Knife Makers interview series

[gorilla]

that pillar light is amazing - reminds me of the Gary and Tom Thrussel sculpture in St Asaph

[smokepole]

Really nice work Will, and a very nice, interesting interview too!

[Underhay]

Superb work there, I really like the porch, and the close up of the latch in the middle of the second set

I'm not surprised you've kept busy with work of that quality

Duncan

[smokepole]

Will, I keep coming back to this one. You have a true talent mate, you just keep doing what you are doing and you'll be famous one day, not too long from now....

[Stuart Mitchell]

Incredible work there, now I see why your journey through knife making has been so productive so soon, because of the natural talent you possess....

[polecat]

Superb pieces ! Its clear from the photo's of work you've done that you have an eye for design and what works in steel as a finished piece, i'm not surprised the work keeps coming in.
I'm thinking the bench has spikes on the feet to hold it in place

[raisedbybrocks]

The bench is held up by Magic, I told you already (Magic may not meet health and safety guidelines)
Thanks for your responses Guys, I would say its been more an exercise is survival rather than flourishing. But i'm glad I stuck to my guns and held out for the nicer work over the years, lost quite a lot of work because I wanted to push something out of the ordinary. But those special customers that come along make it all worth while. I've learnt I get much more out of working for private individuals as the process is much nicer and they are very appreciative of the work that goes into things. I'm sure this makes sense in terms of knife making as well, as soon as someone starts talking to me about making something for the bare minimum price, I can see myself quietly backing out of the room.
Anyway where's my interviewer got to

[owen bush]

Ahem, I have been levitating a 200 hammer!!
so enough of all that blacksmithing malarchy impressive as it is.....down to fundamentals.
Where does your forum name come from.
and your journey into knives , where did that start , have you always been knifey?
Is there any one knife that inspired you?
and tools........what ya packing tool wise......... forges presses hammers (or little groovy grinding jigs)

[raisedbybrocks]

Owen, Raisedbybrocks is a silly one. I grew up in the woods, we had lots of brocks living all around and even at the end of our garden. Sometimes I tell people I was found and raised by badgers in the woods, but its all lies of course.

I've always liked knives, especially ones I use, like a good axe, a machete. A blacksmith in thailand made one for me as I watched and I never forgot that. And something good for un zipping bunnies. I do shoot and fish when I can, though less these days than I did. I have always loved cooking, so kitchen knives are high on my list of things to try and get just right. Its nice to make a knife that gets used daily. Testing knives you've made is fun. And with kitchen knives testing can be all fairly immediate, which is satisfying.

Anyway to the toys, er tools.

Here is a little workshop tour. I moved last year into a slightly smaller but waterproof unit. The man next door sells cheap tires. I regularly get people come and stand by the door waiting for me to ask what they want. When I stop and look up they mutter something about wanting their tires changed. I get it so much, i normally just stare blankly at them waving a hot bit of metal doing a kind of mental hunchback routine, and wait for the penny to drop. I should probably get a big sign, that "might" stop them

Anyway, workshop

Coming in through the roller door

To the left laying out table and forging area

Big long bench going down the other side. Mainly for grinding etc

Pillar drill and grinding bench

Donkey saw by the door, for chopping the big stuff

few recent additions. Bandsaw for handle blocks

Down in the right hand corner we have a big horizontal press,

Vertical press, and tooling racks. I mainly use this for straightening and using larger tools that don't fit in the hammer and punching. i don't do much free forging in it but its pretty versatile.

More tooling and jigs next to the press

Left of the press, Trusty Anyang 40k

And in the corner, forge tooling, spring tooling and never enough tongs and hammers

Coke forge with a big mutha 3 phase blower. Saves me a fortune having a decent coke forge set up.

Next to that fly press and tooling, also now borax shef


Small stash of various tools steels and laminates, awaiting some proper shelving

Turning 180 degrees
Welding forge

And a bigger hungry beast I rarely use, but handy on huge stock.

Another toy, this one on a loan from from someone you might know

[raisedbybrocks]

Few action shots

[Underhay]

I think I've just seen workshop heaven

Duncan

[Greenbeast]

good work space there!

[Noddy]

Very Voysey/Mackintosh, but lovely for it. Is that your drawing?

[raisedbybrocks]

Thanks Guys, yes I designed it for them. Its a listed building and gardens. They wanted something fairly sculptural but it required listed planning consent. So the two side panels are fairly formal in style, except the long leaf like forms, in the middle the forms break out like this and it becomes more sculptural. It was my ideal brief really, I like playing with fairly formal architecture and taking it somewhere else. As a result quite a few of my commissions are for people with listed buildings looking for something that fits in and will gain approval yet sculptural in its own way. Forge work is a perfect medium for this really.

[owen bush]

nice to see your workshop.
I love seeing other smiths tooling. definite horizontal press envy!
thanks for showing.
so I guess we are down to the knives now.
I am always a little surprised that more blacksmiths don't make knives. It would seem to me an obvious one to me, but I guess its just a case of having the bug or not.
So Will could you show us your knives, your first one first and your last one last and some in-between.
while you are doing that If you could have a little think about who you would like to interview next.......