You want to see craftsmanship?

[Honus]

Yesterday an extremely nice 63 year old Russian man named Amayak Stepanyan stopped by to show me some of his engraving work. To say I was floored by the quality of his work would be an understatement. He pulled this very knife out and handed it to me to examine and also showed me another piece that was in mid process. I could have talked to him for hours- he's extremely gracious and humble about his work and is absolutely willing to share techniques and ideas- a true craftsman in every sense of the word.

The engraved side plates on this knife are 416L stainless steel. He explained that the patterns are first cut using a chisel and hammer and then the design is refined using gravers and stones. The engraving on this particular piece took over 200 hours to do. He promised to email me some more pics of his work and gave me permission to share here. The knife maker is a friend and neighbor of his named Owen Wood.

Amazing stuff.

[Too Tall]

Thanks for that. Good grief, his talent is beyond words.

[Matthew Strongin]

Wow. That's incredible.

[rydesteel]

The blade maker has some skills as well. Incredible work from two very talented people.

[dhoff]

Staggering, and as Rydesteel said, the partnership does justice to both of them.

[devlin]

That is another one of those must have items.

[Luke]

Are you effing kidding me??? WOW. That IS incredible!!!
Imagine having that talent in your hands.
80 grit and some lugs...and I think that I'm doing good.
(Then you see stuff like this)
Makes me want to put my hand in a vise.

[Honus]

Are you effing kidding me??? WOW. That IS incredible!!!
Imagine having that talent in your hands.
80 grit and some lugs...and I think that I'm doing good.
(Then you see stuff like this)
Makes me want to put my hand in a vise.

It makes me want to work harder, because now I know what is possible.

When we were exchanging work photos Amayak looked at one of my pieces and asked "How long does it take you to do this?" I jokingly replied "Forty five years, because I couldn't have done it until now." He laughed pretty hard and said "That is good answer. I will remember and use this!"

Amayak told me that Owen Wood is definitely in the top ten knife makers in the world and after seeing his work in person I believe him. Wait until I get more pictures- this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[hampco]

amazing

[sneedle3]

Stunning. Thanks for sharing,
Scott

[Honus]

There is a brief bio on Amayak here- Denver School of Metal Arts

Here's some more pics-

[dougblue]

What a talent. Words can't express it. Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing this.

[Luke]

How to you even begin thinking about how to do this???
I'm still in awe.
Think of the stainless stem work that you could pull off with this kind of talent!!!
I wanna learn.

[TriangleBicycleCommuter]

I'm thinking head badge.

[xjoex]

That is just amazing. I can't comprehend the skill involved.

-Joe

[Shoogs]

Simple words don't do them justice. They have an old world feel to them... Beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

[Honus]

Here's a couple more pics Amayak just sent me-

[mjbabcock]

Okay...are we talking $750, $2k, $5k, $10, or north of that. I'm not judging the value and I'd lose it in my pants for any of these at any price but I'm just wondering.

[Honus]

I honestly don't know. I'm sure much of his work is commissioned. I do know that some of the William Henry knives can go for a few grand for the limited editions.

[choke]

That's some seriously impressive work.