My name is Jesse Bartram. I started making knives in 2009. After cutting and filing the first few to shape, I was finally able to get a forge set up and a cheapo 16 pound anvil and got to forging. I was hooked!

I joined the American Bladesmith Society in 2013 after meeting mastersmith Ed Caffrey at a hammer in at Jim Clows place, and passed the performance part of my journeyman bladesmith testing at another meeting the following year. Let me tell you, nothing puts a lump in your throat like that test, and I did mine in front of a crowd of 60 folks! Now this test is not the be all end all of knife performance. It is merely intended to showcase that I have control over the steel via geometry and heat treat for a specific set of tasks.

It is my opinion that a specific set of tasks is where handmade knives shine. If I know what the knife is meant to be doing then I can tailor that knife to do those tasks extremely well. You may say, “well a knife is meant to cut stupid!” but to that I would say, “what is it meant to cut?” You wouldn’t hang drywall with a sledge hammer, pull a sliver with salad tongs, or go mud bogging in a Ferrari. Well, some might, but by and large, the screwgun, the tweezers and the 4x4 crowds are going to perform the tasks faster and better and with possibly less damage to self or property. Which isn’t to suggest that the all purpose knife doesn’t exist, just that it will do most things passably and won’t excel at anything. Whereas a chef knife ground to a very thin edge will slice through food like its not there, or an obscenely large chopper with a more meat behind the edge will cleave through trees all day and all night, I wouldn’t suggest switching their roles.

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