APOSTLE OF THE ANVIL
“Trial and error, mostly error” is how the great BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bill Moran described his early efforts at producing pattern-welded or damascus steel for knife blades.
The rest of the story, quite simply, is that the trial ended in triumph. Moran is credited with singlehandedly saving the art of bladesmithing in America—arguably the entire world—and with reintroducing the harmonious chorus of hammer, billet and anvil that brought damascus blade steel back to life.
It would be enough for most men to be remembered for these accomplishments alone, but they are only a fraction of Moran’s contributions to custom knives. Along with Don Hastings, Bill Bagwell and Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer B.R. Hughes, he was one of the four founders of the American Bladesmith Society (ABS). The first bladesmithing school was named in his honor, and he made the teaching of how to forge a blade a lifelong pursuit. In one of the most popular inductions ever, he was ushered into the Cutlery Hall of Fame in 1986.
Amid all the achievements, Moran was a true gentleman, kind and giving, and generous with his time and talent.
“In 1976 when the ABS was founded, we knew
