Kyle Royer of Royer Knife Works is designing a knife to donate to the raffle for the Pie Auction/Barn Dance on December 2. He is calling this knife Purple Heart Fighter in honor of Colleen Moeller “who is obviously a fighter deserving of a purple heart.”
Purple heart is the wood used and the style of knife is a Fighter knife which has a very long blade similar to the Bowie knife. The blade will be twist pattern Damascus. Kyle has the Damascus forged, which took about 14 hours to make the patterned Damascus in the forge and to forge the blade 75% to shape. He will grind the blade to remove the scale and to finish shaping the blade. He then heats the blade to 1500 degrees and quenches it in oil to harden it and then tempers it at 450 degrees. This takes out some of the hardness so that the blade is tougher and more flexible instead of brittle. Then the real time consuming work begins. All of Kyle’s knives are hand sanded, no machine sanding, and it takes several hours to sand a blade to 1000 grit. After the sanding, he etches the blade to bring out the pattern in the steel. He then starts designing the guard and doing file work. He will then put the block of purple heart wood on and pin it and then shape it to fit with the blade like a glove. If he has time, he will then add silver wire inlay to the purple heart. He will then stamp it with his mark. There will also be a sheath made for the knife.
Contact Kyle at Royer Knifeworks, 1962 State Route W, Mountain View, MO 65548, 417-934-6394, royerhome @ centurytel.net if you’d like more information.
To win this knife you can buy tickets the day of the auction or purchase tickets beforehand by contacting us at bluedorn @ triviumpursuit.com. The winning ticket must be present at the auction, though the winner doesn’t need to be present to win. The value of the knife will be about $800. Please RSVP if you plan to attend the Pie Auction.
Okay, I am a woman and not very knowledgable about knives, but that is the most beautiful knife I have ever seen! Very good craftsmanship.