Bill Moran

William Francis Moran made his first knife at twelve on a Maryland dairy farm — scrap steel, an old coal forge, trial and error. By fourteen, he was selling them. By the 1950s, he was one of the last practicing bladesmiths in the United States, forging metal in the old way while nearly everyone else had moved to stock removal.

Alone, through years of work, he recovered the lost art of pattern-welded Damascus steel. At the 1973 Knifemakers’ Guild Show in Kansas City, he unveiled his Damascus blades — then handed out free booklets explaining exactly how he had done it. That act defined the man. He founded the American Bladesmith Society in 1976, served as Guild president, and carried a thirty-year waiting list. His clients included heads of state, kings, and Stallone.

The school he established still bears his name. These skinners are what Moran looked like when he was simply making a knife.