Knives Australia:
Australia's own quarterly for the knife-minded
24 pages packed with information and photographs!!
Summer 2003 ~ Issue 8
Cover pic: Western Australian "Circle of the Sword' (COTS) member, Phil Smit with self-forged sword. Full coverage of "COTS" on pages 12 & 13.
Copyright 2003 - Spencer photo
Editor
Keith SpencerEdge-itorial:
We have introduced a new segment in this issue. Australian Knife History, a subject that's near and dear to my heart. Australians in general have not been very good at keeping history. We've let a lot slip through our fingers and even chucked it out, not realizing we were jettisoning our precious culture. "She'll be right", we would say, and move on. And there are those who think our country is too young to have accumulated any real history, compared to other countries, where you frequently bump into buildings that are centuries old.
Wrong. The origin of a history is probably the most important part, the foundation for developments in the future.
Gathering together Australian knife history has been a long, arduous task, but I must say it has also been very gratifying to tediously fit historic fragments into the jigsaw of Australian cutlers & cutlery. Since the arrival of ironmongers on the First Fleet (1718); to custom cutler George Lee Sye (circa 1970's), the pioneer of modern knifemaking, this nation has depended upon sound bladeware for its settlement and growth.
....... continued Knives Australia, Summer 2003, page 3Summer 2003 issue features:
JAPANESE SWORD CULTURE
Regular columnist Glenn Waters - "Our man in Japan"
... cont. page 4Fitzroy Iron Works 1848 The central ingredient of this publication is iron and steel, so it is fitting that we reflect upon the origin of this valuable resource in Australia. Mittagong, in the southern highlands of New South Wales, is the birthplace of the nation's iron and steel industry. To get an idea of how long ago that was, the birth of the Fitzroy Iron Works in 1848 coincided with the death of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, who disappeared without a trace west of Moreton Bay (Brisbane) under mysterious circumstances.
In those days, convicts were still being transported to Australia and in 1948, 455 arrived in Port Phillip (Melbourne ) from England under Grey's Exile Scheme. ....cont. page 5Holy Knives A Godsend In accordance with the yin and yang of life, whilst we sometimes need to endure the negatives there are times when we can enjoy the positives. And so it is with holes in knives - sometimes ther're a Godsend. Take a look at these examples:
- Carl Schleiper Deutchen Expeditionsmessers
(German Expedition knife)- Explorer Swinglock Folder
- Sicut Leilera Mini Survvial Knife
- Styles Small Skinners
- Spyderco Lock Knives
- Eickhorn KCB77 Bayonet Field Knife
- CRKT Bear Claw ..... cont. pages 6 & 7
Shaving Sharp Long before the advent of the safety razor and the ensuing steady march of progress through to the throw-away' era of today, cut-throat razors (otherwise known as straight ,razors) have been in existence.
by Joan Renton-Spencer
Early civilizations had utilized the cutting edge of flints and stone to remove unwanted body hair. Examples of bronze razors with smooth ground edges have been discovered in the ancient tombs of early Egyptian Kings, From as early as 1400BC barber services have been recorded in written language, involving the shaving of faces and heads and the trimming of beards.
The early straight razor operated in the same way to a straight-framed European clasp knife - a simple folding blade .... cont. page 8 & 9TIGER SHARK When the subject of military knives is discussed a certain drift emerges. The most recognizable of all fighting edgeware is, of course, the bayonet. But the original purpose of a bayonet was never intended to serve as a knife as much as the spiky point of a stabbing spear. The shaft or handle being the, by now, discharged or dysfunctional musket. And in the very early years bayonets were sometimes long enough to serve as a sword or sabre.
by Paul Bergen
When magazine-fed firearms emerged in the latter part of the nineteenth century, a result of the modern metallic cartridge development, the defined role of a last ditch, thrust type bayonet deployment became less urgent.
... cont. page 10 & 11Circle of the Sword I winced as I watched them lustily swinging their massive swords; young strong men with fists-full of the mighty weaponry of a glorious, long gone era; grunting and weilding and unyeilding they slogged it out. And to the victor, the chance to fight again, and again, so long as luck stayed with him, his strength lasted and his sword-skills continued to sustain him in the slash and thrust of battle.
The awesome sound of hard-swing steel clashing rang among the trees surrounding the leafy heath where the warriors were engrossed in mortal combat. Unable to take my widening eyes off them, I was mentally transported back to another time, perhaps to another place..
...cont. pages 12 & 13New Series: Australian Knife History The Rogers/Rodgers name, mentioned in connection with cutlery, automatically gets knife aficionados thinking about the great Sheffield cutlery industry of yesteryear. Big names like Joseph Rodgers and William Rogers come to mind, those well-known English manufacturers that sprang to life during the 1800's. They exported their top quality bladeware across the world and much of it found it's way to Australia. This story, however, is about an all-Australian knife firm called Stanley Rogers.
- by Keith SpencerStanley Rogers & Sons
... cont. pages 14 & 15
Blade Maker Sunk South of Darwin A couple of years ago, Joan (KA publisher) and I went on an assignment into the Northern Territory. By prior arrangement we spent time with full-time Territorian bladesmith Simeon Jurkijevic, who forged a blade to our requirements, that was featured in Tactical Knives-USA MArch 2003.
On the same Top End jaunt we called on another knifemaker I hadn't seen for several years ... Steve and I have always kept in touch, mainly by telephone, since the days we first met in Adelaide. He settled with his wife Margaret and their family on a property down the track about an hour's drive out of Darwin amid typical tropical bushland. But he's a hard bloke to pin down, always busy ... cont. pages 16,& 17Customising Factory Made Knives -
Guest writer Dennis FosterThe great knife manufacturuers of the world have just about got every niche of the market covered. Some of them will even produce a knife and utilise handle material provided by the customer. Why them do people go to custom makers?
The easy answer is individuality. In a world where everything seems to be prepacked, the notion of experessing yourself by owning a 'one off blade' is appealing. ... cont. page 20The next lesson in a series of how-to's by NSW knifemaker Peter Bennett. The Stub-Tang Grip
... cont. page 23And another breath-taking array of bladeware
from Australasian knifemakers:
- Peter Marker - Queensland
- David Brodziak - Western Australia
- Branko Giljevik - New South Wales
- Mal Hannan - New South Wales
- Jim Hansen - Western Australia
- Norman Sandow - New Zealand
Issue 8
Summer 200324 tabloid sized pages of edges!
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