Artifact of the Month: August 2020

Pieces of Our Past: An Epic Ketchikan Knife

Bifrost Blacksmithing is born out of a Norse legend referring to the burning rainbow bridge that connects earth with Asgard, the land of the gods. Since 1992, Jake Beimler has been creating exquisite knives and tools out of his blacksmith shop using local scrap metal like railroad spikes and trap springs. Together with apprentice Joron Whitton, the two created an epic Ketchikan knife earlier this year called, "Pieces of Our Past" made solely out of locally sourced materials.

The knife blade started out as a roller bearing assembly from the M/V Columbia, an Alaska Marine Highway System ferry homeported in Ketchikan since 1974. The bearing was cut in half and hammered flat. The metal was shaped and tempered to add color like the aurora in the night sky, a signature of Bifrost Blacksmithing. The guard material is hull plating from one of the new ferries M/V Tazlina or M/V Hubbard after they were modified to add side loading doors. A thick copper spacer below the guard came from the tugboat Achushnet, homeported in Ketchikan. The ship served during WWII prior to becoming part of the United States Coast Guard fleet and was retired in 2011. A thinner strip of copper next to the spacer came from the Ketchikan Pulp Company mill, which closed in 1997. The handle is antler from a Sitka Blacktail deer, a local species. The pommel, the rounded knob at the end of the handle, features a cabochon that is green beach glass found at Mountain Point. The glass was flint knapped and set into a copper bezel from a pipe that came out of the Ketchikan Pulp Company mill. Joron Whitton made the sheath out of cow leather that was hand-stitched and dyed. They also created a custom stand made of cedar and antler.

Jake and Joron work out of a blacksmith shop located at the Rainforest Sanctuary in Herring Cove.

Ketchikan Museums, KM 2020.2.27.1-.3