AA Forge Knives

AA Forge knives have quickly become my favorite.  The knives are produced by Adam Gray in Trenton, Ohio.  He started making knives as a hobby in his parents basement back in 2009.  


Maker's Mark

Adam's blades can easily be identified by his maker's mark of an 'A' near the heel of the blade on the right side.  The original style marker's mark utilized a more traditional style font.  On August 9th, 2014, AA Forge announced changing the maker's mark to more of a cursive style appearance.  

Identifying Blade Material

Immediately below the maker's mark is generally a symbol which indicates the steel used to produce the knife.  The image on the left above has nothing present below the A indicating the knife is produce with 01 tool steel.  The knife on the right above has a dot below the A which indicates it was produced with 52100.  More recent knives, like the one below, include a small X beneath the maker's mark which indicates 80CRV2.

Adam has also recently used AEB-L and  NitroV.  I believe these have both been marked with the small X but I'll need to confirm.


Knife Grinds

Flat
Convex
Scandivex
Scandi

Blade Flats



Knife Models Produced

AA Forge Trapper

This is a AA Forge Mini Trapper which shows signs of use but not abuse.  There is some patina on the blade.  The blade is 1/8" 52100 steel and insane sharp.  The handle is ironwood with what appears to be G10 green liners.  The pins are brass mosaic.  The knife comes with a handmade sheath which holds the knife but is not as tightly as I tend to prefer.  

Mini Bushcrafter

I owned this AA Forge Mini Bushcrafter until recently.  The knife is smaller than most with an overall length of 7 3/4" mostly due to the 3" blade.  Despite the small overall size, the knife has the super comfortable contoured handle that is common to AA Forge.  The handle scales are walnut with thick white G10 liners and brass pins.  The blade is a 3" scandi grind in 52100 steel.

The knife fits perfectly in a dark brown Diomedes sheath.  The sheath came with the knife and was a very light tan color.  I dyed the sheath a darker brown which improved the look considerably.

AA Forge Woodsrunner

This AA Forge Woodsrunner is made from 1/8" 52100 steel with a convex grind.  The handle is made from ironwood burl, stabilized navy burlap, with thick micarta liners.  The knife is 9 1/8" overall with a 4 1/8" blade.  

The handle combination on this knife is incredible.  In my opinion, the knife felt a bit large in my hand mostly due to the thickness of the blade (from spine to blade edge).  As a result, I found I like using my AA Forge Bushcrafter more.

AA Forge Hunter

This is an AA Forge Hunter with walnut handle, 1/8" green micarta liners, and brass pins.  The blade is 4 1/4" 52100 steel with an exceptionally share convex grind.  

AA Forge Ridgeback

This is the AA Forge Ridgeback.  This particular model is made from 52100 1/8" steel with a convex grind.  The handle is walnut, with 1/8" green micarta liners, white G-10 sandwich liners, and copper hardware.  The blade is 4 1/8" long with a 4 5/8" handle.  This is an exceptional handle combination and is exceptional as skinning deer.

Another Ridgeback made of 52100 high carbon steel (1/8”), ivory paper micarta scales, 1/8” brown micarta liners, and burlap bolster.  Shown with a Badger Claw Leatherworks sheath.

This example of the AA Forge Ridgeback with a blade made from 3/16" 52100 steel and a convex grind.  The handle is stabilized curly maple with red liners and brass pins.  The blade is 4 1/4" with a 4 5/8" handle for an overall length of 8 7/8"

AA Forge Woodsman

This is a Woodsman made from 1/8" 52100 steel in a scandivex grind.  The blade an handle on this on are both 4 1/2"  The handle material is bone linen with natural micarta liners.  The pins are natural micarta with brass lanyard tube.

AA Forge Mini Woodsman

AA Forge Bushcrafter

This was my first AA Forge knife.  The knife has green micarta scales over black micarta liners with black G10 pins.  The blade is made of 5/32" 01 tool steel in a flat grind.  I ultimately sold this one to replace it with a different AA Forge Bushcrafter with a more ornate handle and 1/8" thick blade.

This is another example of an AA Forge Bushcrafter.  This is an older design which I acquired unused.  It is made from 01 tool steel in a scandi grind and ironwood burl scales.  

AA Forge Grunt

Blade: 3.5" 01 Tool Steel (1/8" Thick) w/Convex Grind

Handle: Bocote w/ Natural Micarta Liners & Maroon Sandwich Liners (8" Overall Length)

Sheath: Custom Badgerclaw Leatherworks

AA Forge Hiker

Blade: 3.125" 52100 Steel (3/32" Thick) w/Convex Grind

Handle: Walnut w/ Lime Green Pinstripe Liner (7.5" Overall Length)

Sheath: Custom Diomedes Sheath

AA Forge Forager

Blade: 3" 52100 Steel 1/8" Thick) w/Convex Grind

Handle: Dark Curly Maple w/Natural Micarta Liners & Sapphire Burlap Bolster.

Sheath: Custom Red Rhino Kydex 

AA Forge/Hidden Woodsman Woodlore (1 of 15)

Released January 25, 2019 – Limited Production Run of 15 Knives

Blade: 3/32” AEB-L Stainless Steel Blade

Handle: Green Micarta Scales w/Brown Micarta Liners, White Pinstripes w/ Copper Hardware

Sheath: Badgerclaw Leather Works

Cold Smoking Meats for Preservation Purposes

I'm interested in learning more about the process of cold smoking meats to preserve them.  I'll be updating this page as I learn more with the best resources available. 


KYAField
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6UkXhHUTfM

The National Center for Home Food Preservation
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_toc.html

New Entry Gate - Part 4

This weekend I put most of the finishing touches on the new entry gate.  I arrived on Friday evening and painted then with Rustoleum black paint so it could dry overnight.  The next morning, I drilled the holes to mount the gate, picked up a gate from a local store, and then mounted it.

The last step was using my father's skid steer to level out the entry road so that it was smooth and the gate opened and closed well without interference.  The only steps remaining at this point are to put fencing material on the small fence area leading to the fence.  My only hesitation is purchasing matching fencing for the rest of the property is rather expensive as I'd have to buy a 330' roll for 16'.

Now I wait for my neighbor to replicate it on the opposite side of the road.  We agreed to each complete our side and make the two identical since the property line runs down the middle of the road.  We then own our side and maintain our side.

New Entry Gate - Part 3

Yesterday, I coped the last horizontal pipe for the new entry gate and welded it in place.  Afterwards, I used my grinder and a wire wheel to clean surface rust from the new pipes.  I wiped them down with mineral spirits and a towel.  Once dry, I rolled on some Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer.  I'll allow this to dry and then paint the pipes with Rustoleum Semi-Gloss Black paint. 

The pipe fence is 56" high matching that of the piping on other parts of the fence.  The distance between the vertical pipes is 8' just like all the other piping.  The result is that everything matches very well... but there is a concern.

The road is crowned a little where the gate will go.  The gate itself is about 51" tall so I only have about 5" of area under the gate so that it is still level with the top of my new fence.  I think the gate will not fit and look right unless I get the skid steer and regrade the road so I'll need to add that to my list of things to do.

At this point, I'm left with painting the pipes, installing fence material, regrading the road, and then drilling holes to mount the 14' gate.