Autumnal

“Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Greetings folks. I have been seeing an osteopath for various movement related issues. We had a wonderful conversation at the end of a recent session, with the osteopath commenting that he views his work as an “interaction with the matter”. I thought this was a brilliant way of looking at their profession, and I believe this can be applied to artistic creativity. Whatever our passions and hobbies are we are manipulating materials. transmuting them into something new. This is what originally drew me to smithing when i first encountered it in “Conan, the Barbarian” all those years ago. Taking the raw materials and transforming them in something functional and beautiful. I am grateful for the chances to create and even more grateful that I can pass on my knowledge, thank you folks, and in the words of Bill and Ted, “be excellent to eachother”.

Solstice

Hello folks, I am fascinated by the nature and journey of creativity.  As i become more proficient with my tools and materials I feel a  sense of freedom to create. I know that there is no ceiling with artistic endeavours, but I feel a sense of calm as I continue to explore my craft. I am attempting to add more movement to my pieces rather than the static straight lines that I have come to use and what we have come to expect from a knife. The idea of changing the profile lines of knives fascinates me. How much movement can I get from the piece before it no longer becomes functional? This also makes me think of movement as it relates to the human body. Movement is healthy for us! we can often heal ourselves; physically, emotionally, and spiritually through movement, can not the same be said for metal?? These are the things that I ponder during the meditative process of creation.

All the best,
Chris

Level Up

Hello Folks,

I have made over five hundred knives or the last few years and I feel like I am approaching a level where i am confident and increasingly happy with the final outcome. As such I feel that the sentiment of, journey before destination, is truly appropriate here. While I have struggled in the past to call myself and artist and have always leaned towards crafts person, I find that now my journey is one of the artist. Seeking inspiration, challenging my capabilities and finding greater excitement in the creative process. What this means for me is that while my knives are indeed functional, I am now seeing them more along the lines of something that is purely artistic. This is coming about as I have been exploring organic-inspired blades that I develop through different forging and grinding techniques. I have applied this organic technique to my steel as well and I have created what I call my turgid coast steel. It's a combination of three layers. The central cutting core is a damascus steel that is then clad in nickel sheet and finally wrought iron. The finished effect so one that I feel elicits the coastal areas of Vancouver Island.

The Budding Trees

They grow up so fast

I had some special friends in my studio last week. Raven, their mom and their brother, age 10, came for a visit. I first taught Raven when they were 8, they are now 16 and taller than me!! We forged a rose together eight years ago. It was my pleasure and honour to teach them and their family once again. Laughter and shenanigans ensued. Everyone went home with an amazing fully forged high carbon blade with hard wood handles.

This event made me really very grateful for the friends and contacts I have made over the years. Teaching is an amazing experience one that I throw my heart and soul into each time. I hope to share with as many as I can the craft that I love so much.

Scarves

The days are getting shorter. The air has a crispness to it, do you feel it? Soon I'll be able to wear scarves again. I have some amazing blades in the works. Pieces that speak to the essence of what I enjoy about this art. As long time readers know, I have a fascination with shadows. I have finally figured out how i can cast shadows on steel! Stay tuned!

Thank You

Hello folks. I have been enjoying the lengthening days and the warmer weather! I have finally been able to open my shop door! Which is big, believe me.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you that have taken classes with you. I truly am grateful for all of the support and meeting each and everyone of you has been a pleasure. Your creative energies and your smiles are infectious! Just take a moment to let that all sink in! Thank you.

An exercise in Recovery

I have but one thought this week:

Knife making is an exercise in recovery

It is error management from start to finish

Parlour Tricks

I test every blade I make. Some get a bit more rigorous testing than others. Like the knife pictured here. This is a simple mono steel, 80crv2. The process involves controlling the steel's temperature to such an extent that the impossible seems possible.
If you can imagine inside the blade are tiny iron boxes stacked end to end and on top of one another and Inside those boxes is carbon and what other elements that have been thrown into the mixture to make up the steel.
When the steel is heated, in this case to 1525*F/830*C, the carbon and other stuff is thrown out of the iron boxes and is then "floating" around in the metal. By repeatedly heating to very specific temperatures and then cooling the blade the boxes begin to form a memory of how to orient themselves and what size to take on. Therefore the steel needs to be heated and cool at least three times but each time the temperature should be lower. Thus decreasing the size of the boxes and strengthening the blade.
When the steel is hardened during the quenching process we want that carbon and other stuff to get back inside the steel as fast as possible, this makes the steel hard, like glass and is done by submerging it in a specially designed quenching oil to remove the heat as fast as possible. After this step the blade is placed back in a heated oven with a temperature of 325*F for two hours. This transforms the steel from its brittle glass like composition to something that becomes a usable cutting tool.
After grinding, shaping, and putting a sharpened edge on the blade I test the blade. Usually by hacking moose antler and every now and then I test a blade by hammering it into steel, just like in the photo. Every blade that leaves my shop is tested to ensure quality and a tool that will stand up to anything you can throw at it!

