A visit to Viking Metal Works

[Cliff Stamp]

Glen Parrell of Viking Metal works is a blade smith that wonder of wonders actually lives within driving distance. I had meant to drop him a line and dicuss a few blade ideas with him for quite some time but never acually got around to it, mainly I think because I am not interested in swords and such. However recently when I caught this picture on his website I knew there was a blade in my future :

http://www.vikingmetalworks.com/images/camp1.jpg

from :

http://www.vikingmetalworks.com/knives.html

I stopped by his shop this saturday and discussed the idea of a version of the above blade with various modifications. While we were ironing out the details I became very impressed with his level of knowledge about various aspects of the blade geometry and grip design. He discussed elements of performance in detail that reflected a serious amount of time using his knives - which is always positive.

Once we had settled on a basic blade design he basically lead me through his procedure from start to finish. He also described in some detail the testing process he uses on his blades, being specific about the performance he expects to get both in terms of durability and cutting ability. I was quite pleased with a lot of the details as they reflected a serious base in functionality which is pretty much exactly what I am interested in.

I don't have any experience with his blades, but based on the conversation we had I would be very surprised if the blade I am getting made is anything other than a very solid work piece. It will be the basic camp design (5160 differential temper) with a slightly longer blade (12-14"), and a different handle shape.

Webpage :

http://www.vikingmetalworks.com/

-Cliff

 

[HJK]

I have his damascus pendant. Pretty. I haven't used his working knives though. They seem very utilitarian. The swords look rather interesting.

 

[Triton]

Everything I have heard about his work is positive. The only slight downside is that at least in the sword department he might be a trifle on the heavy side. I would not think that would apply to a knife. I would suggest that you should get what you can from him while the getting is good, I have a felling the demand is going to increase a bit...

 

[Triton]

I take it back, I relooked up his weights and they are well within historical norms. My apologies to Glen, and I am just glad I caught it before anyone called me on it.