After searching what seemed like an eternity through the most awe inspiring stretch of corn mine eyes have ever seen, I come upon Andersen Forge perched on the edge of the finest whitetail hunting land a bow hunter could ever want. And judging by the horns laying around, he takes advantage.
Karl was extremely gracious with what I know is exceedingly valuable time to help me progress with my knife making. He has completely changed the way I will make knives from here on especially when it comes to heat treating and finishing. His pragmatic, common sense approach, coupled with a huge enthusiasm for metallurgy, has finally cleared all the chaos from my mind from trying to distill knowledge and craft from the internet. Up to this point, living in a remote area, I have tried learning things from books and the internet, and I believe that this does reduce the learning curve to some extent... but then you get drug into a quagmire of confusing claims, bogus methodologies and who knows what else... and you become confused and start throwing lots of money and time down the tubes. But Karl is a professional who has learned the business. He cuts all the crap out of the process and makes awesome knives with what seems like minimal effort.
It was great (and extremely humbling) to hold one of his knives and realize they look even better than his pictures illustrate.
THANK YOU! I hope I can pay you back in steelhead, lake trout and small mouth one day soon....