New article at American Thinker: "The Pursuit of Happiness in the Trump Economy" PLUS: Photos of my knife-making father!

To those of you arriving at my blog today from American Thinker, greetings!  And I have something to show y'all a bit further down.

Yup, my fourth article (so far) for American Thinker is published today.  "The Pursuit of Happiness in the Trump Economy" is some musing about how the biggest payoff from the decreased taxes and rebounding manufacturing is that more Americans are already enjoying more money and just as important more time for leisure activities.  Which can mean their families or their hobbies... or activities toward improving their circumstances.  And that is where the true progress of our culture comes from in great part.

And if you've read it already, you know how much I share about my late father, Robert Knight.  And how he found his true calling as a knifemaker.  Since he's written about so much in the piece, I thought it would be neat to share some photos of him and his handiwork...

Dad in his shop.
Smoking his pipe and contemplating
his next project

The knives Dad made from railroad spikes were his favorite to make.  Also the ones of his most in demand.  He also made knives from horseshoes and industrial ball bearings.  If it was metal, he found a way to make it malleable and given a good sharp edge. And made to look pretty darn elegant, too.

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This guy makes real knives out of ANYTHING (even chocolate and underwear)

It takes something TRULY impressive to make me subscribe to a YouTube channel.  But there's a dude calling himself kiwami japan out of... ummm, Japan I guess, who has earned the ultra-rare golden buzzer.  As the son of an accomplished knife maker I have been totally jaw-dropped by kiwami's work.  Because he is demonstrating that real and extremely sharp and perfectly usable blades can be made from practically anything.

So far kiwami has made knives from an Amazon cardboard box (seen in photo), from chocolate candy, from epoxy, from rice, from ice (bet you'll never watch Game of Thrones the same again), from Jello, and now in his latest video kiwami japan has made a deadly blade out of men's underwear.  kiwami japan is working with so many unorthodox mediums that your mind will barely stop reeling and your mouth might never stop watering.  With a minimum of tools (many might already be in your own kitchen or garage) you can follow his tutorials and make your own blades.  The one that is currently interesting me most toward attempting is the carbon fiber knife.  It seems the more practical, long-lasting and durable of the series so far.  Well, that and also because I suck at cooking anything in the kitchen.  It's also the one that I most easily envision Dad taking a stab at (pun horribly intended) in his knife shop.  And kiwami japan's YouTube channel is one I've no doubt Dad would be checking out every day... and he hated computers entirely.

Since I mentioned Dad and his own handiwork, I'm obliged to post some of what he made in his time on this earth.  Incidentally, he learned the art of making Damascus steel from Bill Moran himself.  He was the one who back in the Seventies rediscovered how to forge Damascus for the first time in several centuries.  Anyhoo...

Yup, Dad even made knives out of horseshoes and railroad spikes.  How many he made, I've no idea.  He would make knives for friends just for the heck of it without telling them, just to see the look on their faces when he gave it to them.  All of those you see in the pics above were for sale or commissioned works.  If you see "R KNIGHT" or "ROBERT KNIGHT" stamped on one, it's likely a knife he made.  I've got one in my possession...

...and no, you can't buy it.  Not for all the money in the world.

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Marshmallow from Hell

Here are some photos that I took in Dad's knife shop from this past weekend.

This first one is of a roller bearing welded to a piece of rebar, heating up in Dad's propane-powered forge. At around 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, you can understand why I dubbed this the "Marshmallow from Hell"...

Another shot of the forge. Dad is on the left and Eric Smith is on the right...

The next couple of pics are of a wood splitter that Dad built years ago, which was later converted into a machine used to press and bend the red-hot steel. It's particularly useful when working with Damascus (multi-layered) steel...

In this photo Dad is using a pneumatic-powered hammer (which he also designed and constructed) to "draw out" the steel into the more general shape of a blade...

Eric Smith holds the "finished" blade blank, after it had cooled-off enough to touch. In his left hand he holds two of the bearings, such as the one that was just forged into shape...

And even though it still has a lot of work ahead of it, here is Dad's current project: a Bowie knife with sheep-horn handle...

I'm looking at posting some video on YouTube in the near future of Dad practicing his art. 'Twould be neat to document how he takes a piece of steel from start to finish.

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Dad's latest hand-crafted knives

Dad asked me to take photos of a number of knives that he's made in his shop recently, for an upcoming publication. I thought it would be neat to post some of them here also.

Two of the Damascus steel blades that he's finished. Dad learned the art of forging Damascus from Bill Moran, the man who more than thirty years ago re-discovered the centuries-old secret of making layered steel. Dad's Moran-inspired technique usually means that there are around three hundred layers of steel in an individual blade, all folded and hammered into each other. He also made the leather sheaths...

Bowie knife that was made special-order for a customer (whose name is engraved on the blade, which I have blurred-out of the photo)...

Probably his favorite kind to make: the entire knife is crafted from a single railroad spike. Also pictured is a knife forged from a horseshoe...

The Bowie is already spoken for, but if you see anything there that you'd be interested in purchasing, write me at theknightshift@gmail.com and let me know.

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