South African Knifemaker, Willem Steenkamp, has always enjoyed working with his hands, especially working with wood and steel, a skill which he learned from his father. This has kept him busy in the workshop for hours at a time. His passion for knife making started after he was commissioned to build a knife making machine for a friend, where after he tried his hands at making a knife for himself. He was immediately hooked.
Willem made and sold his first knife in 2006 and in 2008 was accepted as a member of the South African Knifemakers Guild
He built up a workshop with all the machines that a professional knife maker needs and also built all the grinders, disc grinders and some other machines himself.
Willem spends all his free time in his workshop making folding knives, flipper knives and slip joint pocket knives, and from time to time, a fix blade knife. All parts of the knives are made by himself in-house with manual machines. No CNC machines are used in the process.
Materials that Willem uses for the blades are Bohler N690, D2, Elmax, Damascus and dama steel. Handle materials are made from African hard woods, Giraffe bone, and synthetic materials, like carbon fibre, G10 and micarta.
“My goal in knife-making is to improve my skills on every knife I make. I endeavour to learn as much as I can from other knifemakers that have the same interests as I have – that is – to make the best knife I can with the talent I have received from our Heavenly Father”.
Soli Deo Gloria
