Making Knives in Mexico

We all make stuff other than pipes, so here's a place where "anything goes" as far as showing off some of your projects and other hobbies.
pierredekat

Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been around as much as what I would have liked.

We moved down to Mexico last year, but we are way out in the middle of nowhere, and my only access to the internet had been when we went into town and stopped at one of the many cyber cafes there.

I doubt I spent more than 15 or 20 minutes a week on the internet, just checking emails mostly.

However, we recently discovered a new wireless service linked to the nearest town, scraped together the money for our antennae, and now I'm back online on a regular basis.

Woohoo!

Well, I am still making pipes. In fact, I just shipped two out to a gentleman in France, and I have been sitting on about a half dozen pipes that I am hoping to get up on my website just as soon as I have time to take a few pictures.

But while I was still living up in Houston, I had been playing around making knives, mostly just as a hobby, really.

I had a vague idea of pursuing knifemaking more seriously when we moved down here to Mexico, and I did manage to score a 1-0-9 stoneweight Peter Wright anvil before we left, along with a few sets of tongs and several hammers.

I had really wanted to start forging knives, along with some other stuff, while I was up in Houston, but I didn't really think our neighbors would have supported all that ding-ding-ding going on in our quiet little suburban neighborhood.

Then, not long after we got here, I had been scrounging around at one of our local scrap-metal yards, here in Jerez, and I lucked into a decent farrier's forge with a nifty hand-cranked blower for the price of scrap.

I think I gave around $5 US for it, if I remember correctly. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. If I had gone to this particular scrap yard a few hours later, that antique forge and blower would have been loaded on a truck for Fresnillo, and it would be three body panels on a hatchback right now.

I threw up a lean-to back in the corral area, cobbled together a few other bits and pieces, and R. M. Perkins Forge & Knifeworks was finally born.

So I was in the process of making a set of kitchen knives for Adriana when a retired college professor stopped by, happened to see the knives that I was working on, and quickly commissioned six hunting knives for him and his buddies.

I had barely finished the first two or three when "El Profe" invited me to attend an event at one of the local hunting clubs, and I ended up taking orders for around 10 more knives, just that night.

But it's been like a wildfire. I no more than hand one customer a knife, and the instant he sees it and feels it in his hand, he orders three or four more for his buddies, his wife, his brothers, you name it.

I have people literally stopping me on the street asking me if I'm the guy who makes knives, and can I make one for them, too.

As near as I can figure, I am booked up for the next two years with knife orders. Seriously, I just have this long log of names and contact information, who wants what kind of knife, and so on.

And these aren't cheap. Maybe by US standards they're cheap, but starting at 1,500 pesos for just the knife, no sheath, just the knife, they represent a significant investment for the average Mexican citizen. Who would have guessed there would be such a demand for pricey knives down here, huh?

Now if I can just figure out how to get more of these knives banged-out in a timely fashion, I'll have it made.

Robert

Image

Specs
Blade: hand forged 5160 (from a trustworthy US-made pickup truck leaf spring), double annealed, ground smooth, ground and filed to true-up lines, fully hardened, tempered, soft back drawn, belt and hand sanded to 320-grit, beeswaxed, and shaving sharp
Guard: hand forged/slotted 5160, annealed, ground, fitted, belt and hand sanded to 320-grit and beeswaxed
Handle: deer antler provided by customer
Overall Length: 11.688 inches (296.8 mm)
Blade Length: 7.250 inches (184.2 mm)
Blade Width: 1.500 inches (38.1 mm)
Blade Thickness at Guard: .146 inches (3.7 mm)
Of course: Sold, thank God.
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jogilli
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by jogilli »

Nice knife.. and glad to see you back... I've been checking your website for updates off and on.. now I guess I need to check it a little more often

James
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Alden
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Alden »

Beautiful knife, sounds like an interesting life down there. I wonder how safe you feel in that area? I have friends from Mexico that have been home in the last year or two. Lots of stories of entire villages locking themselves inside before the sun goes down, SUVs prowling the streets all night looking for God knows what. Scary shit, but most of my friends are from Durango and Chihuahua.
I'd love to see some pics of your forge if you have a chance, or some pics of Jerez.
caskwith
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by caskwith »

Judging by those pictures 1,500pesos sounds an absolute bargain, the equivalent price here from a moderately well known maker would be at least twice that if not treble.
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Ocelot55
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Ocelot55 »

Awesome looking knife! Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of you. Stay safe down there!
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Frank
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Frank »

Very nice work there Robert. I have to echo the sentiment, you're doing yourself a disservice by setting your prices so low even if the cost of living down there is much lower. At a bare minimum you should double that starting price.

