Issue 16 ~ Summer 2005
24 pages all-gloss tabloid-sized magazine
packed with information and photographs!
Cover pic:
Small broad-bladed skinner
with integrated forefinger hole
by Adam Fromholtz of ACT.
Spencer photo
Copyright 2004
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Edge-itorial: Keith
Spencer
Complements of the season to you.
With the arrival of the Festive Season many things grind to a halt and
most of those who have worked long and hard throughout the year get an
enforced, but very welcome 'break in the play' . It's a time to stop, or
at least prop, and take stock of what's going on... like, who am I these
days, and what am I doing with my life? It's a time to reflect on the year
now passed and contemplate how you may better direct your destiny during
the ensuing year; make one or two New Year resolutions, but make them realistic,
make them achievable, otherwise you will inevitably break them.
Knife-minded folk may want to better
control the knives they collect by quitting some items that are now of
less interest to them and searching for certain items they feel compelled
to acquire. Perhaps they need to rethink "am I a caretaker-collector of
knives or more an investor, a speculative buyer of knives to sell for the
best profit?" It's a time for knifemakers to look at what they're making
and maybe what they ought to be making in the light of a moving market.
Nothing stays the same in the marketplace and to stay current you need
to change with the trends. "How better can I present my knives and what
innovative new ideas can I get onto my drawing board?"
And isn't it the time for would-be
knifemakers to stop procrastinating, succumb to the urge and start making
the knife images that have swum around in their 'mind's eye' for yet another
year without anything having been done about it?
...... cont. page 3
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Issue 16 features:
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Our Man in Japan - Glenn Waters
What's Happened To Our Man In Japan?
Regular KA columnist, Glenn Waters, 'Our Man in Japan',
pulled out of his driveway in Hirosaki City and happily headed off, as
he has done hundreds of times before, to carry out some chores 'downtown'.
The next thing he knows is waking up feeling awfully 'second hand' trussed
up in hospital. From out of a side street that Glenn has safely passed
by so many times before came a car that 'decked' him and effectively removed
him for a year from his livelihood as one of the world's best-known art
knifemakers.
It took a mass of pins to repair his damaged right hand
and shattered shoulder where he 'slammed into the deck' on impact. Glenn
also suffered a few other busted and abraded body parts. Fortunately, his
superb fitness from martial arts training stood Glenn in good stead and
he is coming along OK back at home with some tender love & care from
his wife, Musayo.
Glenn's not much good at writing columns left-handed
nor with a pen wedged between his toes, so we've taken this opportunity
to tell the readers a bit about 'our man in Japan' ...you know, 'the
man behind the scotch behind the bar' (as the ad says) or in Glenn's case,
the man behind the knives behind the showtable.
..
cont. page 4
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The Hanhdorf Experience
Joan and I were on assignment driving to Murray Bridge, town
east of Adelaide, when we passed through the hamlet of Hahndorf.
In all my travels around our over the years I had not laid eyes on the
River at ground level (seen it only from an aircraft), let alone set foot
on the deck of a riverboat. I was determined to remedy these perceived
shortcomings during this trip to 'croweater' country. Hahndorf, however,
proved to be a pleasant distraction along the way.
Now, I had heard a bit of good stuff about Hahndorf and
one of the nation's respected custom knifemakers, Mal Day, runs a specialist
knife shop - The Cutlers Cottage on Main Street - with his wife Coralie.
It was close to noon on a mostly rainy day when we drove into historic
Hahndorf, which is German for Hahn's village. As well as being a little
cold and hungry for lunch, we also wanted to visit Day's knife cottage,
but couldn't resist driving around the village streets first to take in
all the beautifully constructed 15O-year old stone buildings and houses.
cont. page 5
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Rambo Revisited
Where were you in 1982? I dare say that some of our
readers only now in their early twenties were but a twinkle in their dad',s
eye. For those of us who were cognisant at that time, director/actor Sly
Stallone had just driven us insane with the Rocky III flick and we, the
moviegoers, were about 'punched out' with Rocky wins-once-more films; the
consequence of dishing out an Oscar for best picture, Rocky (1976). Worse
was to come; we went ringside for yet another two Rocky IV and Rocky V
- before the Italian Stallion ran out of wearisome scripts to write, mercifully
chucked away his tired old sweaty gloves and turned his hands to doing
new tricks on the silver screen.
