William Kalkbrenner of Enso Forge is a creator of custom, one-of-a-kind, handcrafted cutlery.
William Kalkbrenner began working with metal at the age of 12 and at 14, attended a vocational school for welding and fabricating where he was first introduced to blacksmithing. Also having a passion for martial arts and particularly Japanese swords, he decided to combine his skill sets for metalworking along with the physical and philosophical nature of martial arts into bladesmithing. In 2018, he decided to leave his career as a welding technician and create Enso Forge to pursue knife making full time. He chose the Enso circle to represent his work because its symbolic meaning resonates strongly with him and is foundational in his practices. It’s a reminder that his work is never perfect or complete, but rather a never-ending cycle and expression of his character. Being a lover of food and avid home cook, a large body of Will’s work consists of kitchen cutlery ranging from Japanese-style knives to European and everything in between, and many pieces feature a variety of materials, textures, and techniques to create unique one-of-a-kind knives. Will is a member of the American Bladesmith Society, and The Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh.
Performance, precision, detail, design, and depth are a few words I’d use to describe what I strive for when making a knife. I use a variety of materials in my work such as multiple types of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, woods, stones, and bones and employ a variety of skill sets such as forging, welding, machining, carving, and sculpting to bring my ideas into reality. Much of my work is influenced by Japanese and European design and I use various types of finishing techniques and methods, from patination, inlay, and texturing, to different polishing methods to create one of a kind unique pieces of cutlery as well as other forged metal art and tools.
