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I have been part Time knife making now for about a year and I'm absolutely in love with it. I think about it when I'm at work, when I go to bed, when I wake up...you get the picture lol it's like my addiction. ......

I guess my questions are how did you masters and journeymen get your starts? How on earth did y'all acquire all the big power hammers and mills etc?is there anyone in Arkansas that can show my hands on forging techniques instead of watching a video without breaking the bank? Is it even possible to obtain JS or MS without these important tools working a full time job away from home?

Any advice would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

Hi Mike

I'm an apprentice blademsith in Cape Town South Africa and am on somewhat of a similar journey to you, and as far as knifemaking goes I'm pretty obsessed.

I have been a stock removal maker for about 5 years, although I haven't been massively productive in that time as my day job keeps me quite busy but I have managed to make and sell about 55 knives. However despite having managed to setup a reasonable stock removal workshop and doing a fair amount of knifemaking my favourite knifemakers have always been bladesmiths and for a while now (about 2 years) I have been thinking about how to transition into bladesmithing.

At the beginning of last year I invited a Bladesmith friend from up country to come down to our knife club for a weekend and have a hammer in - that was great fun and I learned a fair amount and made my first ever forged blade, however the real turning point was in February this year when a friend of mine at our club invited Kevin and Heather Harvey (both ABS Mastersmiths here in South Africa) to come down to the club for a weekend hammer in / knifemaking workshop. The amount of stuff we learned that weekend was mind blowing and I enjoyed it so much I signed up to do the 2 week ABS Introduction to Bladesmithing course with Kevin and Heather at their forge in October 2016.

I can say without any reservation that the two weeks I spent at Heavin forge was the best money I have ever spent and the best training, bar none on any subject I have ever received. I would encourage you, If there is any way you can do it - make a plan to book and attend the ABS Introduction to Bladesmithing course. I promise you will love it and you will learn more than you ever thought possible in those two weeks. it will be a big kick start to your bladesmithing journey.

One of tips I got from another bladesmith was to get myself a bunch of mild steel and learn to make myself tongs - its a great way to practice forging / tapering and various other techniques - and once I get my forge setup I will be making a few sets of tongs to get back into the swing of things.

I'm currently in the process of getting the forge side of my workshop setup and anxious to get started, I hope to be able to present my Journeyman smith knives in Atlanta in June 2018.

Kind Regards

Rick

Cape Town

South Africa