Most shops are monolithic – they do one thing, or one category of things. Chris’s shop is a deliberate hybrid: one half is a knifemaking shop (forge, 2×72-inch belt grinder, surface grinder, quench tank, heat treatment oven), and the other half is a woodworking shop (workbench, bandsaw, and a full set of hand tools for handle making and sheath work). The two halves are separated by a cinder block partition wall with a doorway – the partition provides fire separation between the forge side and the wood side and contains the metal dust and heat on the appropriate side.
The forge side is where steel billets are transformed into blade blanks – drawn out, beveled, and profiled in high-carbon and damascus steel. The wood side is where everything else happens: handle scales are fitted and shaped, sheaths are carved, and the finish work that turns a blade blank into a complete knife is done at the bench. The two disciplines share exactly one machine: the bandsaw, which is positioned in the doorway between the two halves and accessible from both sides.
Chris has been making knives for 18 years and added the woodworking side to the shop about 8 years ago when he started making his own handles from stabilized wood, G10, and natural materials. Before that, he outsourced handle work. After adding the wood side, his handle quality improved immediately and his production time dropped – he no longer waited for outsourced components. The integration was obvious in retrospect. “The knife isn’t done until the handle is done,” he says. “Why would I farm out half the knife?” Good point. The shop now supports the full process.
The shop gallery includes 40 photographs of both sides, the partition wall, and examples of the knives produced in the combined space. Do you run a hybrid shop – woodworking and another discipline under one roof? Tell us what the combination looks like and how you manage the material and process separation.