At NorthStar Forge, we love seeing students return to enhance their knife-making skills. We especially enjoy it when those alumni decide to make it a life-long hobby.
Robb Tushie-Lessard is one of those alumni, who leaned into his newfound hobby by becoming a NorthStar Forge member to not only hone the craft but continue making pieces of functional art that he could be proud of.
Robb’s interest for knife-making grew out of a desire for a more physical hobby – something that allowed him to get away his desk and create something tangible.
Initially, he was interested in learning to make anything out of metal, but particularly a sword.
“I thought that’d be cool, but then I was like, I should do some knives first,” he said.
So, Robb signed up for a blacksmith’s knife class, which happened to be taught that day by guest instructor Sam Wandishin, as Jason was out sick.
Robb recalls doing everything by hand, without using power hammers – the true blacksmith’s way.
“I remember my forearms were so weak [by lunch break] … I couldn’t believe how hard it was to [turn] the door handle,” Robb said. “I also went way too thin, so I forged it a lot.”
He then moved on to the railroad spike knife class with Jason, which was very cool, Robb said. He liked how his knife has a slight curve to it, resembling a fisherman’s hook.
Both knives are proudly displayed at his shop workspace in the shop.
His current undertaking is a chef’s knife set for his uncle.
“It’s very ambitious, but I’m going to use all my XP tokens,” Robb said. Full-time members get an XP (experience points) token each month which can be redeemed for private lessons with Jason to enhance a particular skill, like forging Damascus.
What Robb finds most challenging about the knife-making process is the finish.
While he feels confident forging and the initial grinds, he’s less assured by the final grinds and handle. “… all the stuff that’s going to show up at the end, I’m still very nervous about it,” he said. “You can always fix it later, until you can’t, and that’s scary.”
But nothing beats that sense of accomplishment when you’ve got a finished product to show for your efforts.
The project he’s most proud of is the hammer he made with Jason (see photos).
“Every time I forge, I go grab it, and that’s what I use,” he said.
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