Hand-forged Iron Age style hunting knife with crucible steel blade and antique sambar stag handle

Hand-forged Iron Age style hunting knife with Crucible Steel blade and Antique Sambar stag handle

Blade Material: Antique cast/crucible steel
Handle Material: Genuine 150+ year old Sambar stag antler
Blade Length: 100mm
Tang Style: Full hidden tang
Blade Spine Thickness: 3mm
Handle Length: 110mm
Total knife length: 210mm

This knife is a historically accurate Iron Age style hunting knife, based on archaelogical finds from sites around the British Isles and Scandinavia. The blade has been hand-forged to finish from a piece of very old cast/crucible steel from an antique billhook. The tang has been burnt through a piece of genuine sambar stag (reclaimed from a 150+ year old Sheffield carving fork) and then scrolled at the tip to secure it in place. Both ends of the antler have been sealed with a mixture of glue and charcoal dust. The handle has then been sealed and waterproofed with a layer of beeswax & linseed oil from our own apiaries.

This knife comes with a Scandinavian puukko style sheath made from veg-tan cow leather, hand-sewn with artificial sinew, and sealed with beeswax and linseed oil.

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All my knives are forged by hand using traditional bladesmithing methods at Willslock Forge in Staffordshire, England. Each knife has been forged from high carbon steel. I usually use either 1080, 01 or 1095, and sometimes antique historical steels such as crucible steel or shear steel.

I usually forge as close to finish as possible, creating the knife shape and setting the bevels on the anvil. For all of my historical work, my aim is to make my knives with minimal use of power tools, and I take a lot of inspiration from historical knifemaking and smithing techniques.

The handles are all carved by hand and made from locally sourced wood, bone and antler - I avoid using any plastics, resins or synthetic materials.  Wherever I can, I try to repurpose salvaged and upcycled materials in order to create beautiful new knives and tools.  I usually leave a brut de forge, or forge finish, on most of my blades because I like that the hammer marks tell the story of the knife's creation on the anvil, and the forge finish differentiates the knife from all the mass-produced, factory made knives out there.