Saturday Night Blade Porn: Matt Helm Knives

What you see in the picture below is my friend Adam's Pocket Barbarian from Matt Helm Knives alongside his favorite blaster. Below that is his full-sized Barbarian. Helm, a Texas-based artisan and custom knife-maker, is friends with (and admired by) a lot of people in the firearms/tactical industry. His knife-making appears to be a relatively recent endeavor, not that you could tell to look at the work. He advises he was inspired to the craft by none other than Andy Roy of Fiddleback Forge.

This is the Fist Load, both normal and reverse edge. It's similar to the Clinch Pick, but modified by “…stretching the design to a larger handle, longer and taller blade, beefier tip and slightly different blade-to-handle angle. 3/16 thick, asymmetric grind in 01 tool steel.” The Fist Load with a sharpened upper edge is apparently known as the Tommy Special.

Here's another, 3/16 in. tool steel and G10 with flared stainless tubing.

Hammered Fist Load here.

This piece is a 3/16 in. tool steel Matt Helm knife with antique white linen Micarta, copper pins and liners with assorted goodness in the background.

What you see below is Helm's version of a reverse edge, inspired by the Craig Douglas Clinch Pick design (with that worthy's permission). It's 5/32 asymmetric 01 tool steel, black Micarta G10 and natural canvas Micarta pins.

A Birdsall XL.

This shows a few of his blades before being sent for heat treatment.

Here's one of his earlier works.

Says Helm,

“I got started by reading up in the maker areas of bladeforums.com and watching some YouTube videos, etc. It's simpler than you think.Pick up some 01 tool steel from flatground.com and a grinder of some description (lotta guys start with the 1 inch wide belt grinder Craftsman) or use a mill if you have access to one. Send it off to Peter's Heat Treating Services for a few bucks each for heat treating and you don't have to worry about that aspect up front. Very fun, opens a lot of doors and get to know good people.”

This is a Lawman and a Pendley.

Another Pendley; this one was donated to the Stickman 100k party.

Here's the original Pendley design next to the newer Pendley XL (surrounded by some other mostly-Michigan goodness). Helm advises the XL blade is slightly longer than the original Pendley and the handle drops just a bit more at the pommel.

Another Pendley – the 3-Finger version.

This has been a Matt Helm edition Saturday Night Blade Porn. As it was probably too short to suit those of you with discriminating taste in edge, I'll direct you to Matt Helm Knives on Facebook. You can also follow him on Instagram (@matthelmknives).

NEXT STEP: Download Your Free Target Pack from RECOIL

For years, RECOIL magazine has treated its readers to a full-size (sometimes full color!) shooting target tucked into each big issue. Now we've compiled over 50 of our most popular targets into this one digital PDF download. From handgun drills to AR-15 practice, these 50+ targets have you covered. Print off as many as you like (ammo not included).

Get your pack of 50 Print-at-Home targets when you subscribe to the RECOIL email newsletter. We'll send you weekly updates on guns, gear, industry news, and special offers from leading manufacturers - your guide to the firearms lifestyle.

You want this. Trust Us.