Return of the Light

With the return of the light and the end of the calender year, there is an unapologetic turning of one's thoughts to remembering. As with most reflections I do so without regret, as I am always looking forward to the next thing. The past year was one of growth and challenge. With each new creation or class I teach I find a new challenge to overcome. I wish you all the best in the upcoming year.

Sculpting

As the days have gotten shorter and I find myself retiring to bed earlier and earlier I have been pondering the next bit of information that I wanted to share with you all. I felt the best thing was to discuss grinding and sculpting the blade. While the grunt work is done through forging, and to achieve some of the blade shapes, the knives have to be forged. But once that stage has been completed the sculpting begins. Initially I did not enjoy grinding. I was afraid of the machine as it was loud, made a big mess and seemed to eat up my blades! Granted my first experiences with grinding werr using a bench top disc grinder and a hand held angle grinder, both of which are scary machines. Eventually saved up enough money to afford a tiny belt grinder that allowed me to begin to understand how to remove material in an effective manner. But it was still a struggle. It was very fortunate that I came across the work of a bladesmith by the name of Tim Hancock. He had developed a method of grinding that spoke to me in ways that other methods never did. It was simple, efficient and cost-effective. Not only that, but safer than any other method I have come across since. Learning his methods allowed me to break free and for the first time really find my enjoyment in this process. All he did was use a teflon push stick and the workrest. This allowed him to target areas that needed to have material removed. I now approach grinding as a sculptor might approach working with stone or clay; chiselling away the material to expose the beauty within. This is finesse work now.

It takes as long as it takes

It takes as long as it takes. I had the pleasure of working under Tim Cisneros out of San Francisco a number of years ago. Tim is an incredible artist, mentor and friend. He always has the right words to say, and they are usually said with a twinkle in his eye. During my week long stay with him he imparted a vast amount of knowledge about being a working artist, all of which I pass on to my students and use in my daily creative adventures. But the words I am reflecting on this morning were some of the most simple and powerful that he ever shared with me.

We were driving in his truck, Tim driving, cigarette hanging loosely out of the corner of his mouth and his dog Shasta between us, we were chatting philosophically about blacksmithing, art, and life, when I posed the question that many aspiring artists often struggle with "how long does it take?" By that I mean how long does a project take to complete. Tim in his calm, wise, thoughtful manner, slowly turned his head to me and in an almost playful manner simply replied, "it takes as long as it takes". Those simple words spoken from someone who has lived their life creating and art deeply reverberated in me. Prior to this I was putting pressure on myself to get the job done and race through them. It never occurred to me to really feel into each project, let go of time and enjoy the process, get lost in the moments of creation, feel that surge of excitement as things come together. In this new age of constant change I really belive that these are words that we can all use these days. It takes as long as it takes.

Please check out Tim's Instagram feed for more about him and his work.

Raw Materials

There is never a dull moment (pun intended) in blade making. Taking so many different materials and then bringing them together to form a functional piece of art still boggles my mind and drives me as a crafts person. That I can turn raw materials like steel, bone, antler, wood, bronze, and fibreglass into functional artefacts is addictive!

Having spent over a decade as an archaeologist I really came to appreciate the artefacts that we as humans have left behind. I can vividly remember finding a finger print on a shard of 3000 year old pottery. This finger print so captivated me that I felt compelled to place my own finger on it and by doing so I created a connection with the maker. This connection is what drives me to create. Each piece I complete has a little bit of me attached to it. Not only my creative energies but the visceral physical parts too. The blood, the sweat and the tears! Each piece has a story, and the story creates an experience.

The Three R’s

I enjoy forging the most out of the whole blade creation process. There is a rhythm and a music to it. I love nothing more than to get lost in it.

One of my first blacksmithing instructors, the late Frank Turley, liked to say that swinging a hammer is full of the three "R's". Rest, rhythm and rumination. Mr. Turley had a profound impact on my as career as a blacksmith, I would not be doing what I do today had I not met him. When Mr. Turley swung a hammer each blow was placed perfectly, no blow, no heat was wasted. I spent three weeks learning from him, he told me he was 76. I later found out that he lied to me in the best way possible, he was actually 96.

I feel as though I am standing on the shoulders of giants.