Dan Petersen Hunter 4.75" 52100 - Flux Inlay

In Dan's Words: "This is a traditional hunting knife design that can actually be found in old north east museums that were sold during the late 1700s into the early 1800s. A few modern knife makers have made knives of a similar pattern. The blade on these knives widens about halfway to the tip. Lore has it that it worked better for field dressing, but particularly with the skinning process. This is 52100 steel. The bolsters are decorated with a vitreous enamel or flux. This one has two flux colors added on top of a cobalt based ground flux. It is applied to the bolsters after milling the circles out. It melts and fuses to the bolster at around 1500 F.  Because of the high heat it is done in the forge where I can view the process and remove the bolster when the flux melts and then turns just the right degree of gloss. It is hard and will outlast the bolsters themselves. [I believe I am the only one doing this on knives. I submitted a knife with handle and sheath done in this manner of high temperature enameling on metal. It won the international competition for best art knife. I got a big trophy and a nice check. So, this process even for a small adornment on this knife takes extra time and effort. I should also add that the flux is fired several times for each bolster so it take some time.]