Belt knife with a Vintage age and tooled leather (an early look)

Below is a custom order knife. I just found photos of this as pics were
taken when snow was still on the ground.

This is one of my vintage aged frontier style belt knives from an
original design

The blade is both pattern and patina aged finish about 5 plus inches long.

The spine has been file worked and the handle is aged black walnut.

All the pins are brass.

The sheath was hand stitched and a custom matching ferro rod was
requested.

A quick look at a close up of some tooled leather that will be available soon.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

A custom Nessmuk Knife

This week I am posting a custom neesmuk knife set
I recently completed.

The knife has a beautiful tiger maple handle with
brass pins and the blade has my pattern and patina
aged finish.

For the set a matching ferro rod was made and the
sheath is a dangler that was hand stitched and
made with a loop to hold the ferro rod.

All of my Sheaths are individually hand cut without a template from veg tan leather.

They are hand stitched and antiqued one at a time.

Thank you 

Matt

ML knives

http://www.mlknives.com

A Set of custom knives for a Woodsman

This week I am posting a set of custom knives.

The top knife has a blade just about 4 inches long
and has a nice drop point blade.

The bottom knife is a smaller knife set up for
wearing as a neck knife with a blade about
2 1/2" long.

Both of these knives have a lighter patina aged
finish and file worked spines.

They also both have some really nice aged
old rough cut maple handles.

Both of the sheaths were hand stitched
and antiqued.

If you haven't had a chance to check out 

Edge and Care its available on Amazon as an

E-Book and has been in the top 100 in metal work.

Thank you 

Matt ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com

Vintage style hunting and field knife

Recently completed custom work below.

This is one of my Vintage style hunting and field knives.
The blade on this is about 3 3/4" long that has been patina
aged.

The handle is antiqued elk stag with brass pins.

Sheath was hand stitched with and has an antiqued darker
brown color.

Also something else you may enjoy reading is some of my writing.  You may have
seen some of my knife articles.  But I also invite you to have a look at some of
my short story work.  A link to one below to segment of one.

Wilderness Survival Short Story: 
The Back Country Journey

I want to wish you all and your Family's a great Thanksgiving.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

A Set of Belt Knives

This set was recently completed for a custom order.

All three knives have a blade designs that are early in style
and will handle a good deal of work in the back country.

The blades on these are about 8 inches long with pattern
and patina aging.

The handles are beautiful tiger maple with larger sized
brass pins.

All three knives were also made with beefed up 3/16 " spines.

All three sheath were hand stitched and made to wear high
to be cross drawn.  The sheath's also have custom tooling
on the face.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Straight back Frontier style knife and a set of vintage knives

This week's post will feature recent custom work and a
photo of my vintage work.

First is this nice straight back classic design.  A knife of this
design has has many names attached to it through history.

It's straight back spine and just about 5 inch blade would
be an ideal set up for many uses.

The blade has some forge pattern as well as a medium patina.
Handle is very nice antiqued tiger maple.

Sheath hand stitched and set up high ride style with some
hand tooling and carving on the face.

Next is a group of knives I found looking through some older
photos.  This picture goes back to 2005 so all of the knives
were made about 8 year ago or so.
Thought you would all enjoy seeing this.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Price Frontier Hunter/Skinner with Big Bear tooling

Recent custom work posted below.

This is one of my customized Price Frontier Hunter Skinners
with an antiqued stag handle.  Antiqued steel pins and brass
washers.

If your jumping here from the net and just
finding out about my work here are some more details.

The blade on this knife is just about under 5" and the forward
part of the blade has a tapered swedge clip.

This knife has also been customized with a rear lanyard hole.

The sheath was hand stitched and made to wear high on a belt
and cross drawn.

The lower face of the sheath I hand worked a big bear scene with
tooling and custom carving/line work.

Also posted below is some custom leather tooling I created on a
custom sheath. As all my tooling and leather work everything was
done by hand starting with a sketch on paper, or directly in the leather.
If I can ever get some time to make a video on the techniques I use
for this I will.

Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Set of custom Knives Hudson bay, Kephart and a Nessmuk

Below is a custom order set of knives.

All three were handled with some really nice
Cocobolo.

The Hudson bay is my H2 style, with large brass pins
and a clean finish blade.

The  kephart has an extended handle and clean
finish blade.  Last is the Nessmuk with a pattern aged finish.
A lanyard hole was set on the back end of the kephart.