It's a shame that Oscar film man Sylvester Stallone bogged
himself down in B grade Rocky movie sequels, which sullied his credibility
as an actor, because few people viewed First Blood (1982) as seriously
as it should have been taken. It was the first of a trilogy of you-can't
kill-me films with Sly as the ex-Vietnam War special forces soldier John
Rambo.
....
cont. page 6 & 7
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FTC Charitable Knives - as told by Glenn Christie.
In response to your recent phone call, I am writing to tell
you about my involvement with the Southern Cross Association (SCA), and
how I make a knife each year for their annual 'Poker Run' .
The Southern Cross Association was formed in 1998 by
a man called Gypsy O'Connor. He was in the same ward in hospital as a girl
who had Spina Bifida. He had a dream to have a 'Poker Run' in Queensland
that would cover a distance that would take days! Gypsy researched and
found that the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association (SBH) got very
little government funding. He decided to put the two together and have
a 5-night Poker Run and raise funds for SBH along the way. All the money
raised or donated must go directly to the children. SBH must show that
it is used for the kids and not for anything else.
I'm not sure if you know what a 'Poker Run' is, so I'll
explain. A 'Poker Run' is when you go to five different places and at each
place
...cont.
page 8
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abcul@ben.com.au
No, it isn't an email address, so don't attempt to connect
with it on your computer. It's just hard to abbreviate the title of this
article from Aboriginal Culture at Benedictine Community, Australia. To
be more precise, the Spanish Benedictine Community of New Norcia located
in regional Western Australia a few hours drive north of Perth.
Last year, we were taught how to make 'bush glue' (Kop)
by Lester Jacobs over some hot coals under a tree alongside the monastery
wall. Officially the workshop was called Hands -on Making of Traditional
Hunting Tools Over an Open Fire.
... cont. page 9
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Milspec - with Paul Bergen
The Tactical Folder: Eickhorn PRT VII - Personal Rescue Tool
On my twelfth birthday mny favourite uncle gave me a pocketknife.
At the time I had just joined the scouts and this was the first 'real'
knife I'd ever owned, and boy, did I feel proud. I still recall the name
Solingen (Germnay) stamped on the flat bit just in front of the handle,
which didn't mean anything to me, but everybody I showed it to said this
meant it was fair dinkum. This was before the onslaught of cheap, mass
produced knives from Japan, with which American and European cutlers subsequently
tried to compete price-wise by downgrading the quality of their own products.
I remember also the silver bolsters and pinned, ivory scales and how impressive
it looked. It was larger than the pocketknife my father had, but because
the shape was smooth and rounded it felt good even in my small mitts.
...cont. page 10 & 11
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Up-dates on States (Courtesy of Australasian
Knife Collectors)
Current status of sword ownership legislation in Victoria
Status of the Review of Weapons Act in NSW
Changes in legislation in Tasmania.
...cont. page 11
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An Adelaide Weekend - by Keith Spencer
You would reckon the first weekend in November might be a
bit sunny and pleasant in Adelaide. Wrong! Joan and I stepped off the aircraft
on to the tarmac and into gale-force gusting winds and rain sweeping across
the airport. South Australia is well overdue in upgrading its capital city
air terminal. Passengers, including the elderly, infirm and pregnant mums,
need to negotiate some 5O-metres of exposure to the elements getting from
a warm and comfy plane to the shelter of a clear-plastic race leading into
the building. Then, after collecting your baggage you are exposed yet again
getting from the building to the taxi rank. Fortunately, you can rifle
through your gear for protective clothing. I'm no snob, but this sucks,
to use modern parlance.
The cab splashed through the streets of Adelaide, occasionally
butleted by squalls blasting through intersections, and delivered us in
good order to the Royal Coach Inn, which is located a short walk across
parkland to Rundle Street in the city centre. A beaut place, the old coach
inn has remained relatively unchanged since I first stayed there in the
eighties. In those days I used to carry a sample case of knives across
the park to call on gun and camping shops that were clustered along Rundle
Street.
... cont. page 12
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McLarty of McLaren
We've heard of Guns 'n' Roses...why not Knives 'n' Wines?
