I have fallen in love with knifemaking for several reasons. Like many other crafts it bonds historical tradition with artistic feeling and scientific approach together. It requires a great deal of patience, a feeling for detail and at the same time the maker is forced never to rest when searching for new and deeper knowledge. You constantly need to learn new practices and work methods, withstand and overcome initial failures and then rejoice from the fruit of your labour. And yes, this work can be quite physically demanding at times. It is due to this complexity and connection of many different crafts (bladesmithing, locksmithing, grinding, carpentry, leather works..) that I never become bored on this journey which I have set upon. There is always something to learn, explore and perfect.
The knives which I create pass solely through my hands and I am accountable for their manufacturing from A to Z. I forge, grind and heat treat my blades, I create the handles and assemble the knives aswell as sew the sheaths. The only exception is heat treatment of modern stainless steels which I leave over to expert hardenning companies.

Blades

I use traditional carbon steels for the manufacturing of blades aswell as modern-day materials like powder metallurgy stainless steels.

I use different kinds of carbon steels like spring steels, tools steels and high legure steels. The choice is often dependant on the type of knife, its purpose and the expectance of desired metallurgical „effects“.
I have become very fond of the differential hardening technique which allows the achievement of great mechanical characteristics and creates the unique „hamon“ line as a side-effect. This method is known to public mostly in connection with the creation of traditional Japanese swords, during which the blade is covered in a special clay before water quenching and during the hardenning process it defines a line between the the hard edge and softer sides and spine of the blade. This border line, often visually intriguing, can be accented by a combination of etching and polishing.

Examples of carbon steels which I use – 54SiCr6 („spring steel“), EZH (Czech counterpart for W1), O2, ČSN 19418, 19255 (high carbon tool steel), D2 (K110).. All of these steels are not corosion resistant so knives made from these steels require a certain amount of proper maintainance.

A specific branch of bladesmithing is the making of pattern-welded steel or „damascus“ steel. During this process, two or more kinds of steel are forgewelded into layers, then folded over and over again and so greatly multiplied. Similairly like with the hamon differential hardenning this method traditionally refined the blades mechanical properties while adding an esthetic bonus. Damascus steel creates beautifull visual patterns which can be shown with a combination of polishing and etching. Some can be very wild and chaotic (resembling the structure of wood) while others, which are usually much harder to achieve, can form ingenious geometrical patterns. Eventhough I do not consider myself to be any sort of damascus master this technology truly intrigues me and I regard it highly as a flag-ship of traditional bladesmithing.

When creating damascus steel I usually combine O2 carbon tool steel with K600 high nickel tool steel or similair 80NiCr11.

Recently I became fond of creating blades from stainless steels, mostly products of modern powder metallurgy. The heat treatement of such steels is however very difficult so I send my blades to specialised workshops for vacuum hardening. Besides having outstanding mechanical properties like traditional carbon steels modern PM stainless steels have a big advantage in corosion resistance. Eventhough stainless steels do not offer such visually atractive effects like hamon on carbon steels you can still choose from a number of different surface finishes (polished, etched, sanded, stonewashed..)

The number one stainless steel which I use is the PM premium Elmax steel. I also offer the Bohler N690 steel as a more economic alternative.

Handles and components

I mostly use traditional materials for knife handles and components like steel, non-ferrous metals, wood (domestic and exotic), horns, bones, stones and leather. However I do not oppose using modern synthetic materials and stabilised woods. Stabilised wood is permeated with a hardening resin which makes the wood more mechanicaly resistant, stable, water resistant and often enhances its visual properties. I also use premium exclusive materials time from time like semi-precious stones, minerals and staibilised mamoth molar.

Sheaths

Each knife comes with its unique fitted sheath. The sheaths are made from high-quality cow hide and sometimes feature inlays from exotic skins and hides (ostrich, snake, lizard..) or wood. The price of the knife always includes the sheath.

All of my knives, wether they seem fancy or not, are manufactured to be fully functional and resistant within the boundaries of normal handling and work. I do not create any „display only“ knives. If the customer wishes I am able to design and create very resistant and robust knives intended for extreme heavy-duty work. More in the section Orders.