Happy Holidays 2024

2024 was a busy year at Guinea Hog Forge. After making the big move from southeastern NC to the middle of the state in 2022, we finally completed the new shop by firing up the forge in late January of this year. It was really nice to put the hot side of our operations back to work and see Scott forging on his home turf again. To celebrate, we invited friends and family out for an event on the property and had a blast forging, grinding, eating, sitting around the fire, and simply enjoying each other's company.  

 

 We plan hold another hammer-in in 2025 so stay-tuned for details.

 

While Scott continues to teach at various schools around the country (the Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing in Waynesboro VA, Arc and Flame in Rochester NY, and at Shop Space in Raleigh NC), he also started teaching 1-2 person classes at our shop in Franklinton, NC this year, so check our website for class descriptions and dates. If you don't see a class that works for you, email us and we can design a class to meet your needs and works with your schedule.  

 

To end the year, Scott recently finished two knives. A Rover Blackout was made alongside a student during a custom class at our home shop in December. This stock removal version of our popular Rover design was ground out of 1075. Scott tapered the tang to better balance the knife, Parkerized the steel to protect it from corrosion, marked in with our McGhee Knives stock removal mark, and then dressed it in a vintage Micarta handle which contrasts nicely against the black blade. 

Rover Elite Blackout

Earlier this year, Scott forged an all-steel Giblet Knife in an offsite class and then finished in the shop this month. Scott hand-forges knives out of steel giblets to show students that you are not limited by the amount of steel you have, but only by your forging skills and imagination. This wicked little all steel blade was hand-forged out of 80CRv2, has a rustic hammer-marked steel handle, and is a cutting machine. 

All Steel Giblet Knife

Both knives come with leather pocket sheaths with Discreet Carry Concept hip-clips and a wooden display box with our logo. They were available on the website when this blog was written. To view all available items and there specifications please go HERE.

We hope you had a wonderful 2024. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, and we hope to see or hear from you in 2025. Thanks! 

Lydia & Scott McGhee

Guinea Hog Forge

guineahogforge@gmail.com

2024 NC STATE FAIR

Fall is in the air and that means Scott is busy making knives for the NC State Fair in Raleigh, NC - October 17-27th. We've been selling knives and talking about the art of the forged blade in the Village of Yesteryear (an artist village on the traditional side of the fairgrounds) since 2016. It's always a good time, but this year Scott will also be demonstrating his skills live at Heritage Forge (just down from the VOY building) where talented blacksmiths forge all day long. Scott will demonstrate his knife forging skills at Heritage Forge from 1-3pm on Tuesday & Thursday, Oct 22nd & 24th. We plan to video and hopefully live-stream during those times, so stay tuned for content from that opportunity.

 

Below are examples of some of the knives we'll have available at the fairgrounds - Damascus Piranhas and XOs. These blades will be available to fair attendees ONLY from Oct 17-22nd. Any knives NOT  purchased by fair-goers by Tuesday evening (Oct 22nd) will be made available online to the general public on Wednesday, Oct 23rd.

 

DAMASCUS PIRANHA 

Steel: 1095/15n20 Pattern Welded

Finish: Hand-sanded/hammer-marked

Overall Length: 6.125 inches

Blade Length: 2.75 inches

Sheath: Leather front pocket

We will have several hand-forged Damascus Piranhas available at the NC State Fair. The Piranha above is dressed in vintage Micarta and the one below has an African Blackwood handle. All Piranhas come with a leather front pocket sheath and wooden display box.

DAMASCUS XO (Executive Officer)

Steel: 1095/15n20 Pattern Welded

Finish: Hand-sanded/Hammer Marked

Overall Length: 8.5 inches

Blade Length: 3.5 inches

Sheath: Leather Hip

 

The XO (executive officer) is a bit larger than the Piranha but is also a great everyday carry that can handle a wide variety of jobs. The XO above is dressed in curly Koa, while the one below has an English walnut handle with black Micarta bolsters and black Micarta liners. All XOs come with a leather hip sheath and wooden display box. 

We'll post more pictures and videos as we get closer to the start of the NC State Fair. Scott has a couple of kitchen knives in the works, as well as one spectacular Damascus fighter. If you can, please come visit us and our fellow artisans in the Village of Yesteryear. The Village is full of talented folks that do a wide variety of crafts at a very high level. Some of our members were impacted by Hurricane Helene so please come and show those folks some extra special love. And if you can't make it to the NC State Fair, stay tuned for available knives to post online Wednesday the 23rd. You can also email us if you see something you like as Scott will have some time after the fair to make a few more blades prior to Christmas. 

Thanks for looking.

Guinea Hog Forge

guineahogforge@gmail.com