This is the biggest project I have ever worked on, spending many, many hours to write the comprehensive tale about steel and knives. If you have ever wanted to learn more about the inner workings of the knife industry, this book is for you. Wherever possible I used firsthand accounts from metallurgists and knifemakers to explain why they innovated and how. I will give links to buy so they aren’t lost on the page and then I will explain more:
Worldwide
PDF: https://payhip.com/b/p5l8N
United States
Hardcover: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4MRFFCN
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4MM5LPL
If you don’t see your country below I recommend the PDF.
United Kingdom: Paperback, Hardcover
Netherlands: Paperback, Hardcover
Advertising Copy
“This book is truly an incredible feat. No other work I’ve run across is this ambitious or expansive. The drama of the personalities of different knifemakers will draw everyone in. The cumulative history is what makes it unique, and in my opinion, groundbreaking. There’s a good mix of it all, and it follows a clean path through the timeline.”
-Knifemaker Matthew Gregory
The development of different forge welding and Damascus patterning techniques from the 1970s to today.
How did we get exciting new steels in knives like 440C, 154CM, S30V, and MagnaCut?
How did custom knifemaking become such a huge market?
Where did the “forged vs stock removal” debate come from?
How did factory knives evolve from simple, standard pocket knives to boundary-pushing designs and materials?
Hundreds of images, including vintage ads and photos of knives. The book becomes increasingly more colorful as more of the ads and knives are available in color.
My Thoughts
This book allowed me to join the two groups together that led to two of my passions: knife steel and knives. Often these are somewhat divided groups, knifemakers and knife companies, and metallurgists. But interweaving their histories has been enlightening and what I particularly enjoyed was finding the times when knifemakers and metallurgists converged. In fact, the very first experiments on steel alloying came from a scientist (Michael Faraday) and a knifemaker (James Stodart) were analyzing and trying to recreate Wootz, the legendary sword steel. Stainless steel was first used for table knives, and the inventor of stainless steel, Harry Brearley, said that the steel was successful in part due to Ernest Stuart of E.F. Mosley cutlery. The popular knife steel CPM-S30V came from Crucible metallurgists led by Dick Barber working directly with knifemaker Chris Reeve. And there are more!
The research for this book was on a level beyond what I have done before. Even the tool steel history elements of the book have never been researched before. In some cases little pieces were available in scattered articles, when I even knew what to look for. If only there was a sizable group of people that wanted to know the history of tool steel and stainless tool steels because this is the first time it’s ever been researched and recorded in any full way. The knife history parts were daunting to me. What do I have to say about Loveless and Moran that hasn’t already been said a thousand times? I almost didn’t write this book until I was able to get over this mental hurdle. Yes, Loveless and Moran were instrumental to the modern knife world. But there are and were many other significant figures that many have forgotten. This includes custom knifemakers, metallurgists who developed knife steels, and founders of production knife companies. I would recommend my book to anyone who is overwhelmed trying to learn about the history of custom knives and high-end production knives. In the past it has been difficult to learn about outside of individual magazine articles and books on specific knifemakers; this book covers many of the important events and figures in one place. The references in the back of the book have my favorite articles and books in bold so that you can learn more about knifemakers and knife companies that intrigue you from what introduction I can provide. This book was also an excuse for me to dive into the world of Damascus, something that has interested me because of my famous Damascus-making father, Devin Thomas. I interviewed many of the top Damascus makers of today and read through many magazines and books to put together the timeline of Damascus materials and patterning techniques. Again, nothing like it has existed until now. I am sure for everyone there will be certain chapters of the book that may interest you more than others. Maybe you don’t care about where 52100 steel came from. Maybe you think you aren’t interested in Damascus steel. Maybe the formation of Spyderco Knives sounds boring. I recommend giving the chapters a go anyway. There will be more chapters that interest you after, I promise. Of course, I think they are all fascinating which is why I included each of them.
Format Differences
The PDF is available primarily for people in countries who cannot buy the paperback or hardcover. I am not a particular fan of ebooks. However, if you prefer them the option is available to you. There is a “Preview” button on the purchasing page that lets you see a few pages to make sure it looks good on your device. It looks best on an iPad or large monitor but it is readable on a phone. Purchasing the PDF puts a small stamp in the upper left corner of each page that includes identifying information to discourage sharing. And there is a limit on how many times the PDF can be downloaded after purchase (5 times). If you have trouble and run out of downloads then message me and the counter can be reset.
The hardcover is by far the best format though the paperback is only 60% of the cost. Beyond the more sturdy feel of the hardcover, it has “premium” color printing while the paperback has “standard” color printing. This means that the images in the paperback look somewhat washed out in comparison with the more vibrant and contrasty images of the premium printing. The paperback is by no means terrible, but the hardcover is better. It is hard to capture the difference with a camera but I have a comparison below showing the hardcover on the left and the paperback on the right:
Printing quality comparison between hardcover (left) and paperback (right)
Helping Out
In terms of royalties, the PDF is by far the highest while the paperback and hardcover are less and roughly the same. So while I’m flattered you would ask, if it were me I wouldn’t choose a format based on which one gives me (Larrin) the most money. You can always buy multiple copies for all your friends and family instead (Ha!).
One of the best things you can do to help is to review the book on Amazon. That will boost it on Amazon and let people know that it is (hopefully) a high quality book that others have enjoyed. After putting so much work into this book I am anxious to hear what people think!
Dude. You are so metal! I WILL INDEED buy several copies for friends and family.
ELChar
Hardlock Knife and Leather Co.
Sounds like something I’ve wanted for some time Larrin, a good historical reference instead of relying on my memory of articles over the years.
Does this book contain detailed information/how to for Devin’s stainless damascus recipes?
It’s not a how to book but it does explain loosely how things are done.
Larrin, congrats for doing another book and this time in PDF, would you release the previous in PDF as well, and will there be a bundle of both?
When I get a second edition for Knife Engineering, I will likely do a PDF for it. But I haven’t started on it, that would be months away at the earliest.
Thanks for sharing
a great book for easy reference and its most probably correct; duly researched by a real qualified metal guy and had some hands experience in his father’ s workshop. Too many internet armchair gurus
I did enjoy the first book more. The historical part…makes some fun reading
A direct reference was when a guy walked in with a custom chain damascus and i could reference it
highly recommended for anyone who likes knives and collectors and like to know what they are talking abt…
I just ordered your new book. Can’t wait for it to arrive so I can dive in!