James Grafton moved north to become an apprentice in one of the most ancient trades. Senior writer Chris Gardner went to Kowhai Forge in Wharepapa South to find out his story.
Vaughan Martin, left, shapes red-hot steel into an axe with James Grafton at Kowhai Forge. Photo: Chris Gardner
As soon as Rob Pinkney finished tutoring a blacksmithing class with James Grafton four years ago, he knew he had an enthusiastic student and a blacksmith in the making.
So, he offered him an apprenticeship at his Kowhai Forge, 12kms southwest from Arapuni over the Waikato River.
Grafton, now 23, had finished a job in Canterbury and came north to the Waikato to a bit of fencing for a mate.
He had planned to head overseas to learn about blacksmithing but heard about Pinkney and his forge in the heart of the Waikato at Wharepapa South.
At Kowhai Forge, Pinkney uses traditional methods to shape horseshoes out of steel and runs a school of blacksmithing, passing on the old ways that have kept the agricultural and industrial worlds turning for centuries.
Grafton took a class and was immediately hooked.
“I was looking for a job and really interested in blacksmithing. I wanted to try and develop it further into a career. It was something interesting, something different.”
Kowhai Forge blacksmith Rob Pinkney. Photo: Chris Gardner
Recognising Grafton’s passion, Pinkney offered him a job.
Four years later, the pair have run countless blacksmithing classes, teaching knife and axe making to newcomers while building a father-son-like relationship in the process.
“I’m not in a rush to go anywhere,” Grafton says.
“Most apprentices end up as part of the family,” Pinkney added.
Pinkney’s own apprenticeship began 30 years ago in Matamata where he started as a farrier and blacksmith.
“The horseshoe making process set me up to be a good blacksmith, but I would never be able to pay the bills just blacksmithing.”
On the day The News visits, blacksmithing pupils include Cambridge contractor Hugh Allison, Hamilton roofer Vaughan Martin and his children Thomas Martin-Jury, 18, and Isabella Martin-Jury, 16.
Allison was gifted a day in The Forge by his wife Kirsten for Christmas.
“It was something different,” he says.
Kowhai Forge blacksmith Rob Pinkney, centre, with siblings Thomas and Isabella Martin-Jury after a day knife making at Kowhai Forge. Photo: Chris Gardner.
He spent the day choosing a filleting knife design, marking it out on steel with chalk, heating in it in the forge, and crafting it into shape under Pinkney and Grafton’s tutelage.
“I never really found a hunting knife that was exactly what I wanted,” he says.
Now he owns his perfect tool.
Martin visited the forge on a Christmas work do and thoroughly enjoyed his day. He returned to make a folded axe, an almost lost skill which Pinkney is adept at teaching.
“I have got trees at home, and I will find a way to use it,” says Martin, who also wanted to share the knife-making experience with his children.
“I am always looking for new experiences for the kids.”
Isabella says she did not know what to expect but found it was great.
“I will be using my knife as a tool.”
Thomas had no concept of what the process might be.
He went home knife in hand, with a new appreciation of the steel crafting process.
It takes a community to make a knife.
Cambridge contractor Hugh Allison, left, with James Grafton. Photo: Chris Gardner
The Forge’s School of Blacksmithing staff and students are supported by Pinkney’s wife Arja, who he describes as the driving force behind the enterprise.
Pinkney sources coking coal from Stockton open cast mine in the Buller coalfield on the West Coast.
“It’s really high-grade coking coal, we use three or four shovels per day, a couple of tonnes per month, and we are really fortunate to get it,” Pinkney says.
Timber, for axe, hammer and knife handles, is sourced from the King Country, wooden handles are conditioned with bees’ wax and kawakawa oil made from Kihikihi and custom leather sheaths from Hamilton.
The journey from fencing to forging has been transformative for James Grafton.
Under Pinkney’s mentorship, he has not only honed his skills as a blacksmith but also become part of a community dedicated to preserving the ancient craft of blacksmithing.
Kowhai Forge blacksmith apprentice James Grafton, left, helps Isabella Martin-Jury shape her knife while her brother Thomas looks on.
