Forged: Making a Knife with Traditional Blacksmith Skills by Paul White is a beautifully illustrated, straightforward manual that teaches readers how to forge a complete, functional knife using the same time-tested methods once practised by traditional blacksmiths.
Across 132 pages and more than 150 colour photographs and drawings, White explains each stage of the processfrom steel selection and forging the blade to shaping, heat treating, riveting, and sharpeningusing only hand tools. The books centrepiece project, a frontier-style utility knife, serves as a model through which readers learn essential forging techniques, heat control, and fit-and-finish craftsmanship.
Written in a conversational and encouraging tone, Forged is filled with Tips, Notes, and Blacksmith Secrets boxes that provide extra insight into real-world workshop practice. Whites emphasis on low-technology, affordable tools makes the book especially appealing for new bladesmiths, hobbyists, and teachers of traditional craft.
Reviewers across the international blacksmithing community have praised Forged for its clarity, depth, and authenticity. Publications such as The Anvils Ring, Knives Illustrated, California Blacksmith, and The Hammers Blow describe it as an indispensable beginners guide, noting its effective presentation of core techniques like heat treatment, annealing, normalising, hardening, and edge quenching.
Paul Whitea practising blacksmith with over forty-five years of experiencewrites not only as a craftsman but as a teacher preserving a vanishing tradition. His goal is to help readers honour the heritage of the forge while developing their own skill and confidence.
Printed in hardcover (132 pages, 24 × 17 cm) and richly illustrated in colour, Forged is both a practical workshop guide and a tribute to the timeless craft of hand-forged knives.
