“This knife is a further exploration of the pictorial mosaic idea I have been exploring over the last several years. The idea of this style is treating the entirety of the blade surface as a single coherent mosaic image. This particular pattern is based on a memory. I have autoimmune disease and several years ago I was having a pretty bad flair while I was teaching at the Marc Adams School. Driving back to my room one night after dinner, and feeling pretty sorry for myself, I was struck by the moonlight on the rolling corn fields. The field and the moon were all I could see. I felt awed by the image I watched and so very connected to the world. In that moment of grace, I pulled over and just watched the moon rise. The image is one that will stay with me, reminding me that no matter how bad I feel there is beauty, grace, and joy in the world if I but look for it. It reminds me that things are never as bad as they feel.

The blade was created through a technique called pattern welding. Starting with a 36 layer billet of 15n20 and 1084 forged into two sizes of bar cut into tiles and welded to place the engraving on the face of the blade. These two bars, with an additional bar of 15n20 or 1084 along one edge was then welded to a field of 15n20 and split into three billets. The moon was shaped out of 1045 steel and welded in. The blade was then carefully hand forged to shape, heat treated, ground, and polished. It was then etched and repolished to reveal the pattern. The handle is constructed of a polished silicon bronze bolster followed by G10 spacers and a stabilized Buckeye burl handle.”  ~ Matthew Parkinson, JS