KNIFE STEEL

The primary tool for carving the head is the bowmaker’s knife or ‘canif’, which should function like an extension of his or her hand. A great knife has the same mystique as a great bow. One might readily imagine steel as a uniform material but nothing could be farther from the truth. Industrially produced knives can take a razor edge but they fail to make contact and chatter as they cut. Blades from a legendary Mirecourt knife-maker, Grandclaire, have an amazing ability to cut smoothly through the hardest pernambuco. Rene Morel once told me that Grandclair forged his own steel by working in the carbon that gives it toughness. I believe a toolmaker could do the same today but I haven’t encountered anyone who wants to go to the trouble when you can buy steel off the shelf. We also like to use old Sheffield straight razors that we grind down to the required shape. Because the ebony and pernambuco wood we use is so much harder than maple and spruce, the bowmaker sharpens his knife quite differently from a violinmaker.

Here are knife blades before they are set in handles and sharpened. The top one is a Sheffield razor partially ground to a knife shape. On the bottom two you can see the stamp, Grandclaire à Mirecourt.