We got snowed in with a dusting of snow and I thought I'd share the tools in a blade smiths shop.  Certainly, this isn't every tool and they can vary from shop to shop with what the smith needs to make their style of knife.

The king of the shop is the Anvil.  The most common style, and the one most think of when they hear "anvil" is the London Pattern which began in the late 1700's, sometimes those early ones are referred to as a "colonial".  By the mid 1800's the London Pattern anvil…

Many years ago when I first got into knife making one of the first books I got mentioned forging crane cable into a blade.  I found that fascinated and wanted to try it.  At that time there wasn't a lot of information on the subject.  Here are some things I learned.

Steel rope, or as I like to call it "crane cable" can be divided into 2 steel families.  The first is stainless, these cables are either 200 or 300 grade austenitic stainless.  This isn't a grade that is suitable for…