We put up our tent at Punakaiki Beach holiday camp and got our first sandfly bites the moment that we got out of the car. Luckily they weren't as vicious as the mosquito's we had been trying to avoid for the last couple of months. It was great to get the tent out again, and in a more chilled climate we had a really good nights sleep.
In the morning we took in the coast view from Barrytown. It looked like it might rain in a big way, lol. There was a lark singing away in the sky above us here.
We arrived a bit early for the knife making course and were met by Steven, our host and tutor, who was very chipper and ushered us into the house to meet the other early students who were all making tea and coffee in his kitchen. We were pleased to find that it was going to be a small group of 7 for the day. Two couples were Dutch, and an Irish girl...all very cheerful and chilled.
Steven's wife Robyn sorted us all out with an old shirt, goggles and gloves, then put masking tape name tags on us all before Steven gave us the brief for the day. Then quick smart we were off and in the first group to use the forge to heat our steel sections of metal that were to become knives.
Steven, on the left, actively supervised us all heating the steel and hammering the shape for the point of the knife and then the blade.
Robyn kindly used our camera to take pics of us during the forging part of the process. Here I am at the very start about to hammer the point of the knife into a curve.
Wiji givin it a whack!
The enormous Dutch guy Voulter, to my right was really going for it. Steven had asked Voulter at the start to try and bend the previousl hardened steel with some pliers, thinking it would be impossible, but Voulter did manage to bend it, LOL. Steven later asked him to heave an old oven into a pick up truck for him. I thought that he would make a great 'baddie' in a Bond film. In real life he was lovely and worked as a carpenter in the yacht building trade.
Ooooh, the concentration. Lol.
Steven told us that he had always been self employed. First working in the textiles industry at 19, he then set up his own textiles business and slept in the factory warehouse to keep the machines running. He designed underware and pointed out to us that 'it doesn't just fall out the sky, someone has to do it!' We agreed! He built his business up and was manufacturing in three countries and living the high life before his partner floated the business on the stock market in a drunken gamble and they lost it all in the crash of the 80's.
He then went onto design industrial robots for manufacturing, and told us that the robots that he designed had not been superseded apart from modern advances in software. He eventually moved to Barrytown to the land that his ancestors had acquired and wanted to work from home, making something and over time developed the knife making idea into a business. He was a really interesting and knowledgeable guy. He was also very entertaining too, telling some wrong and rude jokes throughout the day. He did complain that the Lonely Planet had mentioned his terrible jokes, but hadn't commented on anyone else's...how rude! Never the less he kept us all entertained, on task and happy.
When Wiji had finished roughing out the shape of the blade, Steven marked it off with chalk and then put it back in the forge to heat it one last time.
'Mmmm this is goood!'
The forge and workshop area were out the front of the house...handy.
My rough knife shape with curve, now cooled and released from the bolted temporary handle.
Wiji puts his hot knife in the bucket, (a mixture of carbon and water) up to the chalk line to create the hardened blade area of the knife.
Next we had to cut off the knife section with a hacksaw.
Then we used belt sander to grind off the excess metal to reveal the rough shape of the handle.
We swapped sanding belts to grind the mid section of the steel so that it was clean and smooth and ready for the brass fixing.
Here is my knife after these processes. Next we drew around the metal handle onto wood to make two sections that would later become the wooden handle. Steven told us that the wood had come from a psychiatric ward in Greymouth...nice touch we thought. But apparently you cannot cut down the same indigenous trees any more, which I should imagine is a good thing.
Like any good day workshop some of the materials were already prepped. Here the brass has been cut up for us - time saving. We glued the sections on and while this was drying we sanded the surface of our wooden handles. Wiji's on the left and mine on the right.
Steven and Robyn's very old dog was trying to eat the sand flies under the workbench, but had got some super glue on its coat from getting in the way. 'Look at the camera!' Wiji helpfully points up to the camera. Mmmm glum old gluey dog...
A crazy bitch with knives! Yay, they were totally taking shape. Here we have drilled the holes through the brass and steel and glued in some pins...It wasn't even lunchtime yet!
Oh god yeah, we are totally chufty!
In the meantime, while waiting for the group to get to the same point, Wiji had a go at axe throwing...And I practised throwing metal death stars, how nice.
Then we sanded down the wood of the handle to meet the brass.
And ground off the excess from the pins on the belt sander. With our fingers we filled in all the cracks with a quick setting two part filler...plenty of scope here for more of Steven's quality jokes.
Over lunchtime Steven removed the masking tape and ground down the glue and brass for us because it produces toxic dust. He also used the belt sander to shape the handle, keeping us all on track and making it possible to finish in a day.
