Weekend away at Borenore

Weekend road trip with the guys to Borenore

By Bjorn J

Last 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 trailer and headed up to Orange for some supplies (beers and snags mostly, it was after all a road trip) and then onto Borenore just outside of Orange.

Troy being super prepared had the firepit sorted, Riley got it going and we had a beer and got setup more or less in the dark but hey, we got it all done.

Every morning Troy the Swedish Chef made egg and beacon rolls, his car is like a Swiss Army Knife of utes. There are batteries, lights, fridge, kettle, gas cooker, a small helicopter and one or two cordless tools. Oh, and an axe. The car is kitted out, enough said.

Riley and Chris getting everything ready, we brought knife making kits, some steel and handle materials, and a selection of Nordic knives, both new and traditional stuff.

There was a wild west show on, this guy even rode around on a cow! First time I have seen anyone ride a cow, it is all happening at Borenore. The show was good though, lots of space and great weather all weekend if a bit windy at night.

We did blacksmithing demonstrations, forging some bottle openers and blacksmith knives. Seems quite a few people had a grandad who used to blacksmith, always good fun talking to the crowd and doing some demos. 

This was a chef knife Bjorn forged from 1084, heat treated and grind bevels on with an angle grinder. Troy the Swiss Army Ute Man had some diamond stones in the car so got a decent edge on it, considering the limited tools available. Handle is all steel, just tapped the bottom and top edges until they swelled out to give it a bit more grip.

One of the bottle openers Chris made on the weekend. Forging mild steel was a bit easier in the sun, not having to worry about how hot the steel really was as it was a bit hard to see.

How good does that anvil look! The 40 kg Nordic Edge anvil is a good size to move around and more than heavy enough for lighter forging work like knife blades, bottle openers etc. It worked well, we anchored it down with some screw pegs for even more stability.

Saturday night dinner in Orange after a long day at the show. We had a fun weekend away, and it was awesome being out there again after two years doing some blacksmithing at a market and seeing some people.