Welcome to the shop page... this is where I'll show how and why I do things, what I do it with, and what I make it from... basically, a tool and technique page.

Firstly, over the years I've travelled a path that's taken me around in a big circle it seems; through various stages of power tools and modern equiptment, and through a number of major cultural and style influences as well. Nowadays I've come back to working with pretty much all hand-tools and human-powered tools, with only a few occasional exceptions; a "trip-hammer" or "power-hammer" for larger and heavier work, work that in ancient times was done either with the help of assistants or apprentices swinging sledge-hammers, or trip hammers powered by water-wheels or sometimes animal-power. Basically, the "grunt-work". And occasionally, I use a mounted wire-wheel to remove scale and residue from freshly-forged items. Otherwise, I've found that the way I get the most enjoyment and satisfaction, and also create my best work, is by hand.

Style-wise, my main influences and preferences all revolve primarily around my own cultural roots, Scottish, Norman, and Scandinavian, with probably the Scandinavian influence being the strongest with regards to knives and working tools in particular. My techniques and tooling I tend to use in the shop reflects this as well. Of course, early settlement and frontier influences of Canada creep in there as well, and I am an active outdoorsman too, so I use these things myself and have as long as I can remember. So I have a large practical influence that tends to overlook everything I make... things either work, or they don't... and there's only one way to really know that.

I've gotten to be known for swords and other reproduction work too, I don't do that as much now as I used to, and I've certainly narrowed the scope of things I'll do in that area, but I still make a few European-style swords, axes, and other items from time-to-time. Mainly this comes from my love of ancient method and materials and this is something I spend a lot of time exploring and reasearching.

This page will be the index of "the shop" and will be added to on a continuing basis, what works for me best is to write "articles" as time permits, and then as they come together, I'll add them here. So check in now and again to see what's new, I'll likely add new articles on a rough monthly basis.

It's been customary for a score of centuries now to call the "shop" or "studio" of the blacksmith the "forge", or sometimes the "smithy".... in my case, I call it "Evolution Forge".... just so ya know.