TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) - The phrase “a cut above the rest” still describes the craft and creative skills of bladesmith Jerry Fisk of Nashville, Arkansas.
He forges steel and creates knives in front of a 3,000-degree furnace, the Texarkana Gazette (https://bit.ly/1MW33Ai ) reported. This isn’t part of the folklore created by older men who like to spit and whittle while telling stories.
Fisk creates knives sold in a worldwide market for their beauty and creativity.
The skills have earned Fisk another honor. He will be inducted into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation.
Fisk began making knives in 1974 and became a journeyman smith through the American Bladesmith Society in 1987. Two years later, he became the 17th master smith recognized by the ABS. Fisk has received Beretta’s Outstanding Award for Achievement in Handcrafted Cutlery, the Bill Moran Award for the ABS 1990 Knife of the Year and the Arkansas Governor’s Award. He also holds the title of National Living Treasure, the first knifemaker to be named so.
Fisk has served on the governing board of the ABS, was inducted into the Bladesmith Hall of Fame and developed the Bladesmithing School in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
He makes Bowie knives, hunting knives and daggers using mammoth bone, gold wire inlay and Damascus steel, which he forges.
Prices for his knives are not quoted to his customers. “Most are afraid their wives will find out. They usually tell me to ship the knife to their office,” Fisk said.
Collectors and customers have ideas for the layers of blades they have him forge. Through suppliers, he tracks down material he wants to use for blades and the handles.
Such materials went into the Trade Center Bowie knife, made to commemorate lives lost to the 9/11 attacks. He used the wood from a horse chestnut tree planted by George Washington and steel from the twin towers.
The supplier certified the wood from the tree Washington planted between his mother’s and his sister’s houses.
“He (Washington) planted 13, one for each colony. This last tree that had to be cut down . represented the colony of Georgia,” he said.
“I acquired the wood from Historical Woods of America. They had a bit of it left at the time. I got enough for about 15 handles,” Fisk said.
He was worried about working with the historical wood.
“You bet I was nervous working it. Not only is it historical and I can’t replace it, but it is a wood that I have never worked, and each wood works different. I thought it was a pretty wood, as opposed to the Thomas Jefferson tulip poplar wood. That was a really plain piece of wood, but the Jefferson Society says it’s the only tree there is a record of that Jefferson planted,” he said.
The steel for the blade was recovered from the site of the demolished World Trade Center in New York after the attacks.
“I think it was No. 321 Hook and Ladder company_called the Happy Hookers_with the New York Fire Department who gave me the steel. I made them a knife to put in a museum to honor their fallen members on 9/11. Most of my steel that came from them and was from building No. 2. I only had a small amount from building No. 1,” Fisk said.
The bladesmith said the man who bought the knife “was there the next day handing out medicine and water to the firemen. He wanted the knife as a remembrance of that day.”
“When I was putting the layers together, I knew there was 343 firemen and paramedics that died that day,” he said. “So I folded the steel until I had 342 layers. I called it a missing-man weld, kind of like the Air Force flies a missing-man formation.”
The blade’s surface holds a pattern resembling a sunrise. “I chose to do a ’Sun Rise’ pattern in the steel because the sun rises over America,” he said.
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Information from: Texarkana Gazette, https://www.texarkanagazette.com
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