Forge your own knives or purchase beautiful custom-made cutlery at Iron Grove Tool Company.
DRIPPPING SPRINGS, Texas — I’ve never been in awe of knives, but the blades Daniel Collier makes at Iron Globe Tool Company will amaze you. “Currently, we ship about 1,000 knives a year,” Collier says. Most of his customers are in the restaurant and culinary industries, but more and more members of the public are becoming aware of his work.
“I started making knives to impress my wife,” Collier said. At the time, she was his girlfriend and a chef at a restaurant in Austin. It must have worked, and they’ve been married for 13 years. One day, his wife posted on social media about a Damascus steel knife he had made for her.
The next morning, Collier said she had at least 100 requests for her work. “At that point, I knew I had to either do this full-time or start saying no.” Since then, Collier has said no to what he’s trying to build. Very little said. And his custom-made signature knife is beautiful.
Steak knives cost about $145 each, although some sell for more than $1,100. Iron grove Tool Company also makes nearly every product you can use in your kitchen, including carving knives, fillet knives, butcher knives, pizza cutters, and skillets. But his signature work in Damascus is his artwork.
Perhaps the best thing about Iron Grove Tool Company is that they have classes that teach you how to make your own knives. I’ve never tried to fabricate anything, so I thought it best to keep things simple. We started with 4-inch round carbon steel.
Iron Grove’s propane-fueled forging burns at 2400 degrees, so it didn’t take long to heat the rod to the point of malleability. Then I was given a big hammer and started banging. Over the next few hours, that 4-inch rod began to take shape and actually looked like a knife.
It is a time-consuming process for beginners. You literally only have about a minute to process red-hot steel. It must then be returned to the furnace once it has cooled down sufficiently. After 3 to 5 minutes in the furnace, the steel is hot enough again to continue forming.
When you strike red-hot steel, the steel stretches and becomes thinner and thinner. At this point, the shape of the blade and handle will begin to form. Once you have created the desired shape of the blade, focus on the handle. It’s also up to you. You can create a basic knife handle or as complex as you want.
After a few hours, I was able to shape the knife the way I wanted it. At this point I gave it to a knifesmith and had Collier sharpen and polish it. When Collier finished speaking, he grabbed a piece of paper and cut several pieces of paper from it.
As a hunter, I know I have a functional, sharp knife that I can use in the field. In fact, I’m hoping to use it for field dressing the next animal I’m lucky enough to harvest. If you’d like, I’ll send a photo to Iron Grove and have him display it in his shop.
If you are interested in purchasing Iron Grove Tool Company products or taking a class to make your own knife, click this link to learn more: https://www. irongrovetoolcompany.com/