I hope you're using some sort of face mask when grinding. My lungs are now shot to hell, and I'm convinced it's from breathing steel, abrasive, horn, bone and exotic wood dust from (attempted) knifemaking.
Regards,
Frank.
------------------
Grouch Happens!
People usually get the gods they deserve - Terry Pratchett
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Thanks guys. Yeah, I will definitely take your recommendations that I need to raise my prices as a complement. :D

As far as the "scary shit" is concerned, I can't really speak to that without opening up a huge can of geopolitical worms that will surely end up hacking somebody off, so we just won't go there. Don't need any of this going on -> :filth-n-foul:

:D

But I will say that the closest thing we have to a boogeyman, here where I am, is a mountain lion ... locals call them pumas.

I live in the valley, and it's pretty agricultural, sheep and cattle ranching, mostly, but a lot of people also have fruit orchards and other stuff, as well.

And there are plenty of things that people around here use knives for: cutting rope, clearing brush, digging thorns out of your palms, slaughtering animals, and so on. One way or another, either directly or indirectly, knives help people put food on the table.

And for sportsmen, it's almost the exact same kind of stuff, except that they have to head up into the mountains to put food on the table, so they have this added wrinkle of needing a large knife as their last line of defense against mountain lions.

Attacks are rare, of course, but every once in awhile you hear a story about somebody heading up into the mountains and then nobody ever sees them again. :shock:
Frank wrote:I hope you're using some sort of face mask when grinding. My lungs are now shot to hell, and I'm convinced it's from breathing steel, abrasive, horn, bone and exotic wood dust from (attempted) knifemaking.
Thanks for the advice, Frank. Yeah, I had been trying to get by with paper dust masks, but I sprung for a real respirator a couple months ago, and it really does the trick.
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Edward wrote:I'd love to see some pics of your forge if you have a chance, or some pics of Jerez.
Fresh out of the camera. :D

View from the outside:
Image

Looking over to the left:
Image

Adobe bricks do a great job keeping in the heat:
Image

This is the view over to the right:
Image

And this is a different view, showing a few of the tongs and hammers:
Image

Of course, it's just a start. I have a lot of plans for upgrades, just as soon I get caught up.
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Alden
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Alden »

Awesome, looks exactly like I hoped it would. I'm glad to hear you can still find peace and quiet south of the border, Mexico really is an amazing country.
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Edward wrote:Awesome, looks exactly like I hoped it would. I'm glad to hear you can still find peace and quiet south of the border, Mexico really is an amazing country.
Thanks, Edward. Yeah, life in Mexico has its pluses and minuses, like any place, really. I love the peace and quiet here, but it can be really frustrating trying to get my hands on certain materials and tools that are easy to come by, up in the US. But on the plus side, I have a LOT more time to get things done that I want to do, which is awesome!
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Leus
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Leus »

That's my dream forge! I want to make a katana one day.
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Leus wrote:That's my dream forge! I want to make a katana one day.
Thanks, Leus.

You should go for it.

Yeah, I have started following some of the knifemakers in Latin America on several forums. My Español needs a lot of work, so trying to read it more and attempting to write a little bit has been good practice for me ... with plenty of help from Google Translator, of course. :?

Armas Blancas

Sociedade Brasileira de Cuteleiros on The Knife Network

Cuchillos y Navajas on Mexico Armado

And a few others.

I have been amazed at some of the talent that I have seen. Man, some of these Brazilian guys are really doing some cutting edge stuff, pardon the play on words.

Unfortunately, I am barely learning Spanish, so I cannot even begin to start thinking about Portuguese ... but I would really like to know more about what they are doing and how they are doing it.
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Frank
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Frank »

OK Robert, I tried not to be nosy, but I can't hold back any longer. Why the move to Mexico?

