i'm Erik.

I am an explorer at heart. I also love the challenge of creating extremely high performance culinary tools whilst indeed exploring the story that can be told with their purposeful design. Performance and ergonomics are foundational to my work, but very little else is sacred. I worked as a musician and composer for many years before turning my long-time hobby of bladesmithing into a full time pursuit. I have an MA in composition and am also a lover and player of jazz. This is very much relevant to me, and ever-present in the way I approaches the technical and creative marriage required in bladesmithing. I appreciate the silence in a design, the space created by simple elements, and the contrast created by a loud and bold section of a forged texture transitioning seamlessly into a silky polished bevel. All of these elements must work in harmony and create a cohesive look and feel. This is truly the way I see the process of creating a culinary tool from start to finish. It is a purposeful dance flowing between creative story-telling and peak performance, and ultimately, a tool that inspires the hand that guides it.

the chat and 'two words'

To begin the "off menu" design process, I like to have a video or voice chat if possible. This allows me to do my absolute best to understand where you're coming from personally, how you use your knives, and what kind of aesthetic vibe you're after. Depending on your knowledge, I can work with your specific spec/steel requirements or talk you through a number of options. I have experience forging a number of the best carbon steels available, and can also forge stainless and premium/mosaic damascus. I am an avid collector of high-end handle materials and always have some interesting offerings in stock to compliment projects from minimalist to otherwordly.

Once we align our goals for the technical aspects, I ask for two words that you'd like to embody your design. Think of this as the soul of the knife... the origin story. Every part of the design process is inspired by this spark, so your gut instinct is usually a great teacher. The words I've gotten have been so varied and it is one my favorite parts of the craft to dive into an intentional aesthetic construction process to tastefully hit your brief.

the making

Once your time in the books comes, we fire up the forge on your project! If interested, I can send in-progress media of the knife making process directly to you. I really enjoy this as I think it gives you more insight into all the little details that I notice and work on. Every knife follows these general steps:

forging/grind refinement to shape
maker's marking
Evenheat kiln thermal cycling tweaked for each steel combination
normalizing
grain refinement(where applicable) and stress relieving heat cycles
pre-heat treat anneal(or softening) to ensure the steel is in the most ideal state for hardening
cold forging / straightening tweaks while soft
Hardening in oil/water/between large aluminium plates. Depending on your steel the temperature can range from high 700s C to 1100 C
immediate cold treatment (where applicable) and tempering cycles to dial back some of the hardness for a tougher steel
grinding of any remaining bevels including thinning behind the edge and straightening the edge on whetstones by hand
any hand-sanding/polishing required on the blade
any etching cycles required
handle preparation and pre-finishing of bolsters
handle glue-up
handle truing and shaping
hand-sanding of all facets of the handle to an even finish
final buffing required of handle or blade

After I've got a finished tool, I will sharpen it by hand with tradtional methods on a whetstones, finishing on a fine leather strop w/diamond paste for absolute sharpness and consistency.