Blog

By Bjorn Jacobsen, 29.11.2022Sam Towns is again holding the #townsbowiebuildoff challenge. The makers taking part has 2 months to complete a big bowie knife in either beginner or "open" category. Sam is a fulltime blacksmith and knifemaker in Western Australia, and co-host of the Forgecast podcast together with Alex Norton.Towns Bowie BuildoffThe full story on Youtube with intro and rules for 2022 is here:In summary the bowie has to have: Blade longer than 8" (200 mm)Clip or false edg …

We are starting a Maker Give Back this year: $5 from every order in DecemberThe money goes to a charity This year it will go towards Kevin Slattery's multiple disc surgeryFor every order on Nordic Edge in December 2022, we will give back $5 to a charity in the Australian maker community. This year we will send the money to a fellow maker who is going in for some major surgery. Kev Slattery has lived every day with chronic pain for a very long time. This is his opportunity to get …

Hayden has been in the workshop again, working on another video showing how to build the knife kits.This time he is doing the MG Santoku Kit with G10 scales: LINK.The MG blades are made in Spain from Stainless steel, and what makes them quite unique is that they have integral bolsters forged as part of the blade. The bolster is the thicker bit between the blade and handle, and is here not attached after the fact, but made in the actual knife steel, as part of making the blade.The kit comes …

Article by Bjorn Svensson in Norwegian, translated to English by Bjorn Jacobsen Oct 2022Bjorn Svensson is a Norwegian hobby knifemaker who wrote this excellent article for a knifemaking group in Norway. He has kindly allowed us to use it in Australia. If there are any inconsistencies or lack of clarity, this is due to the translation and not the original article.Bjorn makes knives in his home town of Risør, one of the oldest towns in the south of Norway.Here is the first half of Bjorn's art …

By Bjorn Jacobsen, Oct 2022I was supposed to work on my bowie build for the #townsbowiebuildoff challenge this week, but felt like forging instead. I had 3 hours Thursday night, here is what I did;Last week I watched this great video on youtube by a Swedish blacksmith called Philip Lufolk where forged a spearhead and made it into a candle holder. I have wanted to do it since watching the video, as my only attempts so far on anything similar have not been great. At the St. Ives med …

Murray Walters from Merino Forge in the Southern Tablelands posted a photo of his first stainless steel chef knife on the Australian Beginner Knifemaking Group on Facebook this week:Now that is a nice looking chef knife! What is interesting is also how Murray is using specific materials to speed up a couple of the steps involved.Murray went for AEB-L stainless steel in pre-hardened billets. These are great as they come heat treated already and means you can start designing and grinding the …

Hayden made this little video clip showing how he builds a knife kit using basic hand tools.Using the Laurin Knife Kit and adding some vulcanised spacer materials for a bit of colour, check out his result on youtube: …

Uri Hofi is a Master Blacksmith from Israel who became quite famous in the blacksmithing world when he travelled internationally and demonstrated his "Hofi Ergonomic Technique for Moving Metal".Hofi's technique was based on finding ways to work that was easier on the body, reducing or removing the strain forcing many blacksmiths and knife makers to stop forging after a while. Hammering while death gripping a hammer and the vibrations shooting up the arm has caused many a smith up through the age …

Easy process for stonewashing a stainless knife blade with Ferric Chloride and a cardboard tube!By Bjorn Jacobsen, Oct 2022Etching blades is something usually done with damascus steel. The etching affects the different steels in the damascus at different degrees, creating the visible patterns between the different types of steel that makes up the damascus. For instance 15N20 with 2% nickel is resisting the etch more than 1084, creating a more shiny layer.But also single steel / monosteel blades …

Coy Baker and his team in the US make some amazing looking specialty steel for high-end makers:LINKThese bars are made for stock removal to not distort the pattern, and to avoid any risk of the elements with lower melting temperature melting at the higher temperatures of forging.To really make these pop, the blades need to be etched and then worked to create additional contrast.Alex Norton from Valhalla Ironworks is one of the Australian makers who get amazing results with the Baker Forge & …