Australian Blade Ed 1

I started a list of things that I needed
to buy or get in order to pursue my
quest on making a knife from start to
finish. After a few days of research
my head started spinning around, the
list (a rough thought in my head as
almost everything else that I do) had
grown massively, especially after
doing some YouTube research and
seeing the likes of Trollsky and
Thetopicala in action my interest
grew dramatically and so did the list,
I was hooked.
I started to try and find a knife grinder
for sale in the UK and nothing! All I
could see was "Made in USA" and at
the time I also wanted a forge, the
most essential tools for any knife
maker although you can argue that
good old files could replace the knife
grinder, it can indeed but I am a bit
lazy and in all honesty the idea of
spending all morning burning the
calories of my only morning intake "
a latte"? I don't think so. I had almost
given up when a few months later I
found out that a kid that worked as a
part-timer in the restaurant that I used
to manage was a blacksmith. That got
me intrigued and I approached him, a
chap that goes by the name James
Portsmouth.
James, a 19 year old grabs his
smart phone and starts
showing me his work, WOW
the kid is so unbelievably
talented I couldn't believe.
The question that followed
was” James do you have a
forge?” “Oh yeah” he replied.
I followed with “James have
you ever made a knife?”
Again he reaches for his
phone and shows me this
gorgeous bushcraft knife.
“Tell me James how did you
make it?” James responded
with “I used a file jig for the
bevels and heat treated the
blade in my forge. It's 01 tool
steel.” he said.
That was the first time ever
that I've heard steel being
called by some sort of
designation, I knew
immediately that James was a
connoisseur and I was a
sponge ready to soak up all
the knowledge that was
oozing out of his brain. I
shook his hand and with a
massive grin on my face, told
him “James you are my new
best friend!” We both
laughed.