Drop Point Hunter
Damascus & Stag
A forged hunter from an American Master Smith — drop-point blade in Williams’ own Damascus, the steel carrying the rolling “wave” figure that comes of pass after pass under the power hammer.
A mirror-polished stainless guard sets off the pattern; the grip is natural stag, fitted to the blade by mortise-tang construction. A working hunter’s proportions — a 3⅞″ blade on 8¾″ overall, six ounces in the hand. It travels in a brown leather sheath by Rowe’s Leather, in a zippered case.
Guard & Spine
Wave Damascus
Stag
Mike Williams
Broken Bow, Oklahoma · ABS Master Smith
Mike Williams forges out of Broken Bow, in the pine country of southeastern Oklahoma. He took up knifemaking in the 1980s, fell for forged blades in 1989, and earned the American Bladesmith Society’s Master Smith rating in 2000 — one of fewer than a hundred and fifty Mastersmiths in the world.
He works from a home shop with a fire forge and a belt-driven power hammer, heating, folding and refining his own Damascus by hand. The rolling “wave” that runs through so many of his blades is the record of those many passes under the hammer.
His work has been honored where it counts: a Best Fighter award at the 2013 Arkansas Custom Knife Show and the ABS’s “Master’s Knife of the Year,” and a best-of-show for one of his hunters at the 2014 Atlanta Blade Show.
Antler & Guard
Guard & Grind
Standing