Deepest sympathies

Unfortunately I found out that Mr. Surgeon, the gentleman who was a knife maker from Durban passed away in January. I was trying to get hold him to buy one of his propane burner that was advertised on the SABlade website as he was one of the members. So...now I will be trying one last time to make my own burners. I will have to scrap my previous at making burners. I found that I couldn't get hold of the parts as seen on the internet. I found having the gas jet separate from the burner pipe makes it hugely difficult to achieve an efficient venturi effect. This is a video i will be basing my burner off of.

Blacksmith/tool maker

This David Robertson, he is the blacksmith from Artistblacksmith.com. He has done numerous instructional videos on Youtube and on his website dealing with tool making and with knife smitthing that I have watched. 

http://www.artistblacksmith.com/

Knife makers I follow

These are a few knife makers I follow and have taken inspiration from last year when my research title was more focused on knives. I learned that everybody has to pay "their dues" and these guys all show how they started off with the are minimum like I am.

http://www.mkunelius.com/kukaeng.html

This is Matti Kunelius, he is a silversmith. He specialises in damascus puuko making and he is self taught, this immediately caught my fancy because I tool am a smith/jewellery and in the process of teaching myself the art of knife making.

http://www.frycustomknives.com/knives/bullnose-skinner

Jason Fry is another knife maker I follow, I have seen how he makes his knives. He also started with a small belt grinder and a coal forge he built in his backyard. He has shown improvement from the time I started following him until now, a real inspiration.

This is Wayne Morgan a South African knife maker, I thoroughly enjoy the rustic finishes and indigenous handle materials. A great example of how "rustic" doesn't mean half finished, all the knives I've sen from Mr.Morgan are well finished straight and he has paid attention to the small details such as filework on the spines on his knives and on other parts of the knives.

Forges

These are some ideas of forges that I have based my forge on. These are all open forges, they do not have doors on the front or the back. In my mind if the forge had a closed rear and a door on the front, the heat would be more contained and the temperature would rise faster. Faster rise in temperature would mean less gas being used.

http://www.cyphertext.net/~gfish/forge.html

http://www.zoellerforge.com/simplegasforge.html

http://www.chileforge.com/forges_habanero_details.html

The process of the Construction

I found a really cool series of pictures, displaying the process of how János Gábor Varga

goes about his process. It may not seem highly exciting but I love the different approach

Interesting patternations

I am really enjoying watching the ingenious methods of achieving pattern and constructing pieces by János Gábor Varga

creative patterning

http://blindspotjewellery.carbonmade.com/projects/4964283  

I got distracted this morning while I was, fixing a power point presentation. I came across this website the jeweller name is János Gábor Varga . I really enjoy his inovative approach to achieving the patterening on his jewellery but also the manner in which he builds the piece. He takes pieces of steel or iron and bends it, he cuts line and groves into it, then he unfolds it and the patterns and objects take shape. Take a look at these!

                                                  

                                                  This one look like a nice project