Here is a recently completed collaboration between myself and a good friend David of Cedarlore Forge. He rough forged the pattern welded blade, and I finished it out with a copper, moose antler, and walnut handle.
Posts Tagged ‘hand forged’
Collaboration
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, blacksmithing, bladesmith, cedarlore, for sale, hand forged, hand made, handmade, knife, pattern welded on February 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »
A year’s work
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, bladesmith, hand forged, handforged, handmade, knife, knives, pattern welded, sax, seax, Viking on February 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »
It’s been a little over a year since I’ve updated this site. I have not been idle though. It’s easy to let social media and other online platforms slip away. I won’t be able to update you on all the work I’ve done this past year, but here are some of the highlights.
I’ve made quite a few friction folders, lots of different styles. I enjoy making folders, it’s satisfying to get the action just right. It takes a little experience to know what works and what doesn’t with these little guys, and if feels like I’m getting the hang of it.
I’ve also made quite a few of my standard length sheath knives, here are some of my favorites.
There are lots of other types of knives and tools I’ve made since the last post, but I’ll leave you with one last style, one of my personal favorites. The seax. Here are two very different examples. One pattern welded, and one with a mono-steel blade with an auto-hamon.
Wait, here is one more! This seax is available for purchase! Curly maple, birch bark and copper handle with a 6 bar pattern welded blade. Email me Nrunals@gmail.com for more info.
Mini Cleaver
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bladesmith, cleaver, hand forged, mini cleaver on October 2, 2013| 1 Comment »
I’ve made a number of herb choppers in the past, you could classify them as mini cleavers if you really wanted to, but they were really made for dicing and mincing herbs and vegetables. The same is not true of this little guy, though it is still suited well for herb chopping with it’s 1/4″ spine you can really do some work with this thing. The weight of it really helps cut through bone or tough cuts of meat. The blade is made of 1075 with the same heat treatment as my larger cleavers, the handle is diver salvaged black oak with nickel silver pins. If you’re interested you can purchase it here.
Diver salvaged oak and 1084
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bushcraft, diver salvaged, for sale, hand forged, knife on September 26, 2013| 2 Comments »
I’ve been really busy with custom orders lately, but I thought I’d make time to make a knife that doesn’t already have a buyer. This one is diver salvaged red oak from lake superior, copper, and 1084 high carbon steel. The sheath is vegetable tanned leather with a beeswax coating. Go to my etsy from more info.
Boatmen’s Knife.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, bladesmith, boatmensknife, hand forged, knife, knives, nate runals on August 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I was approached by a customer to make something for his friends 60th birthday. He works on boats, and he wanted me to incorporate that in the theme. The only spec he gave me was that he wanted a 6″ blade. The handle is diver salvaged flame birch from Superior, antler with a very modest bit of scrimshaw, and anchor chain for the bolster. I really like being able to give people something special that will most likely be passed down generation to generation.
New knife, and new materials.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, bladesmith, bushcraft, camping, hand forged, hiking, hunting, knife, knives, ring and dot, Viking on August 6, 2013| 1 Comment »
Here is a little knife I just finished up. It’s got a 1095 blade with a nice distal taper, and it’s pretty much zero ground, which means the edge is nearly sharp before you even hone it.
The handle is some Black Oak that has been sitting on the bottom of Lake Superior for over 100 years. When all the old growth virgin timber was being logged in the upper peninsula of Michigan and Canada there were a lot of logs that were lost to the bottom of that frigid water. Recently there have been people diving down and salvaging those long lost timbers.
In addition to the Oak the handle has a piece of moose antler, with a classic ring and dot motif and a copper bolster.
The sheath is hand stitched vegetable tanned leather, stamped with the ring and dot motif as well. It has a copper reinforcement, leather hanger, and antler button.
This knife is for sale. Please visit my etsy store for more information.
Butcher’s tools used to open a safe.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, bladesmith, butcher, chef, cleavers, destructive testing, hand forged, heat treat, knives on June 28, 2013| 4 Comments »
A while back I was contacted by some professional butchers to make them some cleavers. I make and sell quite a few of these, so there was nothing out of the ordinary with this order. Once they got the cleavers they were very impressed, they said they were able to work more efficiently, and easily. Where previously they would reach for the saw they now could simply keep using the cleaver.
