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To answer the first question about dies, there were no dies used in the making of that or any other knife I've made. I used to make dies for jewelry when I worked in a factory situation. The only reason to make dies is if you want to make a large number of the same object, or to reproduce a pattern. They are dificult and timeconsuming to make, and would be counterproductive for a single peice.
When I made dies, I would make a positive first. It would be carved in steel in relief on top of a block of steel. For jewelry, this would be as if I carved the ring attached to a block of steel. Depending on the design parameters, the peice could be whole, or if it was stamped hollow, then I would carve half of it on the block. This peice is called the hub, or master. This block would then be heatreated. The next step would be to sink it into another block of steel in a large press. This would give me a female, or negative of the form. This would then be hardened, and used as the die from which the finished peice would be stamped. At this point, a ring could be stamped using a flat top die, if the ring is flat on the inside. It would then be bent round and the ends soldered together.
There could be a formed top die as well as the first one (bottom die). It could be identical to the bottom die if the ring were the same on both sides, and solid. The top die could be a positive form to fill in the lower die if the ring was hollow. In this case, two peices would be stamped and soldered together. This all depends on the design and complexity of the ring. All this stamping is done cold, as is the sinking of the dies from the hub.
After the ring is stamped, it would go to the bench jeweler, the stone setter, and the polisher to be worked on. So, the diemaking is just the first step in a long proccess. I could spend a month making a set of dies, sometimes much longer.
I hope this doesn't confuse everyone to much.
