This category is dedicated to exploring the rich history and legacy of edged weapons from around the world. Here you’ll find in-depth stories and articles about traditional blades such as the Nepalese kukri (khukuri), swords, daggers, machetes, bowie knives, and other iconic forged weapons. Learn about their origins, cultural significance, battlefield use, and the evolution of their design over centuries. Whether it’s the legendary role of the Gurkha kukri, the rise of the bowie knife in frontier America, or the global influence of forged swords and machetes, we aim to preserve and share the stories behind these powerful tools of survival, honor, and craftsmanship. At Everest Forge, we not only handcraft these blades in Nepal but also honor the traditions and techniques passed down through generations of blacksmiths. Join us in uncovering the timeless world of hand-forged edged weapons.
05 Sep
0
49
What Size Machete Do You Need? Length by Vegetation, Not by Photograph
For most people the answer is a blade between 14 and 18 inches. Dense tangled growth wants 12 to 15 inches, mixed general clearing wants 16 to 18, and only open standing vegetation like grass and cane rewards 20 inches or more. The 18-inch machete has been the default issue length for armies and agricultural workers for a century, and there is a practical reason for it that has nothing to do with cutting: 18 inches of blade..
05 Sep
0
27
Clay Tempering: Which Carbon Steels Can Actually Take a Hamon
Clay tempering works on shallow-hardening plain carbon steels — W1, W2, 1095 and their relatives — and it fails on almost everything else. But the grade number on the invoice does not settle it. The element that decides whether a steel will take a good hamon is manganese, and manganese content varies between mill batches of the same grade. That is why smiths who are serious about hamon buy specific low-manganese stock rather than t..
04 Sep
0
20
Why 5160 Blades Don't Have a Hamon
Because 5160 hardens too easily. A hamon only appears when part of a blade fails to harden — the clay on the spine slows its cooling, the spine stays soft, and you see a line where hard meets soft. 5160 contains chromium and manganese, both of which make steel harden more readily and more deeply, and so the spine hardens anyway even under clay. Nothing stays soft, so there is no boundary, so there is no hamon. That is the whole answer. What follows is why we..
04 Sep
0
25
What Size Knife Do You Need? Blade Length by Use
Almost everyone needs a shorter knife than they think. Everyday carry is 2.5 to 4 inches, hunting and field dressing 3.5 to 5, bushcraft and camp 4 to 6, and a bowie or camp chopper 8 to 12. Past 6 inches a knife stops doing knife work and starts doing an axe's job badly. The single most common buying mistake is choosing for the heaviest task you might one day do rather than the task you will do weekly.
Knife size is decided by use, not by heig..
04 Sep
0
34
What Size Sword Should You Buy? A Length Guide by Type and Height
For most people buying their first sword, the answer is a blade between 28 and 32 inches, which gives a total length of roughly 34 to 38 inches once the grip and pommel are counted. That is the range a single arm can control through a full cut and still recover from. Shorter than 28 inches and you are buying a short sword, which is a different weapon rather than a small version of the same one. Longer than 32 inches and you are ..
03 Sep
0
96
Single-Edged vs Double-Edged Swords: What the Geometry Actually Does
The difference is not really the number of edges. It is the spine. A single-edged sword keeps a thick, unsharpened back, which means the whole blade can be one deep asymmetric wedge — stiff, heavy behind the cut, and able to carry a longer bevel down to a keener edge. A double-edged sword has no spine to keep, so its steel must taper away from a centre line in both directions, and it has to win back its stiffness some other ..
03 Sep
0
67
Sword vs Battle Axe: What Happens When They Actually Meet
The honest answer is that it depends on two things, and neither of them is the weapon: whether there is a shield, and whether there is armour. An axe concentrates its mass at the far end, so it hits far harder than a sword of the same weight, splits shields, and defeats armour that a cutting edge would slide off. A sword distributes its mass along the blade, so it recovers faster, defends itself, thrusts, and cuts along its whole lengt..
02 Sep
0
44
How to Sharpen an Axe: File, Stone, and Keeping the Convex
An axe is not sharpened like a knife, and treating it like one is how good axes get ruined. A knife wants a thin, flat, keen edge. An axe wants a thicker, rounded, convex one, because it is driven into wood at speed and a fine edge simply folds or chips on the first knot. The work starts with a file rather than a stone, it finishes by feel rather than by looking, and it should never go anywhere near a bench grinder. This guide covers ..
02 Sep
0
38
Viking Axes: The Weapon That Actually Armed the North
Most Viking-age warriors did not own a sword. Nearly all of them owned an axe. A sword took many times the iron and a specialist smith, and it did one job — fighting. An axe was already hanging in the house, because it felled the timber, split the firewood and shaped the ship. When a raid was called, a man picked up the tool he already had, and that is the plain reason the axe became the weapon of the North. This guide covers the types, wh..
02 Sep
0
40
Axe Handles: Why Heads Come Loose, and How to Hang One Properly
A loose axe head is fixed by rehanging it, not by soaking it in water. That single myth ruins more axes than any other piece of advice in circulation — it swells the wood briefly, the wood dries looser than it started, and the rot begins quietly inside the eye where nobody can see it. This guide covers why heads work loose in the first place, how a handle is actually hung, how to choose a replacement, and how to fit it. It also c..