Meet The Maker #14: Luke Berkelmans

Meet The Maker #14: Luke Berkelmans from Makesmith

by Riley Burns

"If I were passionate about cooking I would make kitchen knives but to be honest I live on cereal and beef lasagne, I hate to cook” is how Luke started our interview which I feel really set the tone for how the rest of this is going to go.

On the other hand he said he rides a motorcycle on trips away for days at a time and embarks on journeys around Australia so bushcraft, camping and utility knives were a much more comfortable place to start. Luke’s brand has been built on the back of these strong and utilitarian designs his favourite knife of the knives he's done to make is his “Euro” which is inspired by strong european full tang knives like the Leuku.

So, let's get to know Luke. He is a half kiwi half dutch first generation Australian is in his mid 30’s who started his journey as an apprentice mechanic which led to working in a exhaust fabrication factory as a welder which lead to a job as a TA for a Toolmaker and now he’s ended up working for his local council and spends his nine to five days as an asset inspector.

His workshop is a hundred meters from a waterfall on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland on a bush block he shares the property with Matt Keillor from RMK Leatherworks and he’s just finished a tiny home project he was good enough to include some photos of.

Luke tells me he caught the knife making bug from his best mate and frequent travel companion when he suggested that while the knife his mate had made was good he (Luke) could make a better one. His experience in toolmaking, plastics, welding and building his own houses are all rolled into his style. When we talked about actually selling knives he told me his early experiences at markets gave him the confidence to head to Sydney Knife Show in 2019 with fifty five knives in tow. He’s never looked back from that and he thinks he’s now close to making his two hundred fiftieth knife.

When we got down to it Luke said he draws inspiration from more european knives over the traditional japanese or american styles and low layer count linear layered steel of no more than twenty one layers. He was inspired by early FatBoy Blades knives and Kevin Slattery’s hidden tang knives. Luke’s got strong feelings about the beauty of raw materials and it can be seen in the exposed beam work in his projects and his selections of materials in his knives.

Luke told me the things he found most frustrating about making have become his strengths; things like grinding his bevels used to be the most challenging but now he finds simple things like “taco” style kydex sheaths the most frustrating. He finds the most challenging but also most rewarding part of making is the client interaction that goes into the designing and making of a custom knife, the back and forth selecting materials and working on the design.

Luke’s favourite steels to use before he got his kiln were 1084 and 15n20 and the simple stainless steels like 12c27 and 14c28n though he looks forward to branching out into some more complex stainless with his kiln. His favourite handle materials are Ebony, Olive Drab Micarta and Ringed Gidgee.

Luke somewhat wistfully told me when I asked him if he found he was drained or recharged by knifemaking that he finds the small and finite nature of knifemaking projects satisfying because they are relatively quick projects to complete and draw that sense of achievement from compared to his larger home, car and bike projects.

I asked Luke for his three pieces of advice for new makers and he told me;

Firstly meet up or reach out to a reputable local maker, there is likely to be one in your area and their advice will be indispensable. It really pays to have someone show you the way. If you learn better in a more formal setting or there isn’t someone close by, take a class with a reputable local maker.

Start with a known steel. Can’t say it enough times. Don’t spend the time and effort making a knife out of a piece of unknown steel only to have it not perform the way you want.

Finally, If you think cutting corners to save time/complexity is ok, the only person you are fooling is yourself.

Luke told me near the end of our time that he has started experimenting with designs that are more challenging and he’s developing what he hopes will become his own mark on the knifemaking industry. Which based on his previous work I’m pretty excited to see personally. 

To finish our interview I asked if Luke had anything coming up he wanted to talk about and he sent me this;

I’m putting my hand up again to host a hammer in on the 29th and 30th of May 2021 on the Sunshine Coast QLD, a few people have already expressed interest, looking forward to having a bit of a show and tell, material swap, a few forges running, sharing tips and tricks, bonfires and camping available too.

Matt Keillor from RMK Leather Works Australia is here too, for all your leather needs ( sheaths, leather stamps etc ), this time will have a bit more structure with demonstrations and a competition or two. Stay tuned

It’s been too long between Knife shows and would be great to catch up with like minded people. With that in mind the KAA are going to help out with registrations so stay tuned for that soon: LINK HERE