All three were set up with hand stitched dark brown sheaths
and the kephart sheath has one large loop that goes all the
way around, this style could be worn on either side
of the belt horizontally.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

The 1 Wicked Way to dull a Knife in the kitchen

If you love your knives and you work at keeping
your edge at its finest then you want to keep reading
this.

I will have to also  say  in this post I am NOT
a professional chef in the kitchen, but I do know from
making knives for a living and using knives in many different
ways for years that if you want to dull your blade real quick
the number one edge killer is to use your fine tool improperly.

By this I mean if your cutting meat or vegetables
use a decent cutting board.

I worked with butcher's years ago and I don't
think I ever saw one of them using a Steel
top cutting surface directly with the blades of there
knives.

DO NOT Use glass or marble for a cutting area.
This will dull your fine blade up very quickly.

If you ask my opinion the best thing to use in the kitchen
is a solid wood cutting board.

Wood has been used for years and if you clean it
and oil it properly it should last a very long time.

Thank you
Matt
ML knives
http://www.mlknives.com

What Everybody Ought to Know About Carbon Steel Knives

If you love carbon steel already, or you have followed or own my work
then you just plain love the steel.

To those that are new to my work or the world of carbon steel knives
I decided to re-post some brief info or quick tips on carbon steel.

Especially 1095 high carbon, the steel I use.

Carbon steel fact's or what you should know about it.

Can I use carbon steel cutlery in the kitchen? 

Yes. Carbon steel is sought after for its edge holding capabilities

and ease of re-sharpening.

Not only does it make an excellent knife in the kitchen but this is
a great steel for just about any purpose.

Many a good hunting, survival knife and butcher

blade (just to name a few) has been forged and made from

carbon steel.

For many years carbon steel has been used and has
worked well, and it still remains an outstanding steel.

What kind of oil should I use on my blade or how do I care for it?

Mineral oil.  You can use other oils as well but mineral oil is my number 

one choice.

How do I clean my blades?

Hand washing is what I recommend on any custom knife

I offer.  Never a dish washer. 

Will my high carbon steel blade turn a different color?

Yes.  This is called patina. An array of grays and dark black 

color can build up on your blade and those who know of carbon

steel love this effect.

This also will help protect your blade. A decent post on the subject
of patina.  
Patina, a beautiful thing

A beautiful carbon steel kitchen blade that has served well.
Patina is very nice on this wide blade.

How often do I sharpen my knife? 

Simple, if it starts feeling dull sharpen it.

Many chef's sharpen there knives once a day.
This is a tool and proper edge maintenance

is important.  

I have posted on my blog about sharpening stones, have a book
on the topic and several videos on youtube on sharpening
and knife care.

until next time.

Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Personal Carry Neck knife and completed custom.

Here is a neck knife I have been carrying for awhile now. 
So I have claimed it.  This is the knife I used in one
of my YouTube videos.  This is a handy sized knife for
all sorts of uses.  I have used it for everything from
cutting leather to tomato vines in the garden.  You can
see the blade has developed a nice patina and at 2 inches
in length would work well for trout as well.

The handle is tiger maple at about 3 1/8" long and I tight
stitched some deer skin rawhide on the forward haft.

The neck sheath has some of my free hand tooling on
the face of it,  Trees and mountain scene.

Also from the last post on the blog I showed you a custom knife
that I was working on without the sheath pictures.   Here is
the completed neck sheath posted below.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Inside look at a vintage style bone handle custom knife

This is a custom I have in the works and when done with the
sheath it will be set up as a neck knife.

Before it is done I wanted to show a picture of it. 

This is a knife with a blade about 2 5/8" long and the spine
has been custom hand file worked.

The handle is about 3 3 /8" with antiqued bone and a tight
stitched rawhide wrapped forward haft.  The rawhide is
white tail deer skin.

When the entire piece is completed with the sheath I will
post more pictures.

Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Hunting and trail knife from past work

This is a custom knife from my past work photos.

A nice style for many uses, hunting and trail use,
also nice for food or freshwater fish.

Blade was about 4 1/2" long if I remember right with a light
pattern aged blade.  The spine was file worked.

The handle is tiger maple with steel pins.   Sheath was hand stitched.

You can see by the pic as well,  this is one of the few photos without
my Indian head penny

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com/

Customized Stag Nessmuk Knife

Some recent work from my shop.  This is a customized nessmuk
with a blade that is a bit wider, at about 1 3/4" give or take.
The spine is 3/32" thick and black spacers are behind the
antiqued stag handle.

