The Axe Man Cometh
Months ago, the mighty DAz* of the Happy Ghetto introduced me to this video – of Steve Sunk, aka The Axe Man. (The name alone should give you an indication of how cool this is about to be…)
[vimeo height=”281″ width=”500″] http://www.vimeo.com/50351080[/vimeo]In short, this guy rocks. Senior Lecturer in Cookery at the Charles Darwin University, Steve has spent the past 15 years travelling to remote areas of Australia. There he teaches Aboriginal people about cookery and nutrition which, amongst other things, helps them find jobs and feed their families.
In return, he gets to learn all about bush tucker and Aboriginal culture! So far, so awesome. There’s more, however. Since 1986, for fun and relaxation, Steve has been a bladesmith.
I’m just going to repeat that; Steve…is a bladesmith.
I’m not talking about any old bladesmith, either. Steve isn’t one of those everyday, 2-a-penny, street-corner, wannabe bladesmiths, who waste our time crafting flimsy letter-openers on barbecues by the side of the road.
No. Steve isn’t one of those make-believe bladesmiths (who I had to invent because, in reality, nobody is badass enough to actually be a bladesmith); he uses ancient techniques (plus an enormous Massey power hammer that he rebuilt) to hand-forge battle axes, swords and knives from steel that he makes himself.
At this point, we’re all thinking the same thing. “I want to meet this man and watch him hand-forge a sword.” The only problem is, he’s 10,000 miles away in Australia. So we can’t.
Unless we go to Australia.
Which is what I’m doing.
In about a week…
I got this video and information from Rob Norton on Vimeo and Steve’s personal website, walkaboutchef.com.au/