- Joined
- Sep 6, 2010
- Messages
- 70
I am a very amateur maker, and so have been hesitant to put anything here. I am nowhere near as talented or experienced as those who frequent these pages. Having said that, this was for a good cause and so I thought I would share it.
My father heads up the International Sailors' Society Southern Africa and he has developed a post trauma course to help counsel seafarers who have survived piracy and their families. A major part of the work that the chaplains do is debriefing and primary care before the seafarers are transported home. With the increase of piracy off the West coast of Africa, there has been a growing need for port chaplains to upgrade their skills, but the organization depends on donors and funding is tight. I half joked with my Old Man that perhaps a knife raffle would be a good source - and he took me up on the challenge. We threw some thoughts around and began putting the project together. He wanted something "rugged yet classy", and we eventually settled on the profile, and Marino sheep horn, which need a fair amount of the bark to show. It also needed to "fill big hands".
This is what transpired:-
The raffle went much better than I expected - thanks to the incredible generosity of a great many people - and enough was raised to finance the international facilitator, the 2 week course, and board and lodging for 12 chaplains.
There were many firsts for me in this project, the first time I pinned bolsters (and I learned to never uses dissimilar steels!), first time trying scalloped filing, and first time using sheep horn (I'll use more in the future - it has a warm, earthy grip).
Believe it or not, the winner of the knife kindly donated it back to the ISSSA so that they can raise further funds for their work. The course was held two weeks ago and was a resounding success. I had a great deal of fun building it, learned a lot, and am proud to be associated with the work the society does.
I am deeply indebted to Carl Ballot who photographed the knife, bringing out the very best in it!
Thanks for looking:thumbup:
My father heads up the International Sailors' Society Southern Africa and he has developed a post trauma course to help counsel seafarers who have survived piracy and their families. A major part of the work that the chaplains do is debriefing and primary care before the seafarers are transported home. With the increase of piracy off the West coast of Africa, there has been a growing need for port chaplains to upgrade their skills, but the organization depends on donors and funding is tight. I half joked with my Old Man that perhaps a knife raffle would be a good source - and he took me up on the challenge. We threw some thoughts around and began putting the project together. He wanted something "rugged yet classy", and we eventually settled on the profile, and Marino sheep horn, which need a fair amount of the bark to show. It also needed to "fill big hands".
This is what transpired:-
The raffle went much better than I expected - thanks to the incredible generosity of a great many people - and enough was raised to finance the international facilitator, the 2 week course, and board and lodging for 12 chaplains.
There were many firsts for me in this project, the first time I pinned bolsters (and I learned to never uses dissimilar steels!), first time trying scalloped filing, and first time using sheep horn (I'll use more in the future - it has a warm, earthy grip).
Believe it or not, the winner of the knife kindly donated it back to the ISSSA so that they can raise further funds for their work. The course was held two weeks ago and was a resounding success. I had a great deal of fun building it, learned a lot, and am proud to be associated with the work the society does.
I am deeply indebted to Carl Ballot who photographed the knife, bringing out the very best in it!
Thanks for looking:thumbup:
