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What books to get to improve your knife making?In Australia we are lucky to have a dedicated book web site for books on forging, knifemaking, damascus and related subject. Check out ForgeBooks here: https://www.forgebooks.com.au/ Knife making is a hobby with a lot of layers, and as you learn more you might want to read up on certain aspects of the hobby. There are books that are great when starting out to get an overview, and then there are books covering a more limited area but to a higher …

* Australian Beginner Knife Making Group is running the Knife Making Awards 2020 competition online only between May 20th and May 30th 2020 for makers in Australia and New Zealand.  The below is a summary of the prizes only, for full details join the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ABKMG Trophies: Custom made trophies to Top 3 in all categories.Prizes: Top 3 in all categoriesBest Knife From Kit: $200 Gift Certificate from Creative ManUncle Bjorn's Handle FinishNTBOBFW Set …

AUSTRALIAN KNIFE AWARDS 2020!Enter a knife you make in May 2020 to win trophies and prizes.15 trophies and prizes across 3 Beginner and 2 Open categories. Full Details of Categories, Prizes and entry Criteria: Categories:• Best Knife From Kit• Best Beginner Chef Knife• Best Beginner Outdoor Knife• Best in Show – Open Category• Best Fully Forged Knife - Open CategoryKnife Making Awards 2020:• Entries close 30th of May 2020 (and open the 20th)• Knife must be completed in May 2020• You must b …

Heat Treat Instructions for AEB-L Stainless Steel:There are 2 versions, the first one is without Cryo treatment;Heat to 1560 F(849 C) and let come to temperature for 5 minsRamp up to 1940 F (1060 C) and hold for 15 minutesQuench in oil, between plates or even air coolTemper at 300 F (149 C) for 60 HRC, 200 C for 58 HRC.Temper time not listed but assuming a solid 2 hours x 2 cannot hurtThe above is from Alpha Knife Supply in the US, we have just converted the Fahrenheit to Celcius.The more advanc …

Meet The Maker #9: Pierre MefflinPierre is the maker behind Mefflin Knives and our 9th maker in this series. I have known Pierre for several years and am very pleased he accepted doing a Meet the Maker interview. I think what Pierre touches on with mindfulnes and drawing parallells between martial arts training and knifemaking resonates with many of us; G’day I’m Pierre. I’m a part time maker based on the Central coast. I work full time in IT and get in as much knifemaking …

G’day, I’m Paul-Emmanuel Arestan, a knife maker from Queensland Australia and for as far as I can remember, I’ve always been passionate about sharp objects.I think I would have been 6 years old when my grand dad gave me my first Opinel pocket knife. As I grew older the passion turned into a hobby, a part-time, and finally a full-time occupation. If I don’t make knives, I teach people how to make them, assess knives presented to the QLD branch of the Australian Knifemaker’s Guild, or write about …

Derek W shared some photos with us this week of his last completed project.Nessmuk was the pen name of George W Sears who in the 1880 was writing articles about travelling light, enjoying the outdoors and being a solo "tourist" while the norm was to go in bigger groups with guides and heavy equipment in his area of the USA. His book is loved by bushcrafters and others who enjoy sleeping out and has a wood carving of his pen knife, his custom made belt knife (that we today call the Nessmuk knife) …

How to design better looking blades?focus on one area to improve on at a timestudy profiles / templates you likebreak down the design to understand why you like itblade length and heightratio of blade:handlericasso height vs widthstraight spine vs curvedtip profilehandle height and lengthflowing lines or strong, aggressive turnsuse a templatesave your work (templates)Focus on one area at the time:A good technique for improving skills in an area is to try simplifying other areas of the process, t …

This month's meet the maker subject is Kevin Slattery of Kev’s Forge.Kev said of knife making, I did a knife making course out of curiosity. I’d been into modifying cars for years and had become predictable in what I wanted for birthdays etc so I surprised my wife with a request to do a course as a present instead of getting car parts. I enjoyed the experience so much that I started to get some gear and have a go at it myself. The rest is history really.I’m pretty sure that first course was …

Brayden Spencer works with the Aussie Outback Supplies, we meet up a couple of times a year at knife shows.If you have not checked out their site, we recommend it: https://aussieoutbacksupplies.com/store/index.php Brayden got the Sensei Tanto Kit and made it up before Christmas.When we were at the Perth Knife show last weekend, he showed us a few pics and I wanted to share them here.Brayden decided to go with stabilised Black Palm handle scales and red spacers, swapping the 1/8" pins f …