From there, he began collecting knives and today he still has also a couple of his very first blades.
He learned knife making form books and, above all, from the help of many fantastic knife makers that frequent forums and who have shared their precious experiences. Brian would give a personal thanks especially to Jerry Hossom and Justin Gingrich, as years ago they showed the patience and kindness to help a new maker learn and grow.
His knives, produced exclusively by stock removal, are mainly small EDC fixed blades because he enjoies that someone can carry them every day and at all times. He said us: "A small fixed blade can handle many tasks that would be very demanding of a folder, and it inspires confidence in the user since you are working with a single piece of steel that can not fail. I do also enjoy making larger knives as those can do some real hard work!"
brian efros2Brian blades are made mainly in CPM 3V steel, CPM s35vn or Elmax. He loves CPM 3v for its legendary toughness, ease of sharpening, and indestructible feel. He thinks, however, that Elmax and s35vn are amazing stainless options. Both of these steels have wear resistance (edge retention) that is hard to beat, they are super corrosion resistant, and are tough enough to resist micro chipping and some of the other problems that people can associate with the high end stainless steels. For handles he prefers to work with mostly synthetic materials, such as G10, micarta, and Carbon Fiber, but he works also with stabilized wood when requested by the customer.
Brian has likeably confessed us that at beginning of his experience as a knife maker, he had zero background in machining so he had to learn every single step the hard way : from the many ruined blades to almost burning his house down... we would like to console him with a quotation of Oscar Wilde: " Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes".
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