I start by taking a damascus billet and hot cutting off a small section. This is where I estimate how much steel is needed. I take a S.W.A.G. which means Scientific Wild Ass Guess.

The larger the piece you cut off, the larger the final product.

I use my 50lb. Little Giant hammer to shape the cutoff piece of steel into a flat bar. This will make hand forging it to shape much easier, with less re-heats.

I first start by hand forging one end of the bar into the point of the knife blade.

Next I start to forge the bevels of the blade, while always paying attention to maintain the shape of the blade.

I constantly maintain the height of the blade so it doesn't get too wide.

After the bevels and point of the blade are satisfactory, I then concentrate on tapering the tang. This will make final grinding much easier.

Once the forging is completed, the blade blank undergoes a few processes that guarantee the quality and strength of the steel.

One process is called "Thermo-cycling". This involves dipping the orange hot blade into a tank of quenching oil which reduces the grain size. Fine grain practices are essential for high performance knives.