20 minutes with

WILLIE VAN NIEKERK

Kiwi Blades

Each time we interview a chef for Restaurant & Café magazine, we ask what their number one kitchen tool is, the thing they couldn’t live without, the thing they recommend all chefs (professional or home cooks) to have and without fail, their response is always “At least one really good knife.”

Willie van Niekerk from local business Kiwi Blade Knives is a knife maker originally from South Africa. He first fell in love with knife making on a survival course when he was 16 years old and has been making tactical, hunting, fishing, and kitchen knives ever since.

I think most chefs would agree with Willie and his partner, Angela that a knife should be a durable and reliable tool as well as an object of beauty. It should do what it was designed to do, time after time, and feel amazing to use while you are using it. Plus, it should look good and make you feel proud to own it.

“A knife is a chef’s bread and butter – no pun intended! The relationship with their knife is inextricably linked,” expressed Willie.

“There’s no getting away from the need for sharp performance knives in the kitchen. They are the key to a chef’s success.”

Kiwi Blade Knives hand-craft and custom design unique and distinctive knives, to meet their customers’ individual specifications.

“If a chef is experienced in their trade, they will know exactly what they want,” said Willie.

“If they are new to the trade, we can help guide them in designing a knife to suit their needs. The knife can be personalised to the exact tastes and requirements of the user. It will be customed to suit the personality of the chef it is designed for, as much as their skill base.”

It’s not an understatement to say that a knife is an extension of a chef’s hand. It’s a vital tool that should be effortless to use. Willie pointed out that it needs to be balanced according to a chef’s particular preferences too.

“Balance is important but not all chefs want their knives to balance at the same point. Some like a handle-heavy knife. Some want a blade-heavy knife. And some want their knife to balance in the middle.

Whatever the choice (regarding the balance point), the knife needs to have a comfortable handle and be made from a premium steel that has been hardened, treated and tempered properly so that it performs to the best of that steel’s ability.”

He went on to explain that every steel is different, and it is a significant and crucial factor in designing a chef’s knife. The maker needs to apply the right kind of steel to the right style of knife. Everything needs to be functionally and aesthetically fit for purpose.

“That’s not to say that you can’t be adventurous in your choices, but you need to know why you are making them,” said Willie.

When you design a knife to match your tastes and style, no one will mistake that knife for anyone else’s. It makes it very special.

In terms of design, the process is very customerfocused and Willie and Angela like to explain why they recommend some of the choices they do and then let the customer digest that information and make up their own minds.

Kiwi Blade Knives offer a wide variety of handle materials, many of which they make themselves such as micarta and Kiwi Blade’s own resin handles. They also stabilise their own wood on occasion and regularly make their own mosaic pins. By adding embellishments such as a coloured stripe across the handle, ornate spinework or a bolster, decorative lanyard hole or mosaic pins, extra appeal can be added, cementing the look as one-off and quite unique.

“Importantly, we will also discuss the type of grind and bevel we think will provide optimal performance of the blade – and explain why. Understanding the end outcome and why something is put in place is always important,” noted Willie.

Kiwi Blade Knives are small and personalised enough to take the time to listen to an individual’s needs and cater for them. They don’t do ‘cookie cutter’ and they care about the end results.

What makes Kiwi Blade Knives stand out from the crowd is that they are versatile enough to make an extremely wide range of knives – from swords, to filleting and hunting knives, to knives used on the farm or outdoors, to domestic and professional kitchen knives.

“We have certainly been asked to custom make some unusual knives in our time. We recently made a tobacco knife which someone contacted us to make via the internet. In the same week, we made a knife as small as a match box. The variety of knives we get asked to make is one of the fun and challenging aspects of our business.”

For Willie, making a knife is a magical experience, an experience Willie and Angela share with customers through their Knife Making Courses.

“A day making your own knife is an excellent way to leave the stresses of daily life behind for a while. You’ll get to celebrate a traditional art and make something that will foreseeably outlive you if it is looked after properly. Odds on, you’ll laugh a lot and no doubt, possibly swear on occasion too,” said Willie, describing how participants will gain a new appreciation for knives, in general, as well as the technical skill that goes into making one.

“Besides learning about the design and function of knives you’ll get to experience what it feels like to take an idea from a 2D conceptual space into a 3D reality. That’s a fairly rare thing these days, and it gets the grey matter working quite well. Knife making: It’s a new take on mindfulness for the practically inclined,” he added, cheekily.

Embedded in all of Willie and Angela’s work is a joy for the work itself.

“Knives have stories, and they are part of history. In effect, we are all designing a bit of history together and that is pretty cool,” concluded Willie.

“It is ironic that knives are used to divide or cleave things apart but in the making of them, all we find is community and connection. We meet a lot of good people that way and many of our customers have become good friends.”

To get your hands on a unique, hand-crafted Kiwi Blade knife, or to learn how to craft one yourself, visit www. kiwiblade.co.nz.