Darius Nickovich Studios, is a San Francisco Bay Area based artist and bladesmith studio. Everything I produce is uniquely crafted one piece at a time. Every stage of production is done in house right here in the Bay Area. Using the finest, responsibly sourced, materials available everything is created with extreme care for the quality of the final product and the sustainability of the environment. I offer exceptional blade sharpening services to the public as well as repair services. I make scrimshaw, as decorative work on some knives, as well as stand alone works of art and jewelry. Often I work on unique pieces of my own design but of course I am more than happy to work on specialty designs and commissioned works or sets as well.

My blade making process is blend of old world techniques combined with modern equipment and high attention to detail in all of the aspects of a fine blade. I hand forge all blades using high carbon steel the old school way, over an anvil. Then once forged to shape, the blade is then heat cycled three times to normalize and anneal it. This relieves any residual stresses in the metal and redefines the structure of the steel and softens the metal before the next phase. The blades are then ground to refine the forged shape and finalize it's geometry. This is also the stage where any necessary drilling or machining takes place. It's at this point where the blade is baptized in fire to gain it's full strength as it goes through yet another structural transformation. It is heat treated in an atmospherically controlled kiln and then quenched in oil or water (depending on the steel and blade type) for hardening. This is immediately followed by three tempering cycles to archive optimal hardness, grain size, stability and edge retention characteristics intended for that particular blade. Then it is ground to it's final edge and dimensions and polished up. A handle material is selected, cut, shaped refined, treated and finally fixed to the nearly finished blade. From there it is inspected closely, and receives my makers mark. It can then be either engraved, or scrimshaw might be added, or left naked. The last and final stage is to sharpened it to a razor sharp edge. A new knife is born.

As an artist, I love to create, craft, and refine. I love to get lost in my work and find my zen in the act of doing. I create objects of function as well as objects of affection. The art I make spans from sculpture to sketches; from jewelry to a coffee table; I look at many things as art. I draw inspiration from many things including science, medicine, horticulture, mythology, anatomy, geometry, and history. My artistic lens tends to find focus best when aimed at forging a strong connection between an object and it's owner.