The Making of “The Reign of Evil”

The idea to start the “The War in Heaven” series came to me while I was working on my dragon series, from 1999-2003.  Each knife tells a part of a story.  The first knife in the series, “The Rise of Evil,” featured a demon rising from flames.  It was completed in 2003.  Also in 2003, I completed the second knife in the series, “Forces of Darkness.”  The most prominent feature of “Forces of Darkness” is a gold inlay of a skull with a sword thrust through it. 

The third knife, “The Reign of Evil,” displays evil reaching its zenith.  It is by far the most elaborate knife I have ever made.  It took me at least eight months over a 3 year period to complete.  I actually began work on this knife before beginning the first two knives.  The work was completed in June 2005, and later that month it was awarded “Best Damascus” at the Blade Show in Atlanta. This is a double action folder, which was very difficult to do in this design because of the small tolerances between the blade and backbar when closed.  The blade all but disappears into the handle when closed, leaving very little room for a spring and catch mechanism.  The knife contains 3 ½ feet of 1mm 24 carat gold wire inlay, most of which was stretched out to approximately the width of 10 hairs before inlaying it.  There are several skulls hidden within the gold inlay.  The gold inlay becomes more chaotic from bottom to top, symbolizing that what was once good is becoming evil. 

The nitre-blued mosaic Damascus blade features eight demons rising from flames.  A carved and gold-inlaid skeletal hand protrudes from the blade to serve as a thumb stud.  The hand was carved viewed under a 25 power microscope.  I first made a larger model out of clay that I used as a guide.  The hand alone took over 60 hours to create.  It is so detailed that even the underside of the hand displays creases in the palm. 

The handle steel is also nitre-blued mosaic Damascus with specter-like figures throughout.  In the middle of the handle is what I describe as a double window frame.  Shortly after I started making this, I discussed my idea with fellow bladesmith Rick Eaton.  I knew I was in trouble when he told me I was crazy.  The bottom layer of the double window frame is a mosaic tile of a demon.  The next layer is carved mammoth ivory, surrounding the demon with flame.  I do not know of this ever being done before.  The backbar has gold inlay inside and out.  Including several skulls, the pattern was drawn to match the entire theme of the knife.