The Forged, Punched and Drifted Integral Handle
Taking the integral handle to another level, Benjamin Kamon really is proving his skill as a blacksmith to us with this one. Its work like this that goes to show that Ben is not only a bladesmith, truly a master blacksmith. Capable of working steel into complex shapes with forge and hammer.
To produce such a blade takes extreme patience as the blacksmith must first punch a hole into the metal in the position that will eventually become the handle.
The bladesmith must then gradually drift the metal, heat by heat, hammer stroke by hammer stroke, into the final handle shape, while taking care not to fold or bend the metal unnecessarily at all. Any unnecessary bends or folds will result in unclean or uneven surfaces. It is for this reason that this blade is so impressive. To have such a clean finish Benjamin had to forge out the handle flawlessly.
Once the handle is complete the blade can then be forged as per normal, naturally this is still not an easy task especially with Benjamin’s profiles. sufficient material must be moved backwards in the direction of what will become the choil at the same time as moving material towards the tip of the knife. This is a challenging process of many bladesmiths.
The Walkschliff Grind
Historically developed in Soligen Germany and sometimes referred to as a kessel bulge grind or kettle bulge grind. The walkschliff grind was developed for the most premium of German knives. Skill in this grinding technique requires a high degree of specialist knowledge and many years of experience as a grinder.
The Walkschliff grind is characterised by the thickest part of the blade being situated bellow the spine. So, the spine is thinner than the overall blade.This shape provides a high level of stability, and at the same time produces an extremely thin and finely ground cutting edge.Traditionally the bulge is convex, but it could be, theoretically, done with a flat grind etc. In the case of this Kamon knife, it is convex.
