We come to the end of the year once again, as I look back on the last year on projects completed and new things learned, I felt the need to share with all of you.

As last year I ask that you all post the work that made you proud last year. It can be your best work or work that you didn't think you would or could do. what ever post it! I'll start us off.

This first piece was a order to match a falchion I had made several years ago, this customer was great, he asked that it themeticly matched the sword but otherwise left the design to me. This blade has a number of first for me, The blade is mosaic multibar something I have only done a few times, it is also one of the first knives that I used geometry and whole number ratios to design. That is something I learned about from Peter johnsson in his wonderful classes on the medieval sword I have applied these ideas to my sword work but this was one of the first knives to use it.

My take on a fairbanks sykes dagger. This was a very challenging project and one that in the end I was most happy with. Being so confined by a design can be oddly freeing you have a set design you must meet but anything with in that design is fare game. It was the first time in years that I had done a stacked leather handle, and the first time I had ever done that with damascus fittings. this was the first hollow ground dagger I had done in damascus, and that to ended up being a larger issue than I had first thought as well. All of that hat caused some added challenges I had to overcome, but I learned something.. oddly this knife even though it is a favorite of mine for the year cost me financially it took a lot more time and materials than I anticipated and as such i ended up losing money on in when I figure in the over head and such. (I miffed the first try at the blade and had to start over) But it isn't always about money and this knife was a good reminder of that. That is one of the reasons that even though I was in the hole on it I paid for a pro pic to be done.

This sword is very different for me, not only is it a more complex hilt than i have been making but also, this is a reproduction of a movie sword , not something I will do all that often. The original was made by Tony Swatton and I knew Tony would have no issue with me doing my take on it. I changed a few of the details and generally made it nicer (better fits and finish) than would be expected of a Movie prop as well as forging a very high performance blade of L6 steel. This sword was a hugely challenging piece for me there, was SO much engraving and file work, something that I am not great at, but I muddled through and came out the other side finishing a sword I can be proud of. there are as always things I wish I could have changed but over all the sword looks and feels great and just getting it finished feels like a win.

This last one is something a little different for me. I started messing about with folders last year, and so far have both enjoyed and hated it.. hateful little things folders..I meen what are this fiddle little numbers I need to pay attention to..thousandths? ten thousandths? I cant just bash it with a hammer? This one is special how ever. fist it is the Nicest one I have manged to produce so far, the action is nice and smooth and the knife has a great feel. This is also the first time I have tried to mill the bolsters in rather than apply then with a weld or solder and that was a bit of a learning experience. but the bigger reason this knife makes my list is the pattern. When I was a kid my grandfather was the one that introduced me to knives, he gave me my first one and showed me how to take care of it. One of the knives he carried was a old two bladed Barlow, after he passed I would sometimes carry that knife, until the back spring on the main blade snapped.I keep that knife and finally I took it apart and used the parts as a pattern for this knife. It is not his knife but it kind of has a bit of that knives soul in it.. this is the first knife i have made in years that I am tempted to keep.

these are my four best of the year. I invite all of you to post yours, and tell the story of why, that is something else I learned this year, the story is as important as the work. Our lives are nothing but stories and in the end all we have are memories of those stories, I think we forget that those stories are what is important, or at least just as important as our work. They are how we live on just as much as the legacy of our families and work it is the stories that are remembered in fact probably even more so.

Enough cheap philosophy lets see some knives!!!

MP