FLAT ROCK, N.C. (WLOS) — What started as just a hobby for local knife maker Joe Israel has steadily grown into a booming business.
Flat Rock Forge saw a surge in popularity during the pandemic, and was soon featured in the international knife magazine BLADE.
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“I just started banging metal and decided in 2021 I wanted to take the plunge and do this full time,” Israel said.
It’s important to understand how the various parts of a knife work together to become a functioning tool, he says, and it’s that handcrafted element that Israel says sets his knives apart from mass-produced ones.
“These are 100 percent handmade, 100 percent made by me. Handmade products have character, they have the hand of the maker. The hand of the maker is there, and I think that’s important,” he said.
He says the craft is important to him because it allows him to make items that are personal to people.
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“I made a paring knife for my wife out of a coil spring from an old car I had,” he said.
He explains that when he makes his knives, they are all hand ground, sight-honed and then hand-finished.
“We don’t have CNCs or milling machines or anything like that,” he says. “I’m very particular about quality control, which is something that a lot of manufacturers don’t do, so I test each blade for hardness on a hardness testing machine.”
Israel’s dagger appeared on the cover of BLADE Magazine about a year after he began making knives seriously.
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“We don’t give false guarantees. That means you won’t get a false guarantee from me, but I don’t want to get a false guarantee from you,” he said. “If you break it, I’ll fix it, but tell me how you broke it. Tell me what stupid thing you did to break the knife.”
He says that if anyone wants a custom, one-of-a-kind knife, he’s the one to ask.
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