PS: Did you ever complete "The Great Manzanita" experiment?
Regards,
Frank.
------------------
Grouch Happens!
People usually get the gods they deserve - Terry Pratchett
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Frank wrote:OK Robert, I tried not to be nosy, but I can't hold back any longer. Why the move to Mexico?
The official story is: "Adriana inherited some property down here in Mexico, and it looked liked a great opportunity for us, so here we are." I have to say it exactly like that, nothing more, nothing less, or somebody ends up doing one of these -> :filth-n-foul:
Frank wrote:PS: Did you ever complete "The Great Manzanita" experiment?
Sortof. The seasoning process worked pretty well. After about a year, I was able to remove the manzanita blocks from their plastic bags and let them air-dry for awhile longer, without any of the blocks splitting.

So that worked well, and I think the boiling/seasoning process has a lot of possibilities for certain types of woods that you wouldn't want to seal up in paraffin or whatever.

But I hit one snag in that I was working with this guy out in California who was really excited about finding a use for his manzanita. The only trouble was, he wasn't digging up the kind of manzanita that we pipemakers would be interested in, specifically burls.

He was finding plenty of roots, but no root burls.

So I was weighing my options for proceeding with the project, except finding a source for root burls. But the guy I had started off with was so excited about his manzanita -- he even joined the forum here so he could keep up with the project -- I just didn't know how to go about it.

For me, being basically a big wussy, it was easier to set the project on the back burner for awhile than it was to announce that this guy's manzanita wasn't what we were looking for and that I was going to look for other sources, and so on...

Yeah, I know, I'm a big wussy. :(
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Just finished this one up the other day for a guy here locally.

Image

Specs
Handle: Mule Deer antler
Furniture: bronze
Blade: hand forged 5160 (from a trustworthy US-made pickup truck leaf spring), double annealed, ground smooth, ground and filed to true-up lines, fully hardened, tempered, soft back drawn, belt and hand sanded to 320-grit, beeswaxed, and shaving sharp
Overall Length: 12.5 inches (317.5 mm)
Blade Length: 7.25 inches (184.2 mm)
Blade Width: 1.6 inches (40.6 mm)
Blade Thickness: .150 inches (3.8 mm)
Price: Sold, thank God.

Thanks for looking.
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Growley
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Growley »

What a beautiful knife. The handle's light curve makes me think it would be very comfortable in ones right hand. Congratulations on getting it sold.

Man, I wish I knew how to make a knife sharp enough to shave with. I've had a knives since I was eight years old, learned how to sharpen them on an old school wet stone and everything, but I guess I just don't know enough about it.
pierredekat

Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by pierredekat »

Growley wrote:What a beautiful knife. The handle's light curve makes me think it would be very comfortable in ones right hand. Congratulations on getting it sold.
Thanks. :D
Growley wrote:Man, I wish I knew how to make a knife sharp enough to shave with. I've had a knives since I was eight years old, learned how to sharpen them on an old school wet stone and everything, but I guess I just don't know enough about it.
Yeah, I tried to sharpen the first knife I made from carbon steel using a Carborundum whetstone, and I dulled the whetstone. Yes, dulled the whetstone. Then I took out a second Carborundum whetstone, and I quickly ruined it too. :!:

As it turns out, there's a big difference between carbon steel hardened and tempered to somewhere around 60-62 HRC and department store stainless.

So I figured it would be a lot more economical to throw away sandpaper than it was to throw away whetstones, and that's all I've used ever since.

Basically, I do a stropping deal with 220 and then 320 grit sandpaper, and the blades will shave the hair right off your arm.
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taharris
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by taharris »

That's a beauty!

Todd
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billiard
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by billiard »

That is a really knice looking knife, well done.
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Frank
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Re: Making Knives in Mexico

Post by Frank »

Nice! Looking really good Robert. :thumbsup:

Just out of curiosity, what are you using to shape and grind your blades?
Regards,
Frank.
------------------
Grouch Happens!
People usually get the gods they deserve - Terry Pratchett
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