I’m a Bladesmith working out of Oakland concentrating on kitchen cutlery and other home goods. It’s a one-person operation and everything is forged and finished in my shop. I offer a range of knives for all tasks in the kitchen as well as accepting custom orders for special pieces or just if I don’t have what you are looking for. 

Workspace

I work out of a shared space that is part of the O2 Artisans Aggregate in West Oakland on Magnolia Street. O2 is a tight-knit community of artisans and craftspeople of all sorts.    

Production Model

All my pieces are bespoke expressions of my creativity. Whether it’s a hand forged one of a kind chef knife or one of my small-batch stainless steel production knives, they are all finished with a meticulous eye. To keep my prices as low as possible I use processes and techniques that will speed production without compromising quality and beauty.

Tools

Most of my knives start as traditional as can be, from the fire to the anvil. The steel is hammered to shape and ground to a keen edge. The knives then go through a heat treatment process to lock in the hardness and toughness of the steel. 

From there the blades are ground to the final shape and handle materials are selected from my stockpile. The handles are shaped and fit up to each blade before final assembly. 

Materials

I use specialized steel for the blades of my knives. All are tried and true, reliable alloys that I can trust. I use the same steels over and over and very rarely throw in a new steel that I’m unfamiliar with. Different steels have very different properties and characteristics so it’s important to me to use the steels I know, and I know I can rely on. 

For handles I choose wood I can get as locally as possible. We are lucky in California to have such beautiful wood species all around us.