Oregon Knife Maker Tries To Stay Keen And Keep Sharpening His Craftsmanship

BROADBENT, Ore. - Glowing bright red and almost too hot to look at, the metal comes out of the forge. Gary Little places it on an anvil. He shapes it with a hammer.

A shape emerges - a curve, then an edge. It's a knife.

But no ordinary knife. For those who appreciate craftsmanship, the shining blades from Little's tiny Conklin Meadows Forge are works of art.

"I like to do an art piece now and then," Little says with a wry smile as he walks over to where he keeps his knives.

Little removes the first knife from a soft leather-bound, velvet-lined case, and then another. He lines them up on velvet. Their blades take on life as the light strikes the fine handmade Damascus steel. The patterns in the steel move as eye and light catch first one layer and then the next. In some places, the steel has swirls. Farther down the blade toward the edge, there are lines, one over the next.

Picking up the knife, one finds the blade sharp enough to shave an arm.

"It's an aggressive edge. They're not for carving wood, but more aggressive cutting," Little said, the pride in his work coming forward as a gleam in his blue eyes.

It's a craft handed down from Little's grandfather, to his father, and then to him.

"It's something that I started as a kid. I've been at it ever since," says Little, now 56. Little shapes his steel in the forge he made himself. When the metal comes out of the forge, it's nearly white-hot. He places it in a trip hammer, a mechanical hammer that can strike about 100 blows per minute. When the hammer strikes the first blow, the metal begins to decarbonize. A shower of sparks erupts from what will become a Damascus steel blade.

Damascus steel is made by folding the steel over upon itself. Through a technique known as hammer-wielding, Little forms the layers. Japanese samurai swords, legendary for their ability to hold an edge, are made in this manner.

"You have to have a good knowledge of steel and heat treating," Little says.

He shapes the blades, working the metal into hard and tough layers that will become someone's custom knife, and hopefully, a family heirloom. The blade goes from the trip hammer to a grinder and is finally heat-treated before Little polishes it.

Next, Little selects handles and files the blade to complete the tang with fine designs. He chooses handles from many different and exotic woods and other materials. Some of Little's knives are fitted with Brazilian snake wood, African iron wood or ancient mastodon ivory. He also uses wood native to the United States, such as myrtle and western maple. But it is the steel that Little loves most.

"A lot of people these days like stainless steel because it's easy to take care of. But if a man has one of my Damascus steel knives and takes the same care with it he would his rifle, it will last his lifetime, and he will have something to give to a son," Little says.

Little picks up a knife made from a piece of cable. The layering of the steel has parallel lines through it.

"You can use about any steel to make a blade. This one's pretty tough, it would be hard to make a blade like this out of anything other than cable," he says. "I work in most types of steel. I like good high carbon steel, but I'll work in stainless if somebody requests it."

He packages his knives in custom leather sheaths, hand-tooled and stitched by his wife, Ginny.

Little named Conklin Meadows Forge after his childhood home in Northeast Washington.

"The home place was known as Conklin Meadows. The place here reminds me of it when I go out and see the meadows," he said.