Shadowland is a documentary about a knifemaker who spent most of his career working in the shadows of other knifemakers and knife companies. He finally set out on his own and has made a success of it in these hard times of recession, nonetheless.
That fella’s name is Eddie White. We’ve been friends since we were in the Boy Scouts together and when he came home from the Navy he was looking for something to do. I had a custom knife shop and offered Eddie a job. On his first day I showed him how to grind a blade and as his dad says “and from there he went.” He was good at it and it wasn’t long before he was grinding 70 knives a day. Mind you that these blades were already profiled and just needed the blades ground, but still quite a feat.
He spent years repeating that process and knife assembly for various knife shops before striking out on his own. I thought it would be a good idea to document how he progressed in the custom knifemaking business and give an inside look at the challenges a craftsman like Eddie faces in keeping the business going. There is also plenty of footage of Eddie carrying a knife from start to finish. While not a tutorial it does give you an idea of how to make a knife and not work yourself to death. Because if anyone knows efficiency and economy of movement it’s Eddie White!
Please take a moment to check out the project on Kickstarter.
