Issue 12 ~ Summer 2004
24 pages all-gloss tabloid-sized magazine
packed with information and photographs!
Cover pic:
Spencer photo
Copyright 2004
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Cover: Full-time Westralian knifemaker, David
Brodziak, alongside renowned artist Carol Ann O'Connor, whose captivating
mystical-medieval artwork adorns David's art-fantasy knives, many of which
are exported.
Edge-itorial: Keith
Spencer
Greetings for the New Year. We have
lots of plans for 2004, which includes shifting shortly to a new purpose-built
workplace 'east of the scarp' in Northamshire, located beyond the Darling
Escarpment east of Perth. Obviously, we are excited about the move, but
non-too excited with the prospect of shifting all the plant and equipment
and miscellaneous stuff...the miscellaneous stuff, I must confess, is a
bit of a worry, because I've been 30 years in the same location. I suspect
a lot of 'I might need this someday' stuff is destined for the dump
bin. Be on stand by for our new address in the next issue of Knives Australia.
...... cont. Issue 12, page 3 |
Issue 12 features:
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Our Man in Japan - Glenn Waters
Seki Knife Show
It had been two years since I had attended a knife show in
Seki, and the town hadn't changed. Some parts probably haven't changed
much in the past few hundred years in terms of culture. This is a small
town surrounded by mountains and rice fields.
Just about any person living there is either working
in the knife or sword industry or has relatives or friends in that field.
This is a living working knifemaking city. It is hard to imagine that just
one hour by bus from Seki lies the enormous city of Nagoya with a population
of 2,341,000. Nagoya approximates the geographic centre of Japan.
..
cont. page 4
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The Bismarck Armoury
A registered knifemaking craft business owned and operated
by Ken Bradford since 1992, Bismarck Armoury perpetuates the original name
given to the Tassie town in which the firm is located. Nowadays the town
is known as Colinsvale.
A full-time metalcraft worker, Ken set up his blademaking
business on 13 acres of beautiful mountainous bushland, in the sort
of surroundings that stirs your creative juices.
...cont. page 5
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When Two Blades Cut Better Than One
Part Two in a Series on specialised cutting blades -
scissors
Joan Renton-Spencer
A few months ago a package arrived in the mail from Knives
Australia reader Quentin Saville of NSW. A quick examination of the contents
revealed the familiar trademark of IXL Sheffield on the dulled carbon blades
that had obviously seen much work over the years. But what was most interesting
was that I was actually holding a very large pair of scissors!
Wostenholm's I*XL brand became part of the Egginton Group
of Companies in the 1970's. I'd visited the Company in Sheffield a few
years back and spent some time with directors Ron and Stephen Brooks so
I rang to see if they could help. No - scissors had not been manufactured
at all by the Egginton Co. but Ron had some old Wostenholm catalogues that
might be of use.
... cont. pages 6 & 7 |
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A Viewpoint on the Victorian Government's proposal
to declare swords and crossbows prohibited weapons - by Barry Thomas
The Victorian Government's stated intention over the last
18 months, mirrored in Melbourne newspapers, to ban possession of swords
and crossbows has run up against a wall of stiff resistance from the public
and may not become law.
During August 2003 the Justice Department of the Victorian
Government publicized a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) "Control of Weapons
(Amendment) Regulations 2003" that proposed, amongst numerous other regulations,
to declare swords and crossbows to be "prohibited weapons".
The numbers of submissions received was such that the
Government extended the deadline for submissions.
...cont.
page 8
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Floro Fighting Systems
It has been a big year for leading Australian martial artist
identity. Raymond Floro. "For superior leadership, teaching performance
and dedication to the martial arts", Eskrimador Raymond Floro
was inducted into the Australian Martial Arts Hall of Fame on June 2003.
The certificate also says that his personal achievements
and continuous contributions to the advancement of the martial arts has
been duly noted and recorded.
... cont. page 9
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Northern Light Under Southern Cross
Fallkniven of Sweden (1984-2004) is celebrating 20 years
in existence with the release of the Northern Light Series of full-on military/civilian
survival knives. Named after Nordic ancestral Gods, Thor, Oden, Njord Frej,
and Idun, the Bowie-ish blades of this quintessential quintet of survival
edgeware are convex and thick and fantastically fashioned from VG I 0 laminated
stainless steel. The ringed leather and aluminium grip pressed onto an
uncomplicated stainless guard is subtly shaped to accommodate hardworking
comfort for the user. The great thing about leather knife handles is they
can be easily reshaped (customized) by file and hand sanding to form-fit
the grip of the user.
...cont. page 10
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Age No Barrier To Sax
What is it about some knife styles
that we find stimulating whenever we see them? Is it simply that some shapes
merely catch our eye or is it something innate embodied in our mind from
who-knows-where? But rather than set up a seance or some other spiritual
search, I suppose we should just learn to live with the wonder of it all?
I have to own up to being hooked on sax knives, the style of which stems
from about the 4th century AD.