Here is a picture of the cleavers just before I sent them out.
After a long silence, I got this email…
“So, I bring a bit of messed up news. The two cleavers I ordered from you were destroyed when a thief broke into the restaurant and, after his tools didn’t work, used the cleavers to gain entry to the safe. So on one note, our knives are ruined. However, you know that your knives are strong enough to open an industrial safe. At any rate, we’d like to order two more. You can see the csi fingerprint dust on the blades”
I guess the thief used the cleavers to chop at the door for a while, then used them as a pry bar… using a hammer to lodge them between the safe wall and door then using the hammer to hit the handles and wrench it open… he was successful.
My first thought was “Oh crap, the edges failed” Then I made peace with the fact that they weren’t made to open an industrial safe… I like to really test my knives, making sure my heat treat is good by putting them through rough use, even using them to cut mild steel sometimes. But I’ve never taken a fully finished blade and destroyed it, and to be honest I’m very happy with the outcome. These blades could actually be re-ground, and re-handled and still be used. Unfortunately they are property of to police now.
Here are the remade cleavers. They wanted to go with salvaged wood this time, so birds-eye maple, and walnut.
The traveler’s companion
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, bladesmith, bushcraft, camp, camping, fishing, hand forged, handforged, hunting, knife, knives, traveling on May 22, 2013| 2 Comments »
Several seasons ago I was asked by a customer to make an everyday knife for him. He’d be traveling all over the world, and needed something useful and reliable. On his latest visit home he told me that, without realizing it he dropped his knife at the edge of a camp fire over night. When he found it in the morning the handle was burned, but other than that the knife was in fine shape. However, since the handle was smaller it didn’t really fit in the sheath anymore. I made a new sheath for it, and sharpened it up. He wanted to keep the burned handle, and I’m glad he did.
The wood used on this knife was Osage Orange, I chose it because it’s natural oils help it remain stable in changing climates. I never would have guessed that it would hold up so well to being in a campfire!
Notice how the middle pin acted as a heat sink, the area right around it isn’t burned.
This end, with the exposed tang can be used as a bottle opener now!
Here are the new and old sheaths next to each other.
Some simple knives.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, bladesmith, bladesmithing, bushcraft, camping, cooking, fishing, hand forged, hunting, knife making, knives, nate runals, simple knives, small knives on May 10, 2013| 2 Comments »
I’m a big fan of simple, well made things, and knives are no exception. I have the utmost respect for bladesmiths who spend so much time with carvings, scrimshaw, and inlays in their work, but for me at this point in time, that’s just not how I express my idea of a knife to the world.
I’m also a huge fan of small knives, which I think at this point is rather obvious to anyone looking at my work. The old timers say that the better you are with a knife, the smaller your knife generally is. The knife I carry around on a daily basis has a 2 1/2″ blade and a very simple lilac handle. I’m not saying I’m good with a knife, just that my preference is for smaller blades. Now there are plenty of folks who use larger knives and are excellent with them, my point isn’t to say one knife is better than the next… that’s stupid.
So here are some knives I’ve been working on, simple little guys for the most part.
1084, Walnut, and Italian Briar for the bolster.
1084, Peach wood,and copper
1095, Walnut
1095, Lignum Vitae
1084, Lignum Vitae, and brass
Some of these knives are for sale at my etsy shop. Other are already sold.
Knife for a friend
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blacksmith, blade, bladesmith, bushcraft, cow leather, hand forged, handforged, knife, knives, motif, nate runals, ring and dot, Viking on March 25, 2013| 1 Comment »
Here is a small little knife I made for a friend. It is a simple design that isn’t based off of anything other than my own thoughts. It’s intended to be a useful knife that is also nice to look at.
The blade is wrought iron/1084. The handle is beechwood, antler, and brass. The sheath is vegetable tanned cow leather.
Dimensions are:
Blade: 70mm
Handle: 95mm
thickness: 4mm
