This knife was forged from EN42 high carbon steel and has a handle of exotic Mgurer wood.
As you can see, Dave (it's maker) was very pleased with the result of only two days work! And so he should be, he was a perfectionist and it shows in the finished knife.
Here is a selection of items that some of my students have made.
Nick came on a three day knifemaking course with me and produced this handy knife and as a very keen bushcrafter it will get a fair bit of work!
He went for a yew handle and a neck sheath. The blade is forged finished and the spine ground to strike a firesteel. The photo to the left shows the knife that I made alongside.
This curvy number was forged from EN45 spring steel and measures approximately 11" in length. The handle has been turned from a piece of walnut from my childhood home in Essex. The ferrule is heat blued steel
It's maker, Nigel, had never done anything like this before and as you can see he did a fantastic job!
This array of fine knives was made by the gents in the photograph one weekend using my Iron Age forges. The big fellow 2nd from right at the back was soon to be married, so his friends decided to travel down to Devon and make knives rather than get him drunk and put him on a ship for Belgium!
The knives are all forged from EN45 and have a selection of handles made from wood and antler.
The drawknife shown here was made by Tim to the right. In a single day he forged, ground, heat treated and sharpened the blade. Then he turned a pair of handles for it, to be fitted at home.
Andy here wanted to make himself a skeletonised knife to use when out hunting (we put the holes in the handle to leave him the option to put a handle on at a later date).
For comparison, I have shown the knife that I made alongside Andy (mine is the one at the top). A very neat piece of work there!
Young james here came for an arrowhead making course after taking part in my Arrow making course in february.
The arrows and heads on the right are all his own work, those on the left are mine. We made them from natural shoots of birch and hazel, each arrow fletched with goose feathers, self nocked and fitted with handmade target points.
Ray came on a three day knifemaking course and made himself a beautiful utility come bushcraft knife, with a cherry wood handle and leather sheath.
Sadly I've misplaced the photo of it, though I did manage to hold onto this picture of Ray sharpening it! Here he is using a selection of waterstones, kept well lubricated with clean water.
Jack (aka John) came for a couple of days and turned out to be the quickest student I've had to date. So fast infact that rather than finishing the stitching on his sheath he decided to go home early!
The blade is forged from EN45, the handle is black palm. This and the knife I made alonside are the first I've done with blue sheathes. I rather like them!
This group were the first of my annual Bowmaking courses! We all made fast shooting bows from native ash or elm, under the expert tuition of bowyer David Sinfield.
David and I will be running this course again in 2008!
Here are some of the knives produced during a three day Iron Age Knifemaking course. Using hand tools and natural glues, these knives were made in my woodland workshop.
The third day of the bank holiday weekend was useed to make the sheathes, as an optional extra. I run the two day knifemaking courses throughout the year.
My first Feast Weekend! Over the space of a weekend, this group learned to make useful cooking and eating tools from a range of materials. In this case, we used the Iron Age forges to make toasting forksa nd Turkish style kebab skewers. The following day we carved spoons from birch and wove eating/place mats from rush.
The weekend was concluded with a feast. All of the things that we made came in useful and along with a BBQ and pit roast, we all ate very well!
This young man came along for a day and a half one-to-one with me recently. He went away happy and with two knives! The middle knife has a London Plane handle and the mini knife at top was ground from a piece of bandsaw blade.
The knife at the bottom is the one I made alongside. I wasn't happy with the handle (flawed wood), so it was replaced with my own Micarta.
Father, Daughter and Husband all came to the woods for a private knifemaking course. They all made very funstional knives, despite Dad's preference for a tricky design!
The poor photograph doesn't show the lovely pattrns in the wood, but from top to bottom we have: yew, yew, cherry and hawthorn (mine at the bottom).
The last knifemaking course of 2007 birthed these little lovelies (the ones with the sharp edges!). We were pressed for time with the shortening october days, but this group moved along suprisingly fast and got it all done in time.
Blades are all EN45 and the handles are yew, cherry, ash and ivy (mine, at the bottom).
Look out for the rogues to the left, they will have bows in their hands next time the visit!
These fine axes and adze were made during the first axe making course in the woods. The heads are all forged from old hammers of a varety of sizes and the handles are made from cleft ash (from the woods around us).
The group worked faster than I expected,but we still rushed to finish before dusk on day one. So next year I will run the axe course earlier in the year, rather than the end of october!
I was told that Mishka here was good with his hands and it shows in his knife. We made these knives using the Iron Age forge setup and handtools, just as with the group courses. So without the aid of belt sanders, drill presses, bandsaw and angle grinders we put together a couple fo very professional looking knives!
Mishka's knife has African blackwood and yew, with a black leather spacer. My knife has oak and cherry, with a brown leather spacer. Both have decorative filework on the blades and handmade leather sheathes.
From the first Axe maknig course of 2008. We were plagued with wind and rain, but these talented folk managed to turn rusty old hammers (about 1050 steel) and some ash logs (from my woods) into some fine hatchets.
This group truely were some of my best students. No real problems with the work, no major cock-ups and we managed to get all of the stages in the job finished in plenty of time! Welldone everyone!
This group of friends got together and asked me if they could arange a private axe making course. So over an extremely wet March weekend, they made these fine beauties out of old hammer heads.
