What was your year?
This year was not what any of us expected going into jan 2020.
All our plans changed with the state of the world, as events canceled my travel was curtailed and I spent far more of this year at home and in the shop. I should have been productive, and in once sense I was. I have had a good year, my sales were far better than my fears, I filled my orders on time and managed to keep stock made for the online sales. Even so I worked Far less than normal, but then it was not a normal year.
Best of 2020?
What is your best work of 2020? Show me! Show me what you are most happy to have done in the last year, learning a new technique or working with a new material? what are you milestones this year and why?
For me only a few pieces come to mind.
First is this pair of knives, in mosaic damascus. A local videographer asked to come in the shop and do a mini doc, back in feb, it sounded like fun so i said yes, Evan cam in the shop several times a documented the build on the Koa handled knife, we were slowed by the lockdown so I actually finished the Black handled one first. I used this as an opportunity to play with some new ideas I had for mosaics, over all I am more quite happy with the pattern. The video came out great and he just did a 9 min short version for AWE-me on your tubes well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd08VFqmUmo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oANq5Kz0Cok&t=68s 
This set of knives was made for the Damasteel invitational, in Jan i was pretty excited to go to chicago for the event in May, but by the end of march it was clear it would not happen, so damasteel moved the event online. That was an interesting experience and one of the highlights of my year. It was such a unique event that I wrote an article in Knife magazine about it.
This was my first time working with this material.I have forged other stainless alloys and am familiar with the particularities. I forged all the knives (other than the bread knife that was stock removal ) and did all of the heat treating in-house. Damasteel is an interesting material both like and unlike the damascus we make. Sense it is ba based on powder The lines of the layers are not as crisp as carbon damascus, the contrast is bold and the stainless aspect is impressive, the incredibly fine grain of the material makes it cut far more like a carbon steel than almost any stainless I have ever used, I keep one chef in my kitchen it looks exactly like i made it after 9 months in my kitchen,( no patina!) and I have been extremely impressed with its performance. it is also costly, easily the most expensive steel I have worked with that I didn't make. 
That was my year show me yours!!
MP
Those are all beautiful pieces Matthew. You have been a very busy bee! I am also very happy to hear that the year hasn't caused you too much financial distress and you are holding your ground so to speak. I wish the same for all the full time artisans out there.
I didn't complete a single Damascus blade this year, even though I forged quite a bit of the stuff. I spent my time working on a variety of mono-steel blades and completing a project I started last year. That dagger took me over a year to finish working on it as time allowed. It's one of my favorite pieces that I completed this year.
(more photos in the WIP thread)
Another W2 with hamon blade I did this year was this ironwood handled hiker. I forged this from a chunk I cut off of an ingot that Ray Rybar made. Crazy activity in the steel. Quite a pretty blade.
I'm working on another mono-steel Bowie and documenting the build in another thread. I think it is coming along quite well. Let me know what you think.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
Good afternoon Gentlemen,
I know 2020 was a kick in the butt for most of us, but I hope that the extra time we all got in quarantine was productive for you. For me, I finished my share of projects, started my own company (CihakForge LLC), rebuilt my entire shop and competed on Forged In Fire. It didn't really go as planned, but hey- that's 2020 for you. So here's two of the knives I made that turned out the best, or at least the pictures did? Anyways, I'm hoping that in 2021 I'll finally have time to complete my JS set. Hopefully there will be orders to fill, but not too many.
This one is an 8" OAL Hunter with a file-worked spine, a composite Purpleheart / Black Walnut handle and some white g10 spacers for some contrast. I finished it off with file-worked brass accents along the spine. The knife and sheath are a matched pair, each using the same color scheme. The brown is a thinned out Fiebing's Chocolate Pro Dye, and the red is Fiebing's Oxblood. I stamped the leather on both sides, and lined it with a thin layer of pigskin dyed and stamped to match. All the work was done by me, over the course of a few days during the National quarantine/lockdown.
This next one was a gift from a client to an employee. The blade is V3, with an unsharpened but still dangerous clip. (Don't ask me how I know that...) The Handle is a composite of some insane curly hard Maple, Turquoise Juma and Black Walnut. I'm not really sure what happened to the Walnut to make it Leopard spotted, bugs maybe? But after I cut it up and re-glued it to emphasize the grain, the effect was really stunning in person. The pull cord is made from whitetail antler and matching turquoise ranger beads (not as easy as they look), finished off with a bear's claw from Oswald's Bear Ranch. The bear wasn't that happy I borrowed it, but the customer was. The custom leather sheath was made by me and features a snakeskin inlay, quilted stamping on front and back, stamped leather liner and a pretty cool stamped keeper so the blade stays put. The sheath is angular to match the unique shape of the blade.
Hope you guys enjoy, and have a great new year!
-Evan Cihak
CihakForge LLC
Evan L. Cihak
I make a variety of knives and find various aspects speak loudly from one type to another.
I like the display and complexity of Stainless San-Mai:
to the uniqueness of each and every hamon:
to Frame Handles:
and of course - Damascus:
Every year adds new techniques and better tooling.
The key to knife making...............is tooling.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
2020 has been all about battling health issues for me... and trying to steer clear of covid! After about a decade, Doctors at the University of Washington diagnosed me with Lupus, which has attacked my lungs, causing Interstitial Lung Disease. Now I live with a chronic illness, and the associated chronic pain. Long story short, some days I my body allows me to work, and other times I'm balled up on the couch for days, which makes shop work sporadic. That being said, my offerings are meager this year....
I did manage to create a new series of folders..... My Model 7 Ultralight....
I've also made them in my "Split Personality" version.... Half tactical, and half dress.....
I did manage a few hunters in San-Mai....
And finally, I did bring out the newest member of my EBK family.... the EBK Max. 20% larger then the origonal EBK, with 80CRV2 blades.
Ed Caffrey, ABS MS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
www.CaffreyKnives.net
