Navigation Bar |
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
I always wanted to be a veterinarian but was always allergic to fur and feathers. I was not allergic to horses and loved them, so at a very early age I decided to become a farrier, much to my mothers horror! When I finished school I was already trimming my ponies feet and all my friend's horse's feet. I had worked with a farrier part-time during weekends and school holidays since I was 15 years old but realised that I needed further training. I went to the U.S.A and attended the Montana State University Horseshoeing School in 1983, qualified as a farrier with the American Farriers Association and returned home to start my own business at the tender age of 19.
After spending a few years shoeing 300 horses a month I developed a very bad allergy to horses. Ironic. I had to give up my career and then turned to blacksmithing, joining Gold Reef City, a working museum depicting Johannesburg 100 years ago as a gold rush town. I mainly did decorative wrought-iron work until I tried my hand at making damascus in 1995. I believe damascus to be the ultimate in the blacksmith's art and once I had made a few pieces, I was hooked, I wanted to do nothing else...... until I made my first knife in 1997! I then had found the absolute best - making your own steel and forging a knife from it! Working at Gold Reef City was fun and my duties also included riding sidesaddle in a long Victorian dress each morning to welcome the visitors, doing staged steam train robberies on horseback and performing each December season in the Circus Hippodrome!
There were no knifemakers forging knives in South Africa and no-one making traditional folded damascus. I had no one to turn to for help so I decided to go to the American Bladesmith School in Old Washington, Arkansas to attend their Introduction to Bladesmithing and Damascus courses in 1998. I was lucky enough to receive the Blade Magazine Scholarship for the Introduction course. Kevin Harvey, my husband, attended the classes with me and we both came away enlightened and so enthusiastic about forging knives that we, together with Bertie Rietveld and Tom Nelson founded the Southern African Bladesmiths Association (S.A.B.A, pronounced sabre). We now have over 50 members and offer courses in bladesmithing and damascus making. Our annual hammer-in is always a tremendous success.
I attained my American Bladesmith Society Master Bladesmith rating at the 2003 Blade Show in Atlanta making me the second lady Master in the world and the only one on the African continent. Kevin and I are also the only husband and wife team of Master Smiths. Kevin and I attend the Blade Show in Atlanta U.S.A each year as well as the annual South African Guild show.
Teaching and sharing knowledge is very important to me and I love teaching bladesmithing. I do all the "hot work" and Kevin does the "cold work" sections of our courses. I am always experimenting with different damascus patterns and read all I can on the subject. There is so much to learn! I make knives from my own damascus and occasionally have some that I offer for sale on the website www.bladegallery.com. I especially love making replicas of traditional African weapons and primitive knives.
Kevin and I helped to draw up a marking schedule to be used by the Knifemakers' Guild of Southern Africa's evaluation committee in order to allow forged knives to be recognised and for people to attain guild membership by submitting forged knives. I was the first person to attain guild membership using this schedule.
I am passionate about horses, I rehabilitate injured and young birds and love fly-fishing. Moving to Belfast and combining our workshops has been the most wonderful experience. To leave the stress of city life for the tranquillity of country living has been the best decision we have ever made. Our creativity and productivity have increased ten fold and having my horses with me all the time has made my life complete. I'm sure even the horses are glad to be out of the city, the rides here are spectacularly beautiful. Can you imagine..... after a hard days work at the forge, having to decide if you would like to go for a ride or pop down to one of 7 dams or the river for a spot of fly-fishing?!
Heavin Forge truly is Heaven.
KNIFEMAKING AWARDS :
Best Historical Piece at the 2003 Guild Show (first Guild Show).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
