My visit to Boise , Idaho to visit Bill Burke ( Bladesmith's shop visit vol.3)

I think it was Colin's suji when I first saw Bill Burke s work and I remember saving a picture of it and staring for a long time to appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship that went behind it .
Here is a picture of what I am talking about for the people who haven't seen it before



Then I saw some of Olvinds knives when I searched through forums and I knew what my unicorn would be . Unfortunately I couldn't afford to have one of his knives for my personal use and with my ever growing knife making hobby I ended up selling most of my high end personal knives for machinery and raw materials anyway
Like most of the makers I started with stock removal but always appreciated the forged knives in monosteel or San mai that I used at work . After trying forging a couple of times I really enjoyed it but realised I wasn't doing it efficiently and saw my friend Keith Fludder , who taught me the basics of stock removal on one weekend and I visited again later for another weekend for a forging class. Now I was getting more efficient and I got really addicted to forging , watching the steel move under the blows of hammer and take a shape and resemble a knife after each heating and forging cycle . Now I decided to forge all of my carbon knives

So , after a year and a bit in knifemaking I came to Boise , Idaho to learn more about forging and San Mai from Bill Burke . I was lucky that he could spend a few days with me before the Seattle knife show . Before I get into shop pictures and some of the stuff we made I wanted to show pictures from outside of his shop . Even the drive through the mountains was great and picturesque with hills, creeks and lakes .








And the elk that greeted us every evening after spending the day in shop .

Now some shop pictures







And this big air hammer , it moves the steel as if it's play dough



On the First day we made a random pattern Damascus bar in 1080/15n20 . At First I was over ambitious thinking I could do the whole billet by handforging then after a couple cycles of heating I decided to listen to Bill's advice and use the press and the powerhammer so we can finish the billet and move on to other projects . After we folded the billet to 60 layers , we flattened it using the hot steel roll . I had a small mishap ( made a giant ring ) but Bill fixed it before it got out of control .



Next up we did a San mai billet with stainless cladding and 52100 core , after forging the billet into a thinner size we let it cool down and got into forging some gyutos out of 52100

This is me with my first stainless sanmai over carbon core billet , picture taken by Bill

 

This is Bill flattening a massive piece of 52100 with that power hammer


. We both started with some 52100 and while I was still trying to make it look like a hidden tang knife Bill's full tang knife was at the final shape with distal taper from tip to heel and at the tang with forged bevels in.





We made couple more knives and in the mean time I got to see some of his custom knives in the works and some knives for the Seattle show .
There were lots of jaw droppers , hamons , tamagahane stuff , hitachi blue2, some sg2 , San mai , crazy pattern Damascus and other cool bits .

The next day we did lots of grinding , and we started forging the San mai and Damascus billets







Next up was the most important part of the knifemaking. We shut the windows and turned off the lights and it was time for heat treating .
We heat treated the 4 gyutos that we ground earlier that day and talked more about knives and heat treatment . To demonstrate the size of the grain Bill broke a small knife after tempering ,he wasn't happy with the shape of that blade but the grain size was super small , it was an eye opener . After some cold beers we called it a day .
In the mean time I was trying to process the loads of information and trying to write down notes at night, but jet lag was taking its toll , and I was falling asleep before 10pm and waking up at 4am .
The last day I was more confident in forging using 2 smaller power hammers and Bill was correcting my bad habits in forging at anvil and hammer . I forged 3 more knives while Bill was working on some knives for the Seattle show . I was requiring his help less in each knife , it felt good to demonstrate that I was actually learning . As you can imagine it is learning the fundamentals right and the rest is muscle memory , I will be forging lot more from now on I can guarantee that .



There is a picture of 240mm stainless San mai gyuto and a 200ish stainless San mai gyuto with both 52100 cores and the 275mm tall gyuto in random pattern Damascus .


After forging we continued on to thermal cycles of the knives from the first day . While we were waiting I picked his brains more about fit and finishing , heat treatment and more knife stuff
After we were done I showed him some of my knives that I had with me ( don't stress right !!! ) and learned the areas I need more improvement .



Before I got there I promised him to cook for him and his family but due to some delays in flight plans I could only do a light meal for him and his wife . I can say he was happy with the cutting performance of the gyuto I took with me. I tried his homemade whiskey , which was smooth and tasty considering the alcohol content ( near jet fuel
It was an unbelievable experience learning from him , not just his skill and knowledge but his enthusiasm about sharing his knowledge and teaching . I can't thank him or his wife enough for their hospitality and generosity .
Bruce Barnett ,A fellow Knifemaker here in Australia makes trips to see him every year and now I know clearly why , I am already thinking about my next trip , may even try to hide in Bruce's luggage

 

Great write-up. Congrats for getting to have such a great learning experience.

 

It was a great experience , did I mention I saw an awesome scimitar

 

Thanks for sharing! An interesting read

 

why no, no you didn't. And I was scrutinizing the photos to see if I could catch a glimpse

 

I saw many other cool stuff he had but didn't want to spoil anything by revealing any of his unfinished work , that scimitar was something else , lucky you

 

Nice write up, sounds like an awesome experience!

 

Sounds like you have had a great time there, Mert.

 

Looks like you had a great time there!! Really happy with the gyuto from you so I am looking forward to seeing what you will be making in the future especially after this trip

 

Great write up Mert! Love seeing your progress, and hearing your stories!

 

Very interesting story and pictures. Thanks!

 

Thanks guys , it was great 3 days , I am very much looking forward into next trip and learn from him more

 

Thanks Warren , great to hear that little knife is serving you well

 

You look right at home using that massive power hammer, Mert. Very calm and focussed. I think forging knives suits you

What a fantastic experience, too!

Cheers,

J

 

Yeah Yeah, but does he have a helicopter? Just kidding... Great story, thanks for sharing!

Stefan

 

I remember the slicer from the first post very well. Damn had the very same picture stored somewhere mee too

Good for you chef

 

Not every day you get one on one time with a master smith, very cool.

(Idaho is where I am going to retire, spectacular wilderness.)

 

Awesome thread! Thank you for taking the time to assemble this.

 

Great read Mert and love that we can watch you grow and learn the art of knife making. My savings account may have cringed reading this....