The Saxon Sax (short sword), Langsax
(long sword) and Scramasax (knife) was the primary blade type employed
in Europe during the Middle Ages up to circa 1350, a period approximating
1000 years. Now that's a long time for a blade type to remain the preferred
edged tool in any region.
...cont. page 10
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Customizing 'Cos You Can
Customizing is a big word and it sounds complicated, but
it isn't. Customizing knives is not too far removed from knife restoration,
except you don't need to dismantle handles and guards to renovate or replace
them. In a way, customizing bridges the gap between using, collecting and
custom knifemaking, if that is what you want to do. Some aspiring
makers simply don't feel confident about immediately becoming a novice
knifemaker. Maybe they haven't yet developed a 'feel' for designing bladeware,
but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't possess knife nous. Perhaps
they have limited time, space and tools to work with. Whatever the reason,
knife customization provides an all-important step in the right direction,
and besides, customizing is good fun... and isn't that what craftwork is
supposed to be about - fun?
... cont. page 12 and 13
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Farewell My Friend
With fingers hovering over the keyboard to write the last
story, the phone rang and my wife Joan (KA Publisher) took the phone.
Joan Crawley passed on the sad news that her husband (former Victorian
knifemaker Bruce Crawley) had passed away on Jamuary 19th. Burce had been
very ill for the past nine months. Time and space at the moment does
not allow me to say all the things I woud like to tell you about Bruce.
..... Cont. page 14
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Peck's Perfect Profile
Jeff Peck sent in the perfect knifemakers profile, the kind
an editor prays to receive but only rarely gets. Accompanying his letter,
which is shared with you, were 13 colour prints of Jeffs work, some of
which appear here.
Hi Keith ~ Finally, I dragged myself way from
making knives to get some photos together for you. Hope you like what you
see.
I'm a Fitter/Machinist by trade, which is useful when
it comes to making knives.
Dion's Forgecraft
A quiet young fellow, Dion Hedge's success as a bladesmith
is loudly told with every spark-spraying bang of his hammer on forge-heated
steel laid across the anvil.
... cont.
page 16
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Simple Tools for Knifemaking
The next lesson in a series of how-to's
by NSW knifemaker Peter Bennett.
I thought I would show off a few simple tools I use to make
my knifemaking life easier. These handy tools were copied and made by me,
so I reckon anyone else can do it too. So lets get to it.
Soldering Guards On To Handles First thing to do is to
mark out the position of the drill bit (scribe). This is done in the end
of the brass about 6 mm in from the edge (look at the photograph - all
will become clear). You can drill this as deep as you like, but 20 mm is
plenty.
...cont. page 19
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The Making of the Centenary Dirk
In the Winter 2003 issue of Knives Australia we ran a story
entitled 'Medics Celebrate 100 Years', which featured the exquisite cake-cutting
dirk hand crafted by highly skilled Westralian bladesmith, Jack O'Brien.
A humorous character, who has been around the block a few times, Jack told
us the story relating to the making of this historic piece. We asked him
to write it, and here we share Jack's story with you.
~ Now to my way of thinking a centenary is just another
name for a birthday and a damned good excuse to partake of copious amounts
of direction fluids. With those thoughts in mind, I reckoned if there was
to be a birthday party then there must be a birthday cake in the offing.
A birthday cake would require a knife to cut it, as it could get messy
trying to break it into pieces by hand.
... cont. page 20
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ln The Ranks of the Royal Marines
It was indeed a privilege to be invited to join with the
Royal Marines to commemorate alongside them the 21st anniversary of the
Corps in Western Australia at the annual dinner of the WA Branch of the
Royal marines in Australia. Invited guests included members
fo the British Royal Marines, English Airborne Forces, English Guards,
British Royal Navy, British and Australian Special Air Services and the
Airforce Association.
Lloyd Slips Away
The embers in Lloyd Harding's forge no longer glow. They
went out on December 1 2003. The rigours of a long life spent well finally
caught up with Llloyd, but he leaves behind a wonderful legacy for those
who had the privalgee of knowing him.
.. cont. page 21
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From Russia With Love
- Kizlyar Knives
Knives Australia has been afforded a special privilege,
and that is the chance to exclusively market the unique range of Kizlyar
knives, a top quality brand of very respected Russian-made bladeware. The
offer is indeed a rare opportunity and a first for 'Australia's own' knife
to sell this exotic cutlery to discerning buyers in Australasia. Knife
collectors and users to take advantage of this offer at lower-than-normal
introductory prices whilst stocks last.
Kizlyar Enterprise is one of the leading
enterprises in the field of cold steel blade manufacture in the Russian
Federation, producing collectable cutlery and knives for everyday use,
handmade, using traditions of gunsmiths from the Caucasus that date back
centuries.
...cont. page 22
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Custom-Made Down-Under Blades
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John Kilby - VIC
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Jason Cutter - VIC
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Peter Tree - QLD
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Simeon Jurkijevic - NT
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Empu Harambrodjo - JAVA
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Joe Zemitis - NSW
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