When I was in middle school, we watched a documentary about an African tribe using the lost wax process to cast bronze tools. I had always wanted to give it a try but I didn’t have access to a forge. Fast forward a few years to 1983 and the first Rambo movie was still fresh in my mind. Like the rest of my adolescent buddies, I was in awe of Rambo’s knife! I was a junior in high school and I finally had my driver license. I could now drive to collect my material and explore resources. I got a bar of steel and just started cutting with a hacksaw. I didn’t have any power grinders or belt sanders back then, so everything was shaped using hand files. That style of survival knife was so popular that I was able to find a knife supplier who was selling the machined handles. I found a local foundry to cast my hand guard and the owner was generous enough to do the work at cost since he could tell I was pretty green and didn’t have any money!
For my second knife, I wanted to explore the casting process a bit further so this time I decided to cast the skull out of sterling silver. My uncle, who made dental implants, generously agreed to cast the piece if I supplied the silver. He melted down a few silver coins that I had collected and I was able to complete the knife.