With all the fame of his sharp and durable knivesRussia and abroad, you can often hear the questions: when and where was Viktor Kuznetsov born? The blacksmith’s biography is simple and intricate at the same time. Victor Vasilyevich Kuznetsov was born in 1947. His small homeland is Eastern Siberia. To the blacksmithing was a long time.
No fuss
School, army, university (facultyOriental Studies, Department of Chinese Language), life in a huge, noisy city ... As it turned out, all these and other stages of human life led the Siberian to the main thing - the blacksmith in a small village near Mtsensk. It is there, far from the human fuss, without a TV, with limited access to the Internet for more than forty years Victor Kuznetsov has been living and working - one of the best Russian experts in hand-forging. It happens that he comes to Moscow to visit his daughter, checks the mail.
Self-development for him is reading up to a hundred.historical and philosophical books annually. Shares the teachings of Lao Tzu. At the very beginning, it has advice to those who want to truly open the heart to people: “Leave the city, sit closer to the ground ...” The wise doctrine is not considered a religion, but a philosophy of life.
Purity is the god of metal
The interest of people in solid patterned steel for blades - Bulat - has existed for many centuries. Voluntary hermit Viktor Kuznetsov became interested in the ancient craft in the 70s.
The first information on elastic steel with an unusualinternal texture ("pattern") learned from the book by P. P. Anosov "On Bulat". Kuznetsov once and for all assimilated an important postulate of a mining engineer, metallurgical scientist Pavel Anosov - for smelting bulat you need pure iron, it is the most malleable. Purity is the god of metal.
Кузнечное дело – это прежде всего практика.Viktor Vasilyevich began working with metal in 1985. A simple chisel - a tool for woodworking - pushed him to action. Kuznetsov needed her, and he went to the railway smithy (FC).
Blacksmith workman making a chiselI could not, but I showed Victor how the heating, forging, hardening of the metal are made. Subsequently, Kuznetsov became an excellent master in the manufacture of various chisels, including for creating miniatures and netsuke.
Go to the bath
The first chisels Kuznetsov was warming in a bath stove,forged on rail stump. Later he had an anvil and mites. This blacksmith's tool was living its age in an abandoned collective-farm smith, but installed in the Kuznetsov farmstead, gained a “second wind”. Gas horn was located under a canopy, which did not allow to use it in winter.
Then a blacksmith built a small forge area12.5 square meters and installed in it a small coal horn. Viktor Vasilyevich claims that he works only on personally burned charcoal. This is a natural biofuel used by our ancestors.
Once a blacksmith rushed to the difficult goal -to make excellent steel, the best in the world. He believes that he is close to achieving the target. Swung too high? Kuznetsov never recognized the low bar. He says that transcendence stimulates a person to action more, only it contributes to true professional (and personal) growth. A Siberian works selflessly, he does not make a weekend: if not in the smithy, then at the Vernissage.
Perfect simplicity
Experience is the son of difficult mistakes.Step by step, Viktor Kuznetsov was gaining skill. There were fewer reject chisels, then there was no more. Blacksmithing has become familiar (and at the same time always new). For the next fifteen years, Kuznetsov learned to make knives: sharp, strong, uncomplicated in form.
Художественная ковка не пришлась ему по душе.Although the blacksmith walked to the heights of skill, including through the decorative effect, to which he quickly lost interest. Simplicity, as we know, is the extreme limit of experience. Any line distorted at least a micron is striking. Viktor Kuznetsov’s knives are elegant, often too simple-minded, but they cut perfectly.
The first smelt of Bulat Kuznetsov made in 2004,with twenty years of blacksmithing experience. By the beginning of 2013, he had made 830 heats, having analyzed each in detail. Victor Vasilievich wrote almost 30 articles on blacksmithing, leads seminars, has students. He took the laurels of the winner of the championship and the championship of Russia on the rope cut. He developed his own system for testing knives (“adult”).
Test knives "adult"
The test of cold weapons for strengthIt has existed since the time of Peter I, there are test standards in the forensic center of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia (for hardness, deflection, etc.). Kuznetsov developed his standards for cutting properties (a kind of OTC). Considers the most important test of strength.
The main buyers of Kuznetsov knives arethe hunters. This product is in demand among foreigners. All consumers appreciate the work of the unique "technical control department". It is effective, there is practically no return. Most of the reviews indicate that the Moscow-Mtsensk blacksmith Viktor Kuznetsov makes damask steel of decent quality.