This custom nessmuk also has steel pins and steel lined rear
lanyard hole.

The sheath as all my sheaths is hand stitched and antiqued
medium brown.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com/

Woods and bush knife custom

Here is some recent custom order work from my shop.  This is
one of my woods and bush knives with an antiqued Hickory
handle.  Steel pins and lanyard.
About sizes on my woods and bush knife are overall
9 1/2" with a blade about 4 9/16" long.
Leather through lanyard hole is hand braided.

Recent pic from a woods journey.

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com/

Custom Camp Butcher Knife

This week I am posting one of my custom order Camp Butcher Knives.

These are very nice stout camp and old school style butcher knives
capable of many cutting and camp chores.

Pictures below show this one with a cleaner 8" blade and aged black
Walnut handle, steel pins over brass washers.  The sheath is darker
brown and hand stitched set up to wear left hand carry.
Spine is 3/16" tang.

You can see this knife as well on my
special order page 3 of my website.

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com/

Deep Belly Spear point Knife

A look at some past work for you to see.  This one was
made awhile back.  You can see from the pictures this has a
very nice wide spear point type blade with hand file work
on the spine.

I believe this one had a beefed up 3/16" spine and
an antiqued white oak handle with 4 steel pins and
lanyard hole.  blade about 5".

This piece also has hand braided leather at the but end
going through the lanyard hole.

As all my sheaths, hand stitched and this one was done
in dark brown.

Went out earlier today and happened to have my camera with me
and saw this longear out by the garden!  Hopefully the beans
are in good shape.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com/

Country Butcher knife..Past Work

Here is a knife from past work.

This was a wide bladed knife at about 2" wide with a patina
aged finish, handle being antiqued hard ash wood with steel pins.
Blade being about 8 inches long.

The knife was fashioned after some of the butcher style
knives that worked and served well for many years in this country
and had a solid tang that drifted back into the handle about more than
half way.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Pocket Knives with a Fixed blade

Back in 2009 I wrote an article for my blog called.  "Pocket Knives don't have to fold"

This is the revised version.  Hope you all enjoy.

When most people now a days think of pocket knife they automatically think of a
folding knife or maybe a lock back folder, one might even thick of the auto knife
or what I call thumb open knives.

If you remember back as a kid your grandfather probably always had a pocket
knife that he carried, usually with a jigged bone handle that didn't lock. 
(the old school jack knife) Those were great knives weren't they? I had one for
a long time when I was a younger and it went with me everywhere.  Many still
carry this style knife.

There are other options for pocket knife carry though.  Small fixed blades such
as the knives shown below can be carried in your pocket, pack, neck knife carry,
shooting bag, or even on your belt and are very handy for all sorts of cutting and
slicing chores.  Besides you will also have the strength of a full tang knife.




Carry knife set up to wear on the belt with a blade about 2 3/4" long
handle of bocote.

Last chance carry knife



Carry game knife with stag handle..blade about 2 3/4"
Sheath set up for belt, but can also be slipped into a pocket
bag, or pack.

A fixed blade knife you can carry with you every where is great.



Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com/

Reasons to keep your knife Sharp. A quick note.

Keeping a decent edge on your knife or maintaining a good sharp
blade is important for many reasons.

One of which is if you generally maintain your knife's edge on a regular
basis on a  water or oil stone the next time you need to use it as a
cutting tool your knife will be ready to perform for you.

All the better a carbon steel knife such as 1095 (the steel I use)
can be touched up very easily.  For example if your hunting in the back
country and you need to use your knife on game even though the steel
I use is very easy to re-sharpen your blade is ready for
action before hand.

Another point to add to the above.  If you keep your knife sharp with
say a medium grit stone the less work you will have to do to bring the
edge back to life.  For example.  If it has been a very long time since
you sharpened your knife and it is very dull the coarser the stone you will
need to start your sharpening process with.  If on the other hand you touch
your edge up once and awhile the easier it is to maintain.

Another good reason for maintaining a good edge.  A dull knife or a knife's
edge that needs a sharpening can become more dangerous that a blade with
a sharp edge.  If your blade is dull and you are exerting more force on the
knife or blade than needed, more chance for an accident with the knife.

Just some thoughts.

Thank you all for reading

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com/