Drop Point Hunters – Learning from the Bob Loveless Design
When I first started making knives, I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of knives on the internet and saving the ones I liked.
I think that's an important part of learning any craft.
Before you can really understand what you want to make, you need to work out what you're drawn to. Which shapes catch your eye? What proportions feel right? Why does one knife appeal to you while another, technically just as good, leaves you cold?
At first, a lot of that is just gut reaction.
Then you start trying to work out why.
Folding Knives and a Trip to Alice Springs
In a couple of weeks we're heading to Alice Springs to spend some more time with François and Anika, this time concentrating on making folding knives.
I've had a go at folding knives before.
Four of them, in fact.
Hunting for Old Knives
One of the pleasures of travelling is never quite knowing what you'll bring home.
For years now, whenever Vicki and I have been away, we've made a habit of wandering through antique shops, junk shops and little second-hand stores. Sometimes we find nothing at all. Sometimes we discover something that becomes part of our lives for years afterwards.
We all collect something.
An Iranian Kitchen Knife
One of the unexpected pleasures of making knives is that people seem to start giving you knives.
Very early in my knife-making journey I was giving away most of the knives I made. Looking back, that was probably just as well—they were far from perfect—but every one taught me something.
On one of our regular trips to Bruny Island to run our annual photography workshop with Richard and Susie Bennett, I took along one of those early knives as a gift.
Father's Day Knives
Father's Day is only a month away, and I'm currently working on a few commissions, along with a couple of extra knives for those people who, like me, occasionally leave things until the last minute.
Good Intent
My mate Richard Bennett, photographer, sailor, all round good bloke , turned 80 last year and I wanted to make something special for him. Richard has been a great supporter of my knife making efforts and is constantly on the lookout for bits of timber that might be suitable for knife handles.
A Little Bit of the Forge
I bought a piece of san mi steel at a sale . This is a sandwich of two different types of steel, a high carbon core with an other cladding of stainless steel that results in a knife with stainless sides but a easily sharpened carbon cutting edge.
Sri Lankan Kastane
When we left Sri Lanka in 1975 my Dad bought a lot of antique furniture and cultural items to take a piece of Sri Lanka with him when we moved to Australia . I went with him on many of his foraging trips to various antique dealers around Colombo, and at one of them I saw this sword and fell in love with it….