GREENWOOD, S.C. (AP) - When Greenwood drummer Will Thompson isn’t tapping out drum grooves, you might find him in his workshop at home, crafting steel into knives.
He has to watch his step around his shop because there’s a lot of sharp stuff in there.
“Whenever I’ve got the forge on, I like to blast music through the speakers - Dream Theater, the Grateful Dead or even some heavy metal,” Thompson said. “Even from when I was a little kid, I’ve always been interested in knives and stuff. Being in Boy Scouts and always camping with my dad and my mom … I was into being outside. Being older, I went down this YouTube hole one time and I saw this guy making a knife from a machete.”
Thompson bought an inexpensive broad heavy knife and took it into his workshop at the house he was living in at the time.
“I cut a blade from that machete, using basic tools and put a handle on it and that was my first knife, about four years ago,” Thompson, 32, said. “Then, I moved and I didn’t have a shop. I started carving wooden spoons on my front porch, starting out with an old stump and an ax … I’ve always loved creating stuff with my hands and I like functional art.”
From there, Thompson moved again and again has a workshop where he can make cutting tools.
“Sometimes, I will cut blades out of steel from saw blades,” Thompson said. “Those are good for knife-making because saw blades are good, hard, tool steel. I will do a design. A lot of people give me old metal that I can use, but for knives, you definitely want high carbon steel.
“I will also take metal and put it into a forge,” Thompson said. “I will shape a knife on the forge and then bevel blades down and drill holes for the handle. I heat treat the knives and quench them in oil and temper them. There’s a lot that goes into it. You’re heating up metal and then making the metal hard by quenching it in oil.”
However, Thompson said you don’t need complicated machinery to make a knife.
“You can make them with basic tools,” Thompson said. “But, big machinery does help cut down on the time it takes for various processes.”
Thompson said he has made a variety of what are considered “everyday carry” utility knives - fixed blades that don’t move.
“Also, I’ve made skinner style knives that are good for skinning deer and I’ve been getting into making oyster knives and chefs knives,” Thompson said. “There’s always room to learn and that’s what I love about it. Really, it’s a lot of YouTube videos. I follow a bunch of different makers who also have books out. I would love to find somebody who has been doing this for a long time and learn some tricks of the trade. I just enjoy being out here and making stuff.”
In addition to knives, which Thompson occasionally sells via accounts on Facebook and Instagram, he’s also forged keychains and pendants from steel rebar.
“I don’t consider myself a master knife maker by any means,” Thompson said. “Close friends and family have some. … My first skinner knife that I did, I used antler for the handle. That was the first knife where I figured out the grinding method and just got it super sharp.”
At that point about 3 1/2 months ago, Thompson said he knew he was “on to something” with his knife making.
“I chopped chunks from a 2-by-4 and then took the knife to a piece of paper,” Thompson said. “It sliced right through the paper easily. I’m really enjoying the chefs’ knives. I’m working on one now and it might be my new favorite. Each one, you learn a little bit more and they get a little bit better.”
Thompson is a self-described perfectionist.
“If there’s a little thing off, I’m liable to just scrap the whole thing and just start over,” Thompson said. “A lot of times, you can work little nicks out with sanding the blade, but putting on handles is where it gets tricky.”
On Thompson’s bucket list of things to make is an axe. He also recently gave fellow musician and friend Keller Ridgeway a kitchen knife he made for Ridgeway’s birthday in early May.
Ridgeway said he and Thompson have been friends since connecting through band when they were students at Greenwood High School, and the two have previously been housemates.
“We were big into that (TV) show, ‘Forged in Fire,’ Ridgeway said. “He started with tools he found in the garage and put together his first few knives. He’s got a little shop now and a forge and an anvil and blacksmithing tools and hammers. He really enjoys it and has a knack for it.”
Ridgeway said Thompson sketches knife designs on paper first.
“To have the imagination to come up with a design, Ridgeway said. “Then, to shape it in a way that mirrors your initial conception and then, to have it be functional as well is something that is pretty cool,” Ridgeway said. “He gave me a heftier knife. You could really cut through ribs. I used it to cut my steak the other day and it worked splendidly.”
Thompson said Ridgeway sent him a picture of the steak being cut with the handmade knife. Thompson’s passion for knife-making also is hinted at in the collaborative “American Pie” music video project by Greenwood-area musicians.
Only recently did Thompson sustain his “first real burn” on the forge while hammering. A piece of metal flaked off and landed on his hammering hand.
“Knock on wood, I haven’t had any cuts yet,” Thompson said. “I do play drums so I have to watch what I do with my fingers and hands and limbs. I definitely need those. I wear gloves. I use eye protection and apron and a respirator, because you don’t want to breathe in any of those metal grindings.”
Thompson plays drums for local bands Bad Weather States, The Mezz, Krawfish and Ryan Pitts, and The Southern Gentlemen.
He received drum sticks for Christmas one year and was in school band from grade 6 through 12. Also, he is on the Lander University groundskeeping crew.
“Maybe one day I will be able to be a knife-maker and a musician,” Thompson said. “That would be the ultimate dream, I think.”
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