Pinegowrie, South Africa
Tel. 011 026 5855
Cell. 084 248 1324
eMail. samuraistu@forgedknives.co.za
Mine is a strange story. I had never previously had any passion for knives. I owned a few cheap blades bet never employed them in any form of daily chores. My father tried to fan the flame of making knives by assisting me to hand file a dagger from a piece of steel. Like most children I bored quickly of hard work.
Then one day in 2000 my dad took me to Gold Reef City where I saw a blonde woman forging steel. I went into the shop and saw another fellow doing the same but shaping it into knives. I was interested but not excited. It was then discovered that this gentleman offered courses in forged blades. My dad offered and I accepted. And so over a period of about a week of evening classes I learned how to forge and finish a knife.
These two people who I’m sure you all know as Kevin and Heather Harvey lit a small flame inside me. It did however take many years before the embers were fanned into a rue flame of passion. I made a few knives in my spare time, maybe one every two months. I wanted to make more but my job as a sales rep left me tired at the end of every day. Then one day, sick of working for the company I decided to resign. On a whim I said, “why not make knives for a living?” only because it was the only other thing I knew how to do. And so I jumped into the deep end and promptly sank straight to the bottom. In 2004 I attended my first knife show in Durban. I did well but still there was no real blazing passion for knives. It was a business and a way to earn money.
Now we travel into the future eight years. I have toiled and fought my way up the ladder of success. On this road less traveled I gained what can only be described and an obsession with the forged knife. I now chair SABA (Southern African Bladesmiths Association) and play a key role in the promoting of forged blades within the knifemaking community of SA.
I specialise in Bowie knives and Scandinavian style hunters called Puukkos. I also make my own Damascus.
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