2020 T-Shirt Pre-Order / Chefs Knife Giveaway

It’s time for the annual chefs knife raffle and I’m excited to announce the arrival of new Heartwood Forge artwork. This year’s shirt design will be sold via preorders as raffle entries. Unlimited entries are allowed, so show your family some love and get them all outfitted. A winner will be drawn and announced on June 8th. Shirts will ship around July 4th.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Lovingly designed by my friend, Wilson Kemp. Check out this Baltimore-based artist - he’s a solid dude and very talented freelance visual artist & illustrator. Support him. He is on Instagram @wilson.wk.

ABOUT THE SHIRTS Printed in Liberty, Maine using water based ink on certified organic cotton that has been grown, milled, cut, sewn and dyed domestically. These are my favorite shirts; they are ethically & environmentally sound and they get better with age. We’re only printing once, so when they're gone, they're gone. Available in black or hand-tie-dyed mellow-spiral. Each tie-dye will vary slightly and is one-of-a-kind.

OFFICIAL RULES: Enter as many times as you like. Each shirt ordered counts as an entry. *International shipping not included*

WHEN IS THE WINNER DRAWN? I’ll draw a winner on June 8th and the winner will be contacted via email or phone once selected. Drawing will be held on Monday, June 8th, 2020.

WHEN DO YOU SHIP THE SHIRTS? Shirts will ship when they are back from the print house - with an estimated delivery to our HQ by July 4th.

ABOUT THE KNIFE: This hand forged san mai French chefs is made from layers of antique bridge wrought iron and ball bearing carbon steel that have been forge welded together. San mai construction is a traditional Japanese technique and in my opinion, a sensible way to make a knife - the soft cladding allows the edge to be protected while being harder than a single-steel knife. The soft cladding also makes subsequent sharpening faster since more of the material removed is soft. The full tang handle is dressed in African Blackwood (source: clarinet factory in Paris) with a B&W ebony bolster. This knife is covered by my guarantee as though you purchased it from my newsletter.

• 13 5/8" overall length

• 8 5/8" blade length

• 202 grams

• Includes HWF soft zippered case

HOW TO ENTER: Simple, purchase any quantity of the new shirts. Number of shirts = number of entries.

Click link. >>> PURCHASE HERE TO ENTER <<< Click link.

over $100,000 raised for restaurant workers in need

Though we are all facing difficulties and struggling to find a new sense of normal, restaurants have been some of the first and hardest hit by the recent COVID-19 disaster. For two weeks, I fumbled around my shop worrying about the impacts the coronavirus spread would have in my community. In a weird daze after reading heartbreaking emails from some of my customers as their businesses and jobs vaporized, it became clear that my normal needed to change. I needed to get involved.

I had an integral petty / line knife (forged from Hitachi 1086 carbon steel, Tacoma truck springs) almost complete that I decided to raffle it off – donating all proceeds to an advocacy and action nonprofit created by and for restaurant workers, the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. I’m no stranger to donating to causes I believe in but this fundraiser evolved into something I could have never imagined. 

In the first couple days of posting the knife raffle, we pushed close to $1,000 in donations. And after shoutouts from both Sean Brock & Jason Knight Knives, we pushed right past $2000! I had more than achieved my personal goal. But before long, I had other wonderful artisans wanting to contribute. my friend Colin (owner and glass blower at Terrane Glass) & Jed (blacksmith and owner at Heart and Spade Forge) really boosted this from a simple knife raffle to an artisan raffle. It seemed I had just finished uploading these additions when my friends Erica Moody, metalsmith & the Wrights of ME Speak Design, reached out almost simultaneously.

With the goal of raising funds for those in need and raising awareness of the far reaching havoc the financial impact of COVID-19 is having, we foresaw that one big artisan raffle would have the biggest impact. So it was decided that a lucky winner would take it all.

