Newsletter Archive

We had one more student sign up for this Nov 5~7 class, which leaves room for just one last student. You can view the class details here. Call quickly to secure this spot for the bladesmithing experience of a lifetime! Feel free to call me personally if you have any questions or concerns at 503-816-6556. See what all the fuss is about here on our latest YouTube addition.

An assorted number of Neck Knives, Whitecrane and Outdoor Knives have been posted on our New Products page. Feel free to email us any questions you may have about any of these spectacular creations.

I recently had the opportunity to forge a blade from tamahagane, traditional Japanese raw steel used to make swords. The whole process went smooth as silk, from start to finish, completing the task in under 3.5 hours. See the slide show with captions here.

I'll let Brian tell in his own words of his experience:

Last Friday, July 31st, was a day I will never forget. That was when I met Murray Carter after weeks of emails regarding his offer to work up a custom knife for me. Realizing that he would have to forge-weld Japanese tamahagane steel, originally received from swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara, Mr. Carter grew so excited at the prospect of forging 'jewel steel' that he set to work right away.

After 3½ hours of continuous labor at his forge, which I was fortunate enough to witness close at hand, Murray produced a traditional hunting knife, composed of numerous straight and twisted layers. He was quite proud of the results, held in his hand and sharp enough to shave with -- which he went and did right in front of me! I, too, was happy to be the recipient of such a gem and am writing this testimonial to confirm Murray's considerable strength and artistic genius in the metal arts.

Anyone would be proud to own Carter cutlery -- I know I certainly am. ---Brian S. Connery

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I recently torture-tested a neck knife to the point of failure and destruction.

While this knife held up admirably until it was pushed beyond it's limitations, it is very important to note that a true torture test of a knife is testing it by cutting things for which it was designed for over a long period of time. In this respect, the knives that most often get subjected to this kind of testing are kitchen knives. How do your kitchen knives hold up to regular daily use?

Until our next email news,

Stay Sharp and may God richly bless you!

Carter Cutlery

P.O.Box 307
Vernonia, OR 97064
Carter Cutlery ~ Home
Carter Cutlery Products
phone 503-429-0447
murray@cartercutlery.com

"Sincerely, Pam"

"The knife arrived impeccably sharp. (Shipping and packaging were solid; the whole process was seamless.) What was nice, too -- and unexpected -- was that the knife had been adjusted much for the better: the cast-iron cladding was brought up a bit, and the transition from the blade to its edge was certainly improved.

"Before, the knife had a more-or-less immediate transition from blade to edge; fortunately, you were able to thin the blade down a bit in the area where it approached the edge and so make the blade-to-edge transition much more tapered and refined. This thinned the edge and, in conjunction with the raised line of the cladding, improved the look of the knife, too.

"Overall, I consider the knife improved in terms of profile and finish -- the knife was not just sharper than it was before, but better. Thanks much!"

A satisfied customer
in Chicago