The Yeti\’s Cyber Smithy

I am packed and ready for the Viking Festival. Some of the proudest pieces I have this year are 6 little pattern welded bodice / sock knives. Pattern welded steel is what most people are referring to when they use the word Damascus. After a quick acid etch, a pattern is visible in the steel formed by the way the acid acted differently against the different metals fused by forging, folding, and twisting. These little knives have over 100 layers made up of 1050 medium carbon steel, 5160 high carbon spring steel, and a nickel alloy. To folk who know what pattern welded steel is, they are beautiful. To folk who do not, well they are kind of pretty but not very shinny.

The lowest I can imagine going on them is $95.00 a piece. They are just twisties. The full tang is exposed, no wrap, just some artistic twists and bends. In a standard 1050 homogenous steel, with sheath I sell much the same for about $35.00.

Here is the thing. The $35.00 variety is rough. Why? Well because they are $35.00. Spending the time to put a proper polish on them would increase their cost. On the pattern-welded pieces, I took that time; removing each hammer or grind mark. But while the $35.00 knives always sell very well, they are kind of embarrassing.

I look at the websites of most knife makers and they don’t offer a thing for under $200.00. While I have made and sold knives of such detail and value, they are by far the minority of my body of work. I have to sell these things in a market that is plagued by imports. So plagued that I sell the things myself, if you cant beat em… join them. The difference being when I sell a knife or sword for costuming purposes, I am clear to tell the customer that what they are buying is a costume piece.

Even most of the Indian imports are well below what I would say are fighting standards. Museum Replica’s and Windless produce a fine product for the money, but their over all design tends to be on the flimsy side even if they do use quality steel. For a few more coins, there is a company called Cold Steel which has some fantastic products but even they have found it necessary to start selling some lower cost alternatives to their high end products.

So what is a man to do? I have come up with a solution. I am going to start putting my name on the pieces I am proud of and put a company name on the ones that I knock out for tourists, the ones which are still very, very functional but not the nicest things in the world to look at.

What is the name of that company? Bad Attitude Blades