Blog

At the 2022 Blade Symposium, Adam Fromholtz held a presentation on how to use a flypress for forging.Adam has made a lot of tooling for both his own flypress and the one at Tharwa Valley Forge, developing his own system for quick replacement of tooling. Not only does this make it easy and quick when swap tools, but it also saves the main flypress bolts from contantly being opened and closed every time a tool is swapped out.Adam's system consists of a bottom plate the bottom tool slips into, and …

By Bjorn Jacobsen, March 2022Before the 2022 Blade Symposium the Australian Knife Art Association (KAA) held a Master Class at Tharwa Valley Forge. The "master class" is held as a higher-level course where the students make a signature style knife and previous teachers have been makers like Kyle Royers and Rodrigo Sfreddo.2022 Bowie Master Class:The master class this year was taught by Jackson Rumble, Journeyman Smith and would take the students through making one of his signature style big …

Weekend road trip with the guys to BorenoreBy Bjorn JLast weekend we got away to the first market in 2 years (!), going to the Caravan, Camping and Outdoors Expo in Borenore, NSW. Where is Borenore, you say? Just the other side from here of Orange, so about 4,5 hours away. Susie from Altitude Events asked if we wanted to come and do some blacksmithing demonstrations and it sounded fun, so we went for it.First road trip in a long time, first market in a long time, we were pumped! Packed the trail …

Meet The Maker: Bobby SmithBy Bjorn Jacobsen, 20.01.2022, Meet The Maker #18Bobby Smith is the man behind Shifty Blades, based in Katunga in Northern Victoria. With a big beard, often in a hat and sunnies, Bobby is an easily recognizable maker and so are his blades, specifically the pocket cleavers he has made a name for himself with.Speaking of pocket cleavers; we don’t want to steal any of Bobby’s thunder here – let’s just say that during the interview a new design was discussed and …

Easy way to get razor sharp edges by handBy Bjorn Jacobsen, September 2021Sharpening is a good skill to have, and easy after you feel a burr forming for the first time. Learning to sharpen well enough to put a razor edge on most knives in 15 mins or less is not hard, and this is how to do so using the sharpening stones we supply at Nordic Edge.Let's just straight into how to use hand sharpening stones, and cover more of the details later.How to use a sharpening stone: the stone is lubricated wi …