Cool Custom: Matt Aaron’s Blacksmith’s Automatic Folder

With a hybrid lock system and a unique aesthetic, Aaron’s Blacksmith Automatic Folder cuts a distinctive profile.

Matt Aaron got the idea for his Blacksmith’s Automatic Folder when he took a friction folder class taught by ABS master smith Nick Rossi.

Matt’s original intent was how to get a more complicated knife with a similar number of parts as a friction folder. He mulled it over with Rossi and others for two or three years and, inspired by Nick and his taco-style friction folder construction approach, arrived at the Blacksmith’s Auto.

The lock is a hybridization of a lockback auto mixed with a little bit of bolster release auto and some of Matt’s own design. The brass lever operates the opening, closing and locking mechanism. The knob at the pivot is not a push button but simply the pivot.

Matt forged, folded and cut the lock spring and launch spring out of the initial single, eighth-inch flat piece of mild steel that served as the base for the Rossi taco construction style. The latest batch Aaron’s doing is commercially pure titanium.

Blacksmith’s Automatic Folder Specs
Maker: Matt Aaron
Blade length: 3”
Blade material: 52100 carbon steel
Handle: Forged mild steel w/brass lever
Pocket clip: Tapered scroll in a blacksmithing ironwork style
Closed length: 4”
Maker’s price for a similar knife: $500

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