We had a sarnie lunch in the kitchen / living room with Robyn, while watching the damaged done by the gale force winds in Wellington on the news. Robyn then took us on a tour of the grounds. Wiji was quite taken with the year old Shetland pony.
The duck pool and the ocean in the distance. We got to feed the ducks some bread, aaah back in the day.
Then we got to play on the giant swing! This involved the rest of the group running with a rope atached to the back of the swing, and then releasing it so that the person was propelled through the air from a great height. Later in the day Steven asked us if we knew that in NZ you can't actually sue anyone. Lol.
Wiji on the swing just before the group lets go of the rope...
Then Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
He loves it! But is a firm 'no' to jumping off. According to Robyn people have broken their legs. Noooooo!
'Mind that gurt leccy fence there, love.'
All too soon it was my turn. I made the fatal mistake of saying please don't make me go too high...
Apprehensive: yes!
But of course they did make me go really high and I opened my eyes just before they let go of the rope to see the ground below me...what a silly girl! This activity certainly woke us all up again and got us ready to start back with the next stage of the process.
This was what our knives looked like after lunch.
The parrot in the garden enclosure only liked men apparently. It really didn't like the ducks and hoofed it up the wire from the floor. It did like Voulter though...
'Yes, my beak is as sharp as a knife, wanna try me?'
We masked off the handle in order to use wet and dry on the knife and polish the brass.
We did this around the back of the house overlooking the sea. Steven said that the correct amount of time for polishing the blade coincided perfectly with precisely the time when you became totally board shitless, he estimated 10 mins. But explained that he would spend a considerable amount of time going through the grades of wet and dry to make a knife to sell, closer to 5 hours!
Wiji gives it a good go, whilst being eaten alive by sand flies.
Mmmm Knives and a mucky face.
Steven shows Wiji how to sharpen the knife in future.
My knife after cleaning the brass and waxing the wood.
My knife and the materials that we were given at the start of the day.
The end results from the whole group. Wiji's knife second from the left and mine following it.
After admiring our knives collectively Steven and Robyn invited us in for some fizz with them. Steven seemed particularly keen to get to this part of the day and talked about it while we were working, he really did deserve to have some relaxation time! The fizz turned out to be some wine that had been put through the soda stream by Robyn. Just as well really as we all drank about three bottles of the stuff! We really enjoyed the day . The whole process was really interesting and fast paced and Steven was very keen to share his knowledge. His next project was to start engraving into bone, so that he could teach this too.
The group L to R, Dutch Voulter and Eva, Irish Shannon, Dutch Arno and Nancy. This particularly photoshoot for his website came after Steven's serious talk about workshop safety and not stabbing anyone in the stomach...nice.
Over the day we had continued to try our hands at axe and death star throwing. We were surprised to find how much we both enjoyed it! Lol. So before we left, and after some fizz we thought 'why not have one last go!?'
I had managed to get them into the wooden boards, just as well because the car park was a short distance behind it.
The house and workshop at the end of the day with glum gluey dog out front - Hurumpf.
Arrrrrggghhh, axe throwing. Maybe Wiji could enter himself at the Royal show in Christchurch. Everyone kept telling me 'he is so strong!' Lol.
Here are some edited vids of the axe and death star throwing an the giant swing.
After thanking Steve and Robyn we headed off south. Along the way we were amused to see this sign. They do tell it like it is in NZ with the keep NZ tidy bin logo being 'don't be a tosser'. Excellent.
This sign really made us laugh out loud!
When we arrived at our chosen camping location, we were concerned to find that the pub was closed. Knocking on the doors and going out the back didn't get us any response, sadly. Inside the pub was decorated with lots of animal hides and Wiji was looking forward to the actual road kill menu. Across the road was the Bushman centre that promised various particularly blokey displays. That too was closed. We were gutted because that meant that we could not camp here too.
The sign on the door. We were looking forward to a beer or two after a full day...
So we drove on, and on and nothing was really open because there was nothing to be open. We did stop at a pub in Harihari and had a surprisingly good pizza in the only eatery of the town. Think total silence as you walk in, checked shirt fashion fave and stuffed and animal heads on the walls. Wiji commented on the massive amount of rain (torrential) but the guy at the bar said 'I wouldn't bother putting my coat on for this, eh?'. A real Kiwi experience there, no? And a handy catch phrase for us too.
Consequently we couldn't find any room at any of the Inn's when we reached Franz Joseph, so we had to sleep in the car! Lmao, not quite the end to the amazing day that we had planned, but hey, what can you do but laugh?
1 comment:
Fascinating, Bendad would have really enjoyed that. xx
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