Before long my life was consumed with organizing and connecting with other donors, which makes me so grateful for the craft community that has welcomed me. Talented friends across the nation reached out. Chair makers Eric Cannizzaro & Curtis Buchanan both insisted on donating as well as Butter Pat Industries, Eating Tools, Tom Beckbe, Irongrove Tool Co., Blackswan Handmade, Brien Beidler & Heather Ashton. We eventually even welcomed chef and auther Samin Nosrat’s contribution to the raffle, as well as the Instagram sensation The Tiny Chef Show, who offered his own personal cutting board and bottle cap frying pan.

The outpouring of support this raffle garnered was heartwarming and served as a great focal point in my personal life.  It felt like this fundraiser assumed it’s force that took over and we couldn’t have stopped it if we tried! Everyone who was involved, entrants and donors alike, we were all acting with our hearts  - being the change we want to see in the world. Over the course of the two weeks, we raised over $53,000 which continued to inspire more giving. 

The day after our raffle ended, Ann Ladson took over part two with many of the same donors and overflow from the first one, she raised an additional $10,000 for Restaurant Workers Community Foundation. And right when that raffle ended, Mill Scale put together a third raffle which raised an additional $41,000. Totaling over $100k directly for restaurant workers in need.

The shear amount of love and support I have witnessed has made me tear up and laugh out loud countless times. What is most importantly learned here is that I had a thought to do something small because that’s where I’m comfortable. But I acted on my heart.  Others did the same and before long, it had turned into something I would never image possible. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts.

In a post-COVID world, I hope we can act on our hearts more often, making the change we want to see in the world. And it’s never too early to start… If you feel the need to do something to help others, no matter how small, please just do it. You never know how it could inspire others to do the same.

Thank you for participating, thank you for the love.

Update: Tallahassee Magazine published a digital vignette of the project here. 

Melanie Morgan Selected as 2020 Saul Bell Design Award Finalist

Congratulations to Melanie Morgan on her selection as a finalist in the 2020 Saul Bell Design Award! My wife and I first met Melanie years ago in Athens, GA when we were visiting Aurum Studios Gallery in search of the jeweler who would make our wedding bands. Her work spoke clearly to us as we browsed the shop and she happened to be in the back - the studio’s most prized bench jeweler. As clearly as her work spoke to us, her humble nature made for an immediate genuine human connection. We quickly became aware of her creative intuition and felt grateful we’d stumbled upon someone we could trust to make some important decisions.

Needless to say, the rings are perfect and it’s funny looking back because we really didn’t give much guidance for something we’d be wearing for the rest our lives. Melanie’s clear command of fine metals is incredible and her holistic approach in the design and creation of these forever objects made them much more than just objects and more like a talisman or Nkisi. It’s almost as though that because we met and connected, she was able to genuinely create rings that not only fit us physically, but metaphysically too. And it was clear that any work she creates possess this soul.

As time went on, we learned more about Melanie. She’s also a song writer so we went to a show, and instantly became fans of her music too. Somehow, I wound up playing drums in her band and Between Naybors.

We’ve stayed good friends and this February, Melanie came up for a visit. She wanted to finish that knife we had started years ago and it was truly eye opening to see how delicate a process can be. It reminds me that everybody has an approach to their craft that is unique to their perspective, their approach - where they are coming from. In that sense, it’s all about context.

• Visit Melanie’s website!

• Read about Saul Bell and the origins of the award.

• Shop Aurum Studios *be sure to search for Melanie Morgan in their search bar*

Congratulations dear friend. You’re so deserving of this wonderful recognition!

Tom Beckbe / Chris Hastings / Heartwood Forge Collab

When Alabama outdoor clothing purveyor, Tom Beckbe came to visit with James Beard Award Winning Chef Chris Hastings, we all put our heads together to work on some knives and found time to enjoy copious amounts of food together. All photos are shot by William Hereford.

The experience of having such a burgeoning outdoor clothing designer and this top chef in my shop was both extremely hectic and terribly fun. What an honor to work with this team. With that many folks handling so many knives, we definitely lost some blood during their stay here, but we all walked away happy. William and Saint Hereford were a photography dream team. Until next time…

Instagram is a great way to see what we're up to!

We love to share the stories of our daily grind. Ha! Get it? Really, though, Instagram is an incredible platform to share what we love - knives, dogs, ponds, partners, friends, and stories... Click on each image for the story.