Knife making was our focus for the November Tracker weekend.

We began our adventure with a visit to Dano Harris, a blacksmith in the Markdale area.
He spent Sat. morning taking us through the steps of forging a knife and
related a lot of interesting facts about authentic blacksmithing.

We then constructed our own forge using a mound, some sand, a steel pipe and a vacuum cleaner.
We also had a second forge operating in a cut propane tank.
It took a little engineering but we got everything working well and set to work pounding the steel.

Because we were working outside, all of our materials, including the steel beam we were using as an anvil,
were very cold, cooling down the metal too quickly and making the process
more difficult than it needed to be.
As a reault, the grinders got a lot of action to shape stubborn knives.

The results were still very good.

David Browne is preparing a video which I will link as soon as it is complete.