-made dagger should balance at or just ahead of the guard, a neutral point where the hand feels neither burdened nor abandoned. This can be tested with nothing more elaborate than a rod beneath the mostly assembled knife, shifting it until it rests level. It’s really just as easy to adjust weight distribution by feel, removing or adding weight to the component parts until it feels right. Don’t forget to consider the added weight of your epoxy. When balance is right, the blade becomes an extension of the wrist, alive and responsive.

Tang & Spacers

How Not to Do It. This dagger blade poorly ground by the author clearly demonstrates that the easy way out usually leads back in. Off-center bevels and an off-center tip are predictable results of poor initial layout.

Even the tang deserves forethought. When profiling the blade blank, leaving the tang longer than necessary provides room for correction and fitting, and a threaded end can serve as both a work-holding aid during construction and a permanent anchor if a pommel or nut will close the assembly.

Spacers, fitted between guard and handle and again between handle and pommel, make alignment easier and allow pins to register each component precisely during glue-up. They’re also relatively easy targets for weight adjustment when working on overall balance. These details are seldom glamorous but are what let the final assembly come together without struggle.

Embellishments

What results from this attention is not decoration but readiness. The embellishments will come later… the fluted handles and twisted wires and all the flourishes that mark the master’s hand. But none of that matters if the design is poor, the execution haphazard, the details unconsidered.

More On Daggers:

Dagger Design: The Geometry of Penetration

Dagger Design: Point For Perfecting Blade Performance

Best Daggers: Top Options That Get To The Point [Tested]

Best Push Dagger: Background And Buyer’s Guide (2024)

Knifemaking