Keeping sharp

THE BLADE SHOW IN ATLANTA IS THE ULTIMATE IN CUTLERY BUT AUCKLAND’S GETTING A TASTE OF THE ACTION TOO

Every June I exhibit at the Blade Show in Atlanta, the biggest knife show in the world, and afterwards visit and work with fellow knife makers in the US. This year my host was Jerry McClure, a very talented knife maker from Oklahoma.

The Atlanta Blade Show is the world’s largest cutlery show, which is open to the public for three days in early June, with some 750 exhibits dealing in everything cutlery related, with stands from commercial knife companies, custom knife makers, knife-making suppliers, tooling, and engineering suppliers. There’s nothing cutlery related that you can’t get, whether it is carbon fibre, exotic handle material, or the latest grinders. Everything for fans of knives is here.

I always like to set up my stand on the Thursday, as it gives me a chance to not only whizz around and catch up with old friends and see all the latest trends but also have chance to pick up the best handle materials and other supplies that I need myself before the doors open to the public on the Friday.

It was a hectic and very successful show. We left Atlanta on the Sunday afternoon to head to Jerry’s in Norman, Oklahoma, an 11-hour drive.

After recovering from the journey, we spent some days in his workshop forging Damascus billets, and we managed to finish a small kitchen-style knife from one of the Damascus billets that we made.

The completed one is made up of a 5160 hardened core with soft layers of rod iron and nickel each side. The handle is amboyna burl. The other one we worked on is much the same — I just need to handle it.

Jerry has an interesting set up, as he has four separate shops — namely the forging area, machine shop, grinding room, and