((PKG)) KNIFE MAKER
((Banner: Art as Work))
((Reporter/Camera: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Map: Wilmot, New Hampshire))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
I don’t think there’s any real art without craft and I don’t think
there’s any real craft without art. But I had a debate with an art
professor at the School of Museum of Fine Arts and this was a
nice guy. I really liked him. I liked his class. He was a drawing
teacher. And I was working on a knife during the course of a
semester, and then he wrapped his hand around the blade,
covering the blade and he looked at the handle and he goes,
“This is really beautiful. I love what you’ve done with the
materials and texture, you know, colors and all of that. If it didn’t
have a blade, then it would be art. Then it would be beautiful.”
And I was like, “Come on”. I just rolled my eyes at him.
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
My name is Zack Jonas and I’m a Master bladesmith working out
of New Hampshire. I make custom knives in all shapes and
sizes, anything from hunting knives to cooking knives to samurai
swords.
I studied philosophy and I enjoyed critical thinking and debating
and all of that. So, after college, I went, I got a job at a corporate
law firm in Boston. And the idea of having to pay your dues for 15
years before life becomes anything other than a professional
misery, you know. You’re a paralegal, you’re filing, you’re doing
whatever you’re doing, which was a good test for me to realize
that that field was not going to be my passion. Then I found my
way into this class for bladesmithing and fell in love with it. So,
nothing linear about the path but that’s how I ended up here.
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
This is one of my favorite knives I’ve ever made and this sword is
kind of its spiritual big brother. There’s a lot of similarity to the
shape and the flow of it. And this is a really complicated piece
and I got a lot of the ideas from this.
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
In theory, the title of Master smith means that I have the skills to
do almost literally anything that someone can come up with or at
least to learn how to do it. So, I do a lot of kitchen knives. I do a
lot of hunting knives. Desk knives, things like that, letter openers.
And more elaborate projects, like swords and daggers and art
pieces, you know, pieces that are built to be functional but have
enough time put into the appearance that they are meant more for
a display purpose.
((NATS/SOT: Zack Jones
There’s yours coming up.))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
Once I realized that bladesmithing could be a career, I, that
became very appealing to me pretty quickly. But there’s a lot
more that goes into being a professional knifemaker than just
making the knives. I generally work seven days a week. I’m
usually in the studio by seven o’clock in the morning. I don’t
resent that. I love it. I love doing it and when I’m not in the
studio, I’m usually thinking about the studio. But if you want to
make this a business, well, you have to run it as a business.
Well, I could quite happily be in the shop ten hours a day, seven
days a week. And then, there’s also paying the bills for the studio
and communicating with customers and keeping my order books,
you know, tidy, and shipping and going to shows and applying to
shows and all of those things that it’s just, there’s so much more
to it than just doing the work.
There was a funny moment early on after I built the studio. I woke
up on a Tuesday or something like that and I just didn’t feel great.
And I said to my wife, “I don’t feel great”. And she said, “Don’t go
to work”. And I said, “What do you mean, don’t go to work? It’s a
Tuesday.” And she looked at me like I was crazy. She goes,
“You work for yourself.” And I went, “Oh yeah, I don’t have to go
to work today.”
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
Obviously, that’s dangerous, that’s a slippery slope and you can
just decide not to go in and then nothing gets done.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
One of the things that I love about knives is their connection to the
ancient past and I mean truly ancient past. I mean, just imagine
life today, out in the woods. If you had to go out in the woods and
survive for a week and you couldn’t cut anything, that would be
tricky. So, the amount of power that mankind gained by adding
the cutting edge to his, you know, arsenal is huge. One of the
things that appeals to me so strongly about bladesmithing is that
I’m taking these raw materials, a bar of steel, a block of wood,
maybe a sheet of metal, and you shape those from, you know,
essentially nothing into these objects that are not only beautiful
but also powerful and useful tools and have a deep connection to
history and culture. So, I really enjoy that aspect of it. But it’s
hard, it’s hard work and it’s pretty dangerous. You know, just
about every tool in my studio can hurt me or worse, quickly or
slowly. But I feel really fortunate to be able to do what I do and to
have my life set up the way that it is. I get to do what I love. I get
to do it as much as I want, pretty much, which is a real, I mean,
it’s a good place to be.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Banner: Art as Work))
((Reporter/Camera: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Map: Wilmot, New Hampshire))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
I don’t think there’s any real art without craft and I don’t think
there’s any real craft without art. But I had a debate with an art
professor at the School of Museum of Fine Arts and this was a
nice guy. I really liked him. I liked his class. He was a drawing
teacher. And I was working on a knife during the course of a
semester, and then he wrapped his hand around the blade,
covering the blade and he looked at the handle and he goes,
“This is really beautiful. I love what you’ve done with the
materials and texture, you know, colors and all of that. If it didn’t
have a blade, then it would be art. Then it would be beautiful.”
