Mercian Forge rebrand and new UK Legal slipjoint puukkos...
I have been absolutely awful at updating this substack site, so I apologise to you guys who signed up and were hoping for more regular updates and shop-drops.
First off; Willslock Forge is now Mercian Forge. Willslock is the name of the hamlet in which the forge is based. However, if one more person had called me Will and asked me if I forge locks, I think I would have beaten them to death with my hammer. It particularly annoyed me because if they thought my business name was either “Will Slock Forge” or “Will’s Lock-forge” it meant that either they can’t read or they think I can’t spell, neither of which is good.
Instead, we have Mercian Forge - a name that I hope captures the early-medieval Anglo-Scandinavian historical influences behind much of my work. The forge itself is located right on what would have been the border of danelaw, and the Kingdom of Mercia represented the epicentre of the cultural clash between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. The rebrand had been in the works for a while - all of my knives made since this time last year already have the Mercian shield stamp rather than the old WF stamp - but a hell of a lot has happened since I last updated this site and I’ve only now gotten around to rebranding.
Without going into too much detail, I split up with my fiancée this time last year and have since been trying to juggle co-parenting my two year old son (I now have him half of the time) alongside running the bladesmithing business, teaching forest school and foreign languages on the side and trying to somehow rebuild my life.
My two priorities are to be a good father for my son and to build a successful bladesmithing businesss that hopefully he can take over one day.
All this, combined with the difficulties of promoting my work when being actively censored by social media and navigating all the new nonsensical knife laws in this dystopian clownworld, means that I have a formidable challenge ahead of me.
Although it would in some ways be easier and simpler to shut up shop (or keep it as a hobby) and then just get a full-time job, I know that I will spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have made it work and probably regretting my decision.
I love what I do and I’m too stubborn to give up and stop. I also like a challenge.
The obstacle is the way.
So, although my social media has been extremely quiet lately, the forge has been lit and the anvil has been ringing. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes to create new hand-forged folding knives that are better than ever before.
I’ve found myself being drawn back to the orginal quest that set me off on my knifemaking journey; to design a robust, heavy-duty folding knife that is still UK legal and able to be carried as an everyday knife. Based on my own personal tastes, I wanted to incorporate some of the style and design elements of the traditional Scandinavian puukko albeit in folder form.
Now that The Bushcraft Show 2025 is out the way, I’m getting ready for a large shop update with all of the new folders. However, as promised, you guys on Substack get first dibs on the new pieces before they go live…
These are the seven monosteel puukko folders, but I also have a few more pattern-welded slipjoints in the works that will be finished shortly…
Holly Burl (stabilized) & 26c3. 3mm spine, scandi grind with convex microbevel. £325
Another Holly Burl slipjoint, although this one has red fibre liners between the scales and stainless liners. £340
Scottish Stag & 26c3 Carbon Steel. 3mm spine, scandi grind. £325
English Oak (stabilized) and 1084 Carbon Steel. 2mm spine, high sabre grind. £295
Pattern-welded damascus (400 y/o wrought iron, 200 layer 1095/15n20 and 1084 carbon steel core). Handle is stainless steel liners with stabilized Quilted Maple Burl. £720
Pattern-welded damascus san-mai with 1084 cutting edge. Stainless liners, bog oak bolsters and electric blue Chestnut Burl scales £680
More incoming, but these will be the first ones going on the website this week. Drop me an e-mail for more photos & info if you’re interested in claming one of them before they go up for sale.