Australian blade symposium 2017

Over the weekend I had the chance to participate in blade symposium as a demonstrator for the second year in a row . It was a great weekend packed with Information and demonstrations Metal work and different aspects of knife making.
It was hosted at Australian technology park at Eveleigh where once the locomotives were built
The size of the equipment used was mind blowing , the hammers , presses the tongs and the furnaces










There were at least 20 times more hammers like these and tongs



I had a session in sharpening and one session kitchen knives , I hope that I was able to convince more makers to stop doing full flat grind on kitchen knives [emoji23]






Abs MS Bill Burke demonstrated advanced Damascus



Abs ms Shawn McIntyre explaining heat treatment



Keith Fludder giving a lesson in hamons

Dmitry Popov on advanced grinding


Chadd Smith ( tristone ) who gave a great demonstration in stainless heat treatment



Kevin slattery ( kevsforge ) on basic forging lesson



Karim Haddad ( tharwa valley forge ) talking on the business side of knife making



Bruce Barnett on heat treatment of carbon steels





Wayne Saunders forging Damascus tomahawk



Matthew newburn and Bruce Beamish are operating the 790# power hammer



These two gentlemen are trained blacksmiths, their accuracy and speed of forging is way beyond what I have seen compared to any Bladesmiths




Although it kept me away from shop for few days it was a great experience, I am looking forward to attend next year . Last year we had 40 attendees, this year we had 70 , hope to have 100 in 2018 .
Thanks for looking
Mert

Looks like you had a fantastic weekend Mert.

Whoa 😲 what massive power hammers!! 😲
Thanks for sharing!

Looks pretty darn cool to me!!! :doublethumbsup:

Totally cool photos of some awesome bladesmiths, thanks for sharing!

Thank you Mert for sharing all your passion and knowledge about kitchen knives. Really having a good time with you.

Great pics mate.

Wow, thanks for sharing. That must have been awesome! You must have felt like a 6 year old in Legoland

And yes, please, no full flat grind on kitchen knives ... :surrendar:

Nemo said:

Looks like you had a fantastic weekend Mert.

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Sillywizard said:

Whoa [emoji44] what massive power hammers!! [emoji44]
Thanks for sharing!

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cheflarge said:

Looks pretty darn cool to me!!! :doublethumbsup:

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milkbaby said:

Totally cool photos of some awesome bladesmiths, thanks for sharing!

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kevpenbanc said:

Great pics mate.

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Thanks guys , it was a great weekend

42537703 said:

Thank you Mert for sharing all your passion and knowledge about kitchen knives. Really having a good time with you.

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It was pleasure Lung , likewise

Matus said:

Wow, thanks for sharing. That must have been awesome! You must have felt like a 6 year old in Legoland

And yes, please, no full flat grind on kitchen knives ... :surrendar:

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I have been trying to explain that. Majority of the makers are doing other stuff and just branching Into "kitchen knife designs "

chefcomesback said:

I have been trying to explain that. Majority of the makers are doing other stuff and just branching Into "kitchen knife designs "

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I think there the customers should follow the good old rule - order that kind of knife from a maker that he/she understands and knows well how to make. I have seen (online) quite a few kitchen knives from various knife makers that otherwise make outdoor or hunting knives and could not help but have the feel that those knives just do not really make sense, however well executed they were.