What the heck! At the Adelaide Knife Show I had a yak to a bloke I had
only spoken to previously on the telephone, John McLarty. He's a straight-faced,
dry witted fellow that you need to get to know a bit before you can work
out where he's coming from in a conversation. John's got a serious side
to his nature, but it's hard to pick when his sense of humour kicks in.
John.kindly offered to show me over the McLaren Vale
winery, where he works in the viticulture section of Fox Creek Wines, but
I respectfully declined. Time was of the essence during our stay in Adelaide
and there were prearranged assignments to attend to. McLarty of McLaren
develope quite quickly into a knfiemaer of note, so quickly, indeed, that
most other makers in the custom knife inductry are probably asking John
...who?
..... cont. page 13
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Elite Evo
From out of the sky it arcs down to Earth... is it a knife...
is it an axe...is it a machete? No - it's Evo.
Chonk! The chips fly from the seasoned old log. Then
into the air once more, and chonk again. More chips fly, bigger chips this
time, because the chonker on the end of Evo whacks down even harder. Being
a big brute, Evo, the heavy edged tool, responds to the hard-asks with
a vengeance.
A new product from the House of Jensen Elite Blades,
the Evo was specifically conceived to do the 'tuff stuff' around campsites
and on expeditions. Heavy and perhaps a tad cumbersome, depending upon
the method of carriage, Evo was developed as the result of a direct request
from a RAAF survival instructor, who sought a serious chop and dig facility.
I've got to admit that my first impression of Evo wasn't
great - big, obese and ugly! But survival knifemaking specialist Peter
Jensen doesn't make bad bladeware, so the Evo concept would have been carefully
conceived before Peter went into production. I received two Evos in the
post, one was brand new and the other had been field tested by an outfit
called Comsurv, a combat -survival school that has been in existence for
25 years in Northern Queensland. I rang one of Comsurv's seven highly skilled
instructors, a fellow called Tracy Brown, to have a chat about Evo.
...cont. page 14 & 15
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Warm Side to Coldware - as told by custom
knifemaker Rob Klistcher, SA.
My interest in knives goes back a long way. I left school
at age 13 years to work on our farm, and the first year I spent trapping
rabbits and foxes with my maternal Grandfather, a rather taciturn man but
a marvellous bushman. He always insisted I carry a razor-sharp pocketknife
for skinning and dressing of game. Later we brokein horses for stockwork,
and our knives were always sharp in case we become hung-up in ropes or
leathers, in which case we could cut ourselves free and avoid nasty injuries.
During this period of my education my Grandfather taught me to butcher
and dress-out beef, mutton, fowl and pigs for the family table. So the
care and maintenance of knives played a big part of my early life.
After 45 years as a stockman and farmer my body said
"enough", and presented me with a heart attack. Two years further on my
wife and I sold our farm and settled in our local township. I wondered
how I might use my time. It was whilst browsing in a newsagent one day
that I picked up an American Blade magazine, thus my interest in knives
was rekindled. I managed to locate a couple of 'how to make knives books'
purchased a big, old circular-saw blade and set-to making a few drop-point
hunters, using only files and emery paper.
... cont. page 15
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How To Do Tapered Tangs
The next lesson in a series of do-it-yourself by NSW
knifemaker Peter Bennett.
Just before Christmas Keith rang and asked me to talk the
readers through assembling a side lock folding knife kit for the DIY column.
Of course, I jumped at the chance - NOT!! After all, I am a Custom Knifemaker
not a customizer, but being the sort of a person that I am (humble, etcetera)
and willing to try any thing once, I said sure... send it over.
The MGClll kit, a product of Australian Knifemaking supplies,
duly arrived and I opened the bag and looked at the pieces before me. I
thought to myself, this could be fun.
Setting my own degree of difficulty, I decided to complete
the kit with only the minimum equipment, a file, a ball-peen hammer, long
nose pliers and some stainless steel foil (feeler gauges). Oh yes, I allowed
myself to use one switch-operated tool - a dremil. Picking the side of
the folder with the liner on, I slid the pivot pin through the frame and
the blade, then I put the pin through the midpoint of the frame and the
spring. These parts can only go together one way so people like me don't
get confused. I then put the other frame on to the folder so that the pins
went all the way through. Now for the trickv bit.
