This week’s interview takes us to the workshop of Logan Hemingway Lichtenhan. Which is about as an impactful of a name I suppose you could have. But it is the substance of a person that gives the definition to the name, and by that measure you have an even greater name. He is generous with his time and has a contagious passion for his work. I am very pleased to be able to share his story.
To start off, please tell us a little about yourself.
I would not say I am a good self-describer but I will give it a whirl. I am a born and raised Tucson Arizonian that has tried my hand at many things in my 42 years, but what brings me to you or you to me as the case may be is that at the end of May of 2021, after the Covid pandemic caused me to be laid off from my previous forms of employment, I had some free time and I decided to take a class on how to make a knife! Tucson has a school called Desert Metal Craft that teaches the metal arts and I had always wanted to create my own knife. I took the four day Knife Intensive and I was hooked! I have carried a knife nearly daily (whenever appropriate) since I was probably 6 years old and had off and on collected knives since. Once I had made that first knife from forging to finishing I thought, well this is pretty cool, so I bought the least expensive anvil and forge I could find and a 2X42 craftsman belt grinder and started making more projects, I also took more and more classes from the school in order to hopefully exponentially increase my skills. This approach worked.
What sparked your interest in knives?
I have always found knives to be an invaluable tool and historically cutting tools are likely one of, if not the most, important tool we humans have ever created and utilized. This is part of why this craft holds my interest. Knives are tools and they come in so many different and specific forms and each form can be optimized for its task, this is the most important aspect of any knife design “does it do what it is supposed to do”?
What keeps you going, and what is your biggest struggle?
This sometimes feels like a really difficult question and I would be lying if I said it isn’t often a struggle, but what keeps me going is actually a number of things, one thing is as I mentioned before, knives and blades are ancient and important tools and being a part of the lineage of people to take up the craft connects me to a legacy. Selfishly I like the variety, the breadth and depth, of where this craft can take you, I have made everything from fine culinary knives to brutal and wicked swords and many of what lies between and I have so many more ideas for designs to explore.
My biggest struggle is definitely the promotion side of this business, I know I make high quality and unique pieces, but I struggle with the promotional aspects of the system we are in. I am not a savvy computer or technology user and I prefer my work speak for itself. I am grateful that through word of mouth and local events I have found people who enjoy my work and I haven’t had to push online promotion very much because it is not something I enjoy and the social media views and clicks game is not my bag. I am an Iron Age Technologist trying to figure out how to be a computer age Craftsman.
Who helped you early on?
One of the amazing things I have found from the knife community is the willingness to share knowledge! I have had the benefit of having some amazing teachers and friends. Good friends become teachers and good teachers often become friends in this community. I would not have the skills I possess without quite a few amazing teachers. My first Teachers Rich Greenwood and Mario Hernandez (Pokobu Forge & Turtle Knight Forge respectively) got this ball rolling and since then, Jon Wick, Nick Rossi, Don Nguyen, Anna Koplick, Liz Cameron, Michael Jarvis, Martin Huber, Jordan Danz, etc, etc. I learn a little something from almost everyone I meet in this community. We all stand on the shoulders of the people who put forth the effort to teach. Also there are so many YouTuber knife makers that I have benefitted from their generosity of knowledge.
Who are your influences/inspirations?
Oh man… this is a difficult question to answer with brevity. There are so many that to name them all would be too much. I am a forging craftsman at heart, that is where my main interest lies in this highly varied pursuit so I find the most inspiration from the makers who are creating unique forged pieces. To name specific people would be unfair to the many unnamed, past and present. But I appreciate unique functional design in almost any form, and from almost any body.
How do you think those inspirations translates into your work?
We are all inspired and influenced by nearly everything we experience in this world, and for me these things show up in my work in a myriad of ways some more obvious like specific techniques but others are more subtle like a slight curve or upsweep or a more severe angle that pleases me that I may not know consciously where the inspiration came from but I can feel a compulsion towards it.
Any specific breakthroughs or revelations in your knife making journey?
I have had many, most have been the tips and tools that have made certain processes easier or more efficient, and I again have to credit the classes I have taken from amazing teachers. The beauty of efficiency breakthroughs is that they unlock creativity you can spend less time making which means you get more time to dream up new things to try. The other main breakthroughs occur from just putting in the work trying to find ways to achieve your goals and just repetition, repetition, repetition.
What is the perfect knife?
The perfect knife doesn’t exist we are all just trying to circle closer and closer to making the right knife for the task. Knives are purpose driven and if a knife achieves its purpose, it is a good tool, and a good tool is valuable. But perfect? Nothing is ever perfect…
How do you approach knife testing?
Knife testing is all about determining the purpose of the knife and putting that knife through the paces of its intended tasks, if it accomplishes the tasks of its intended use then it is good to go. My testing practices are as specific as the knives.
How do you develop a design, select a steel, and fine-tune a heat treatment?
Well, it depends on if I am making a self-determined custom piece or creating something for a specific person and use. With my own creative pieces, it often starts with drawings and intended use and then from that I make iterations of those drawings until I am happy and then I get started usually with forging. With commission pieces it starts with an interview of the client to determine what kind of blade they want and what they want to use it for and overall dimensions. Then I usually make a few concept drawings for them to choose from or give feedback on, sometimes this is a back and forth for a little while until a final design is settled on. Then I give them my recommended steel choices for their purpose, and we pick one based on their needs and budget. I also like to give the client the choice of handle material. I am fortunate that many times clients give me carte blanche to make what inspires me, but I find the collaboration with the client a fun and fulfilling process for the both of us.
What’s up next for you? Any exciting new projects to tell us about?
I consider myself to still be pretty new to this craft at about four and a half years in, so I have so many things I want to learn and explore I am playing around more with pattern-welded steel “damascus” and interesting integral forgings and I look forward to combining those thing more and more, I have also been playing around with unique uses of other metals in my work and sculptural design elements. Also, swords who doesn’t want to make some swords before they die? I have also been making and designing locking pocket-knives and would like to explore that venue as well. There is no shortage of cool and different things to do in this highly varied pursuit of making blades and blacksmithing. I have also become a teacher at the school I learned at Desert Metal Craft and it has been nice to spread the knowledge that has been so generously given to me.
To keep up to date with what Logan is up to head over to his website https://www.lhlblades.com/ and follow him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/logan.h.l/ and if you would like more information on the school check it out https://www.desertmetalcraft.org/
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