Baby Moon Blades: Bringing the Art of Knifemaking back home to the Hill Country...
February 1, 2023 \\ Pontotoc Farmers Market \\ Baby Moon Blades
My recent visit to the workshop of Adam Miller was one of the few times growing produce took a back seat in our conversation as we discussed another profession, also thousands of years old, knifemaking. Miller’s interest in knives started in a familiar way, through knives inherited from his grandparents. His father was a blacksmith and he learned by watching him and later by working around other welders in town. Spending most of his adult life out of state as a consultant in welding and fabrication, Miller returned home to Pontotoc last spring.
Miller handcrafts knives that fall into three general categories: Hunter Patterns, Artistic Work Horses and the Bull Knife collection. Within these three categories are hunting knives, kitchen knives, farm and utilitarian knives, tomahawks and even axes.
Every knife carries Miller’s signature touchmark, the nesting crescent moons and guiding star. Adam’s father, Tommy “Moon” Miller, a well-known local blacksmith, signed his work with one crescent moon. The moon along with a guiding star became common motifs in his family’s home; and, as Adam described, those symbols evolved to be representative of his parents’ union. Miller’s touchmark sets a small crescent moon in between the larger crescent moon and the guiding star, lending credit to his family for their inspiration. The name for the business …. Baby Moon Blades. The rare knife created for the Bull Knife Collection is given an additional touchmark, a bull, a mark of distinction.
Each knife suits a purpose and a person. There is no perfect tool for all chores, and there is no one knife for all tasks.
Miller begins by selecting a piece of raw steel: bar, round rod, or plate. You will not find preformed blanks or ready-to-be-cut, preforged steel in this workshop. The steel billets or bars are hand-worked at his shop with a sledge hammer, sometimes with his wife, Lisa, or Kara, his daughter, holding the steel in place as he repeatedly hammers and heats to reach the desired strength, thickness and shape. Miller hopes to add a large power hammer to aid in this work some day! From the forged steel, the blade is shaped with a bandsaw and a grinder is used to create the desired edge.
Hand forging a blade allows for the creation of curved blades, added features such as integral bolsters for stability at the base of some blades and development of Damascus steel. Creating those striking patterns of Damascus steel requires alternating layers of dissimilar metals. Forge welding these multiple layers produces the characteristic watery effect. For the striations that are in high demand at Baby Moon Blades, the metal is twisted as it is forged and hammered. After twisting and hammering the blade to the desired thickness and shape, he places it in ferric chloride solution. One layer will resist etching remaining shiny, whereas the secondary layer etches away allowing the pattern to emerge. Like true Damascus steel, the blades bear the pattern all the way through the metal. These multi-layered Damascus knives are worth the investment to those knowledgeable of the extra effort put into forging and finishing.
Knife handles on any blade leaving the shop of Baby Moon Blades receive the same hand-crafted treatment. Miller orders blocks of material which are then sawn, assembled, sanded, and polished in house. From bodock, walnut, dyed hackberry and flaming box elder to exotic Indonesian cheesewood burl, Australian snakewood, and blackheart, he shapes a handle most suited for the intended task and for the hand that will use the knife.
Now that Lisa and Adam will be co-chairing our market’s Steering Committe this year, our conversation naturally circled back to growing produce for the market and plans for the upcoming season. Miller expects we will see even more produce from Miller Fortenberry Farm … heirloom tomatoes, including Cherokee purple varieties, plus okra, corn, peas and hot peppers.
Starting the first Saturday in May, join Adam and Lisa and the rest of our growers, producers, bakers and makers at the Pontotoc Farmers Market as we start one of the biggest markets in the Hill Country of Mississippi!
It’s going to be a great season!
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