An Interview with Master Bladesmith, Daniel Winkler
(Part 1)
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Step back in time with me, if you will ... to a time when knives were more than just something to open letters with ... more than something to open cardboard boxes with. When knives were used for the purpose they were made for ... when the Knife or Tomahawk was the camp tool, the skinner, the surgical scapel, or if necessary, ... the weapon. When it was the Woodsman's tool, that he could not do without.
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I recently had the privilege of visiting Master Bladesmith Daniel Winkler, at his shop in Blowing Rock NC.
I started on a beautiful day, and took a leisurely drive south through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Blowing Rock NC. Blowing Rock is a quaint little town nestled at over 4000ft above sea level. The town takes it's name from a Native American legend about the unusual rock cliff located there, that produces mysterious winds causing even the snow to fall upside down. (The Legend of Blowing Rock
I found Daniel Winkler's home & shop, nestled on a high ridge, just a few minutes drive from Blowing Rock ... A log home that he built himself, with a small workshop beside it.
Daniel greeted me with a smile and a firm handshake, and invited me into his shop. Upon entering the shop, my eyes were busy taking in the various tools and knife projects that he was working on. I wanted to look at everything at once, but first... the interview.
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Daniel is a native of the Blowing Rock area, and a graduate of Appalachian State University, with a degree in Industrial Arts. He spent several years working for a local company tanning leather, and making leather products.
Daniel told me his interest in making historical type knives, began in 1975. In an effort to authentically outfit himself with the equipment of an 18th century woodsman.
"My inspiration continues to come from Frontier America, a time when the equipment a person carried meant sustenence and survival"
Daniel hunts exclusively with a flintlock, blackpowder rifle, and needed a knife to go along with it and his buckskins... so he made one. The rest is history.
(A sample of his work )
Daniel strives to make his knives appear old, he even ages them. He sometimes uses a cracked bone handle, that he will wrap with rawhide to make it look like an authentic repair, that might have been done hundreds of years ago by a woodsman.
Daniel uses all natural materials for his handles. Wood, antler, fossil ivory, slab bone and complete bone handles are his choices for handle material. He uses 5160, 1095, and L-6 carbon steel in his blades. He also forges his own Damascus in standard ladder, twist, and random patterns.
Daniel Winkler is probably most famous for his authentic looking weapons that he made for the movie, "Last of the Mohicans"
Not only did Daniel Winkler make the weapons carried my Daniel Day Lewis, and all the other principal characters, he also had to make weapons for 25 other characters in the movie. To top that, he had to make 3 identical pieces for each character. As Daniel told me, "That way, if Daniel Day Lewis dropped his knife in the bottom of the lake ... we had a spare. Otherwise it could have held up production, and about 5000 people waiting while I made another one! "
The third weapon he made for each actor was sent to Hollywood, so the special effects people could make replicas of them out of rubber. To be filled with "blood bladders" for the fight scenes. Each item he made was subject to the design specifications and personal scrutiny of Director Michael Mann.
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Part 2 continued below.
(Part 1)
------------
Step back in time with me, if you will ... to a time when knives were more than just something to open letters with ... more than something to open cardboard boxes with. When knives were used for the purpose they were made for ... when the Knife or Tomahawk was the camp tool, the skinner, the surgical scapel, or if necessary, ... the weapon. When it was the Woodsman's tool, that he could not do without.
---------------
I recently had the privilege of visiting Master Bladesmith Daniel Winkler, at his shop in Blowing Rock NC.
I started on a beautiful day, and took a leisurely drive south through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Blowing Rock NC. Blowing Rock is a quaint little town nestled at over 4000ft above sea level. The town takes it's name from a Native American legend about the unusual rock cliff located there, that produces mysterious winds causing even the snow to fall upside down. (The Legend of Blowing Rock
I found Daniel Winkler's home & shop, nestled on a high ridge, just a few minutes drive from Blowing Rock ... A log home that he built himself, with a small workshop beside it.
Daniel greeted me with a smile and a firm handshake, and invited me into his shop. Upon entering the shop, my eyes were busy taking in the various tools and knife projects that he was working on. I wanted to look at everything at once, but first... the interview.
---------------------
Daniel is a native of the Blowing Rock area, and a graduate of Appalachian State University, with a degree in Industrial Arts. He spent several years working for a local company tanning leather, and making leather products.
Daniel told me his interest in making historical type knives, began in 1975. In an effort to authentically outfit himself with the equipment of an 18th century woodsman.
"My inspiration continues to come from Frontier America, a time when the equipment a person carried meant sustenence and survival"
Daniel hunts exclusively with a flintlock, blackpowder rifle, and needed a knife to go along with it and his buckskins... so he made one. The rest is history.
(A sample of his work )
Daniel strives to make his knives appear old, he even ages them. He sometimes uses a cracked bone handle, that he will wrap with rawhide to make it look like an authentic repair, that might have been done hundreds of years ago by a woodsman.
Daniel uses all natural materials for his handles. Wood, antler, fossil ivory, slab bone and complete bone handles are his choices for handle material. He uses 5160, 1095, and L-6 carbon steel in his blades. He also forges his own Damascus in standard ladder, twist, and random patterns.
Daniel Winkler is probably most famous for his authentic looking weapons that he made for the movie, "Last of the Mohicans"
Not only did Daniel Winkler make the weapons carried my Daniel Day Lewis, and all the other principal characters, he also had to make weapons for 25 other characters in the movie. To top that, he had to make 3 identical pieces for each character. As Daniel told me, "That way, if Daniel Day Lewis dropped his knife in the bottom of the lake ... we had a spare. Otherwise it could have held up production, and about 5000 people waiting while I made another one! "
The third weapon he made for each actor was sent to Hollywood, so the special effects people could make replicas of them out of rubber. To be filled with "blood bladders" for the fight scenes. Each item he made was subject to the design specifications and personal scrutiny of Director Michael Mann.
-----------------------
Part 2 continued below.