.. cont. page 17
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Excellent Edges -
by Joan Renton-Spencer
Tim Payne is really a scientist - he holds a Bachelor of
Science (Hons) and had travelled to Japan back in 1973. Once there, it
seems he forgot to go home. Ten years later, he had fully learnt the art
of Japanese scissor bladesrnithing. Tim is thought to have been the only
Westerner to fully undergo this training. His first task had been to learn
the language - for the master bladesmiths only spoke Japanese.
In 1987, Tim moved to Australia and established his company.
New by comparison to established manufacturing firms overseas, Excellent
Edges has grown to become Australia's largest and oldest scissor firm.
Tim's training in Japan meant that the relationships he had forged with
Japanese scissor manufacturers could continue when he came to Australia.
This meant that Excellent Edges could specialise in both manufacturing
and importing cutting tools for the hairdressing industry, representing
the top-of-the-line Japanese scissor companies.
...cont. page 18 & 19
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Queensland's Village Smith by Helen
Ball
When you're known as The Village Smith, many visitors
expect to see a hitching rail under a spreading chestnut tree outside your
workshop. More adept at shooing horses than working on their hooves, Alan
Ball keeps his forge fire burning at Logan Village just outside Brisbane
to create artistic gates, balustrades and furniture.
Already a career metalworker, Alan fell under the spell
of the forge and anvil some 12 years ago. With a design-and-build project
always in hand, he had experimented a little with decorative touches. In
the early 1990's, he happened to see an issue of "Anvil's Ring", the magazine
published by the Artist Blacksmiths Association of North America (ABANA).
Impressed by the work featured, he started to explore ways of improving
his skills. Seeking out working smiths, taking any available classes, reading
books and plenty of trial and error sessions at the forge saw Alan become
increasingly 'hooked' on blacksmithing.
Hot Iron Muster 2004
B lacksmithing in Australia received another international
boost in September when British-born and trained smith Doug Newell travelled
from his new home of Canada to lead Hot Iron Muster 2004. Established in
2000 as a skills development and networking opportunity, the annual 6-day
Muster draws blacksmithing enthusiasts from near and far to Alan Ball's
smithy in Logan Village just outside Brisbane. "Although there are very
talented smiths in Australia, few opportunities exist to see them at work"
Alan explains. "Hot Iron Muster is the only event of its kind here, providing
access to a top-level international smith who enjoys sharing expertise
and different experiences gained in other countries. We have people attend
from all over Australia ...
...cont page 20
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Across The Tasman ~ New Zealand correspondent
Norman Sandow
Sandow On Sandow
Those of you who follow the Across the Tasman column will
be familiar with the work of our NZ correspondent, Norman Sandow. On this
occassion Norman communicates with us from the workshop of his son, Brent
Sandow, also an excellent knifemaker. For some time the Sandows have run
knifemaking courses - about three a year - in Brent's underhouse workshop.
...cont page 21
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Kalashnikov For Mine
The name synonymous with human conflict around the world
in the form of Russian AK47 assault rifles is also associated with the
humane task of clearing landmines via the AK-47 bayonet, the most popular
anti-mine tool used in more than 70 war-torn countries.
A self-taught inventor, M T Kalashnikov, who joined the
Red Army in 1938, began designing a new machine gun whilst recovering in
hospital from serious wounds suffered during fierce battles as a tank commander
in 1941.
Kalashnikov built the first AK-47 prototype in 1944,
which he refined in 1947. What was to become the world's best-known assault
weapon - the automatic Kalashnikov (AK47) - was adopted by the Soviet Army
in 1949.
Humanitarian de-mining differs from military de-mining
because almost all mines need to be detected before the land can be safely
re-used. Military de-mining procedure merely clears a corridor for soldiers
to pass through.
Advancing technology means new protocols and devices
have been developed to deal with the awesome and very dangerous task of
clearing landmines. In Afghanistan alone in the late nineties some 900
square kilometres was landmine affected.
Photos supplied by KA's correspondent in the Middle-East.
..cont page 22
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Custom-Made Down-Under Blades
Ross Yeats- WA
Keith Fludder - NSW
Norman Sandow -NZ
Mal Hannan - NSW
Bob Wilhelm - Vic
David Brodziak - WA
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