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Heather’s Assegai On the Cover of New Book by Ellie Crowe

“The Boy Called Troublemaker” is the name of the book written by award-winning author Ellie Crowe which is based on the childhood of Nelson Mandela. The book is available from Amazon in the kindle edition http://www.amazon.com/Called-Troublemaker-Childhood-Mandela-ebook/dp/B006HCHME2 

Here is the editorial review from Amazon.com: 

Nelson Mandela --legendary freedom fighter and revolutionary, first black president of South Africa and Nobel Peace prize winner--stated that his childhood in the Transkei countryside taught him everything he needed to know in life. This biographical novel brings to life Mandela’s childhood and his tribal initiation at sixteen when he resolved to live up to his name—Troublemaker—and fight for freedom for his people.

Heather was lucky enough to meet Mr Nelson Mandela at his birthday party held at Gold Reef City in 1995 where he invited a few thousand children to join in his birthday celebrations.

To learn more about the author Ellie Crowe, please visit her website, www.elliecrowe.com.

Kevin Harvey Wins 14C28N Competition

26 knifemakers participated in the competition held by Knife Machines and Tools cc. Each entry consisted of a fully built knife and a sacrificial blade. The new steel, ideal for making knives was tested by Sandvik’s research and development department to see who could make the best knife with the new material.

The first step in the evaluation was the CATRA (cutlery and allied trades research association) sharpness and edge retention test which was performed in the U.K. The five best performing knives were then sent to Sandvik for the hardening result, microstructure, residual austenite content and hardness to be accessed.

Thank you to Johan Oosthuisen from KMTS and Sandvik for organising this competition.

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Newest Guild Member - Rucus Coetzee

We are proud to announce that our apprentice, Rucus Coetzee, has been accepted into the Knifemakers’ Guild of Southern Africa. He submitted 4 knives for evaluation along with completing his cut and bend test (see photo above) and passed with each knife scoring above 75%. Rucus is the youngest member to ever be accepted at 20 years old and a few days. Kevin held the record previously for being the youngest at age 21. We wish him all the best with his knifemaking career.

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Kevin’s Award at Guild Show

Kevin won an award for his Gargoyle Bowie at the recent annual Knifemakers’ Guild of Southern Africa show. The award was titled “Special Award for Forged Bowie”. This is not a regular competition category, but the judges felt that this knife deserved recognition. The knife is a fighting Bowie with a composite twist damascus blade, nickel silver guard, damascus collar, Amboyna burl wood handle with copper on nickel butt cap engraved by Kevin with a gargoyles’ face.

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Baby B@t In Stock

Boker of Germany have added the following self-defense knife designed by Kevin Harvey to their line of fine knvies. The Baby B@t is about 30% smaller and 40% lighter than its big brother, B@t-Man. It still has the same styling and look to it with black G10 handle slabs and 440C blade. This will make for a great concealment tool due to its compact and slim design. It features an innovative concealed stop-bar. You cannot see what holds the blade in either the open nor closed position. We will have a limited number of the collectable, numbered knives coming in with Kevin’s signature and you are welcome to order them from us ahead of time to be sure you get one of the first. Please e-mail us on heavin@heavinforge.co.za to order your knife. 

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BOKER PLUS B@T-MAN - KEVIN HARVEY DESIGN!

Kevin submitted this design of a folding knife to Boker of Solingen Germany and they have put the knife into production. The design came from a dream that Kevin had after he and Heather attended a self-defense course which involved using knives. This is a unique and very difficult grind and looks a lot like a bat wing. The B@T-MAN is a liner lock which can be opened with one hand, the blade steel is 8Cr13MoV stainless knife steel and the handle slabs are G-10. It comes with a lanyard and a belt clip. It weighs 175 gms and its blade length is 95 mm. The handle is sculpted and grooved for extra grip.

We tested this knife before submitting the design and have never seen a knife perform like this one does. The curved blade actually pulls the item being cut into the cutting edge which has the large scollops instead of serration’s that cut with unbelievable ease. Serration’s tend to ball up on clothing but this B@ grind slices through anything without catching. As part of the testing we sliced up thick conveyor belting like it was paper, cut two 1” free hanging sisal ropes with one swipe and were horrified at the efficient cuts it made on a leg of beef dressed in a pair of De Wet’s old jeans!

If you would like to look at it on Boker’s website, please click on this link index.php-c=16,15,&a=01BO430&p=&pp=0. If you would like to order one please phone us or e-mail us.

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Snow Near Heavin Forge (yes it snows in Africa!)

When we woke to hear that snow had fallen less than 15 kms from home, we took the day off to play in the snow and have a sherry to warm up afterwards in Dullstroom! 16 cm of snow fell overnight on the 15th August. When we moved to Belfast, for the cold climate to make the forging more enjoyable, we were told by locals that it snowed at least every second year. Well we had to wait 10 years for a proper snow fall, but it was worth the wait!

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Rucus Coetzee

Rucus Coetzee is a member of the Knifemaker’s Guild of Southern Africa.  He is also a bow maker and enjoys making traditional Long Bows. He takes custom orders for his bows, if you are interested in one please phone him on our number

087 808 4413 or his cell number 076 733 1742.

Rucus also does restoration and conservation on edged weapons and other metal objects, please look at this page on our website for more info “Restoration and Conservation”

He has started to make some great knives and we encourage knife collectors out there to buy some of his early work as we know they will be a valuable addition to your collection.

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Heather’s African Weapons on Wilbur Smith’s Book Covers

It was a great honor for Heather to be asked by Wilbur Smith’s publishers, Pan Macmillan, to use an assegai (Zulu spear) that she made, on the cover of Wilbur Smith’s latest book “Assegai” and an African sword that she made on the reprint of his first book, “When the Lion Feeds”. Please visit Wilbur Smith’s website, www.wilbursmithbooks.com for more information on his new book.

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