And I was like, “Come on”. I just rolled my eyes at him.
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
My name is Zack Jonas and I’m a Master bladesmith working out
of New Hampshire. I make custom knives in all shapes and
sizes, anything from hunting knives to cooking knives to samurai
swords.
I studied philosophy and I enjoyed critical thinking and debating
and all of that. So, after college, I went, I got a job at a corporate
law firm in Boston. And the idea of having to pay your dues for 15
years before life becomes anything other than a professional
misery, you know. You’re a paralegal, you’re filing, you’re doing
whatever you’re doing, which was a good test for me to realize
that that field was not going to be my passion. Then I found my
way into this class for bladesmithing and fell in love with it. So,
nothing linear about the path but that’s how I ended up here.
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
This is one of my favorite knives I’ve ever made and this sword is
kind of its spiritual big brother. There’s a lot of similarity to the
shape and the flow of it. And this is a really complicated piece
and I got a lot of the ideas from this.
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
In theory, the title of Master smith means that I have the skills to
do almost literally anything that someone can come up with or at
least to learn how to do it. So, I do a lot of kitchen knives. I do a
lot of hunting knives. Desk knives, things like that, letter openers.
And more elaborate projects, like swords and daggers and art
pieces, you know, pieces that are built to be functional but have
enough time put into the appearance that they are meant more for
a display purpose.
((NATS/SOT: Zack Jones
There’s yours coming up.))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
Once I realized that bladesmithing could be a career, I, that
became very appealing to me pretty quickly. But there’s a lot
more that goes into being a professional knifemaker than just
making the knives. I generally work seven days a week. I’m
usually in the studio by seven o’clock in the morning. I don’t
resent that. I love it. I love doing it and when I’m not in the
studio, I’m usually thinking about the studio. But if you want to
make this a business, well, you have to run it as a business.
Well, I could quite happily be in the shop ten hours a day, seven
days a week. And then, there’s also paying the bills for the studio
and communicating with customers and keeping my order books,
you know, tidy, and shipping and going to shows and applying to
shows and all of those things that it’s just, there’s so much more
to it than just doing the work.
There was a funny moment early on after I built the studio. I woke
up on a Tuesday or something like that and I just didn’t feel great.
And I said to my wife, “I don’t feel great”. And she said, “Don’t go
to work”. And I said, “What do you mean, don’t go to work? It’s a
Tuesday.” And she looked at me like I was crazy. She goes,
“You work for yourself.” And I went, “Oh yeah, I don’t have to go
to work today.”
((NATS))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
Obviously, that’s dangerous, that’s a slippery slope and you can
just decide not to go in and then nothing gets done.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith, Owner, Jonas Blade and
Metalwork))
One of the things that I love about knives is their connection to the
ancient past and I mean truly ancient past. I mean, just imagine
life today, out in the woods. If you had to go out in the woods and
survive for a week and you couldn’t cut anything, that would be
tricky. So, the amount of power that mankind gained by adding
the cutting edge to his, you know, arsenal is huge. One of the
things that appeals to me so strongly about bladesmithing is that
I’m taking these raw materials, a bar of steel, a block of wood,
maybe a sheet of metal, and you shape those from, you know,
essentially nothing into these objects that are not only beautiful
but also powerful and useful tools and have a deep connection to
history and culture. So, I really enjoy that aspect of it. But it’s
hard, it’s hard work and it’s pretty dangerous. You know, just
about every tool in my studio can hurt me or worse, quickly or
slowly. But I feel really fortunate to be able to do what I do and to
have my life set up the way that it is. I get to do what I love. I get
to do it as much as I want, pretty much, which is a real, I mean,
it’s a good place to be.
((NATS/MUSIC))
