Bill Moran - the Father of modern damascus steel

Picture: Bill Moran is on the left.


ANY knife collector who's worth the price of his blades should know a little about Bill Moran. He's the icon of the modern knife industry, especially in America. Moran is in his late 70s.
But he has left an indelible mark on quality custom knives. A long time ago, when Moran was starting out on his knifemaking career, his knives were sold at a tiny fraction of what they are worth today.
Bill has been reported to have said: "My knives are too expensive even for me to use now."
Bill started making knives about 60 years ago when he was 14 years old. He didn't turn professional until 45 years ago (1960). Like a lot of knifemakers, he grew up in a farm where his dad was a dairy farmer.
Bill wanted to make knives the old-fashioned way - through forging. That means fire and steel and that involves a lot of hammering.
Good knives and heat treatment go very much hand in hand. In the old days when Bill was just a boy, there was no one to teach him. So he went through the trial-and-error process.
Admittedly, Bill made a large number of mistakes. That's why he's gotten pretty good at it. Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, also went down the same road. Edison made thousands of mistakes. Each one was a valuable lesson. Moran adopted the same principle.
For someone who spends six to seven hours facing heat in the forge, Bill has become very familiar with all things steel. In 1973, Moran revealed to the knifemaking community his new discovery - damascus steel.
Needless to say, everybody was impressed and wanted to know how he did it. Moran gave credit to Hanford Miller as the first person who taught him about damascus.
Moran's virtuosity with damascus soon revived interest in art knives. Some of those pretty knives which you may have seen with silver inlay in their handles were probably inspired by earlier blades made by Moran or his admirers or imitators.
Moran said he makes about four to five damascus patterns. The twist pattern cuts the best, says Moran. And we all take that as Gospel truth because Moran's statement on damascus cannot be challenged, unless you have spent the same number of hours in the forge like he did. Unfortunately for all of us, Moran has decades of headstart ahead of us.
For someone whose early knives were practically not wanted by anyone, Moran has come a very long way. What he didn't foresaw was collectors' interest in his knives. Today, anything that has Bill Moran's mark on them are treasured as investments of the sterling kind.
Moran is also a co-founder of the bladesmith school in Washington, Arkansas. His personal ideals of creating a top-notch school for those who are interested in the fien art of knifemaking were not lost on the directors of the Pioneer Washington Foundation.