Creativity and Engineering as a hobby
Do you have a pastime that focusses your mind and gives you great joy with the outcome?
John does.
He enjoys refurbishing and making knives.
John discovered his passion when he was around 18 years old and found one of his parent’s old knives which looked a bit sorry for itself.
Once he’d restored this knife to it’s former glory John was inspired to attempt creating one from scratch.
John has never had the equipment to forge his own blade, so he buys a steel blank and shapes the blade to the design profile he has in mind and designs his wooden handles.
This satisfying mix of metal and wood working skills results in an elegant end product, one which John takes great delight in perfecting.
Over the years John has made around 10 knives. The most recent one had a burr oak handle which he carved and oiled to create a smooth ergonomic handle. The time it takes to get the handle and blade profile is not something that worries John, it’s the end result he’s working towards and the ability to take time to enjoy the processes.
John has refurbished a number of knives; friends will often ask him to look at one that’s in need of a bit of TLC. “The knife might not look the same when it goes back to it’s owner, often the blade will be smaller due to the reshaping or sharpening required” John outlines.
“Blade sharpening is an area where you need to be careful; if you sharpen it too much the knife is not as safe as it could be and nicks of fingers are possible” John tells us.
Whatever knife John has been working on he gets a feeling of accomplishment when he’s showcasing his finished article.
