The stories in the blades
- Sam makes culinary knives with vintage materials
- He is fascinated by the story of materials
- He inherited his love of making from his father
Thanks to a curious mind, Sam Gleeson has experimented a lot and travelled different paths throughout his life. Deeply influenced by his father, who sparked a love of tools and making in him from a very young age and supported him all along, Sam first studied environmental sciences. He cultivated a love for art all his life and has been on numerous trips around the world, before landing in Ireland. Here, through Homo Faber Guide artisan Fingal Ferguson, a friend who later became his mentor, Sam discovered the primeval craft of bladesmithing. He began to study with some of the most experienced masters in knife making. Within a few years he has become a reputed knife maker, sought after by great chefs and collectors. Sam's approach is to use discarded or antique materials to forge new blades and handles, thus making knives that carry a story within them.
Discover his work
INTERVIEW
It was actually because of my dad: he was a self employed machinist and engineer who made parts for vintage car engines. His workshop was on the side of our house and as a child I used to help out doing odd jobs there. All through my own years of education I thought of his skills and life.
Being a bladesmith is a wonderful mix of skills. I love the story behind the materials I use: it could be a 100-year-old wrought iron cart wheel rim, Victorian farm fencing, whiskey barrel straps, sea-buried anchor chains, antique swords, storm damaged tree limbs, sunken ships boughs, whale bones…
Working with my hands and a fire to create a knife feeds a deep connection to the smiths of the past, their skills and failures. These practices have had such a profound relationship with the development of humankind. Then, wanting to know, to understand more is what sparks innovation for me.
Using recycled materials as I do can provide some heartbreaking challenges. No matter how much you clean up a bit of old wrought iron, sometimes hidden inclusions show themselves at the very end of the process, when I am finishing a blade. The whiskey barrel straps are my nemesis: their failure rate can be agonisingly high.
