Full Blast

Fingal Ferguson is a fifth generation farmer at Gubbeen, one of Ireland’s most sought after Smoked Meat and Cheese Makers in West Cork. He’s also a world class Knifemaker and all around charming guy. Anytime his name comes up, its followed by: “is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet”. This is true. Fingal’s parents made a shift in the direction of the farm where they slowly started producing cheese from the cows and smoked meats from the pigs that they raised. The direct connection to customers at farmers markets must have added to Fingal’s disarming and jovial nature and strong connection to his community. It’s hard not to see a connection in the positive support his parents had on him; encouraging him when he started making smoked salami’s and chorizo and as they became successful with customers he would ramp up production. That how the cheese making started: ‘lets try it out’.  The success of Gubbeen and the ideas springing from it also encompassed knife making. Coming from a cooking family, Fingal slowly began making knives after learning about maintaining his own. We talked a lot about the farm and the beautiful book his mother wrote about their life called “Gubbeen”. We talked about Food, wine and what’s next for Fingal and his family. It was a really enjoyable conversation with someone I look up to and consider a friend. Thanks FF.

Links:

Follow Fingal on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/fingalferguson/

Follow Gubbeen on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/gubbeen/

Visit Gubbeen’s website:

https://gubbeen.com/

Visit Fingal’s Website:

https://www.fingalfergusonknives.com/

Go Buy the Book “Gubbeen”:

You know places to order books and things online. The book is widely available from different sources including your local bookstores. 

Follow The Full Blast Podcast on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thefullblastpodcast/

Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about the show. it helps me out a lot! 

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Ilya AKA @slavicsmith is an artist, sword maker and scholar who just won the 2021 “Best Sword” Award at this year’s Blade Show in Atlanta. He also has a Youtube Channel with Matt Stagmer and Chris Cash called That Works. (both I had interviewed previously) We talked about his winning sword “The Heretic”  and its relevance to the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, how growing up in Russia prepared him for high school in Florida and his transition from metalwork to being a Television and Youtube personality.  Ilya’s feelings on art and the ethical responsibilities of the artist in the present day was a fascinating look into his direction, and an insight into his dedication to excellence. Many thanks to Ilya for coming on and I look forward to his return with his shopmate Matt Stagmer soon.

Links:

Follow Ilya on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/slavicsmith/

Subscribe to the That Work Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEjEAxdJLOg4k854j-oESfQ

Go to the That Works website:

https://thatworks.shop/

The video on forging a bevel: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0imHWfBUYm4

Follow The Full Blast Podcast on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thefullblastpodcast/

Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about the show. it helps me out a lot! 

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Akinteractive

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20+ years experience in Full service design and marketing for knife makers and Craftsman:

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Ben Snure and Onur Caglar are two funny guys from completely different backgrounds: A Texas Cowboy and an English Fighter who’ve both have taken the Maker world by storm. Ben had told me months ago that he and Onur had been messaging about how no one would be able to understand them if they were on a podcast together. I said we’d do it here and the first episode was hilarious! But unfortunately the audio was lost and it was never aired. A little time passed we did it again and it easily more fun than the lost episode; loose, good chemistry, and really funny. Onur and Ben are so quick and hilarious that the 2 hours flew by. We’ll definitely do it again. Both have been on the show before check out their previous episodes and for sure watch the links to Onur’s MMA fights in the show notes of his episode. Thanks again for the support it’s a lot of fun. 

Links:

Follow Ben on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/bensnure/

Buy his hammers here:

https://www.well-shod.com/inet/storefront/store.php?mode=searchstore&search%5Bsearchfor%5D=Snure

Ben’s Episode’s:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/full-blast/id1515894196?i=1000516438402

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/full-blast/id1515894196?i=1000483996612

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/full-blast/id1515894196?i=1000500448833

Follow Onur on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/diesineveryfilm/

Like and subscribe to his Youtube Channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Diesineveryfilm

Onur Podcast Episode:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/full-blast/id1515894196?i=1000511684338

You can catch Onur on the Toby Fire & Steel Podcast too:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toby-fire-and-steel-podcast/id1496865085

Follow The Full Blast Podcast on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thefullblastpodcast/

Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about the show. it helps me out a lot! 

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Akinteractive

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20+ years experience in Full service design and marketing for knife makers and Craftsman:

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Niko Tavernise, Hollywood set photographer and long time friend, joins me for the fourth installment of The Downward Spiral Podcast. This was a podcast we started over 10 years ago. Now he comes back on Full Blast every often to fool around. This episode Niko tells his time traveling with bands and recounts a crazy story meeting the Dalai Lama with some other famous musicians. The image we talked about is on The Full Blast Podcast Instagram page. As always we discussed the depravity of humanity, cannabalism, genitalia, and closed the investigation on the mystery of the Loch Ness monster and most likely all sea monsters.

Links:

Follow Niko on Instagram to see all the movies he’s been working on:

https://www.instagram.com/nikotavernise/

Follow The Full Blast Podcast on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thefullblastpodcast/

Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about the show. it helps me out a lot! 

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Akinteractive

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Aaron Gough is a Knifemaker & content creator who has used his skills as a web developer in the evolution of his process. Aaron started making high performance knives with hacksaws, hand files and plumbers torches- transitioning to Grinders, Heat Treat Kilns to now implementing CNC milling machines and top of the line manufacturing processes. He has devoted years on his premier knife: The Resolute MKIII.  Refining and making slight adjustments to meet his unquenchable desire for perfection. We had a great conversation and one of the takeaways is his joy seems to come from the small victories of adjustment. The hard part is the reality of external forces. Programs work and can be edited, then there’s the unknown factors of tool wear and how that throws off the precision. It’s heart breaking to hear of these roadblocks in the process but it feels as though Aaron has inner fortitude to overcome adversity in difficult situations. 

We got a good look at his newest model of Chef Knife called the Triumvir and what’s next at Gough Custom. We also talked about how his early YouTube videos inspired and helped many knife makers. Aaron is an incredible person and super helpful. He made a Youtube video giving a tutorial on using Fusion 360 and many other things he’s learned along the way. All his videos are clear, concise and if you watch them, it would be hard not to want to make something afterwards. Aaron is definitely coming back and I can’t wait. If you want to learn more about CNC, listen to his podcast: XYZ- The CNC Podcast, 

Thanks again Aaron, I look forward to you coming back on the show!

Links:

Follow Aaron on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/aaron.gough/

Visit Gough Custom’s Website 

https://store.goughcustom.com/

Subscribe to his Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/aaronmarkgough

Some of the videos we talked about:

Making a knife with common tools

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5LXpgSzKyQ

Making a knife for the Arctic Research Mission

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQUxFFON5Lo&t=338s

Making a prototype kitchen knife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWMRPcd5qLQ

Fixing a funky fixture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP21rddBu1g

How to CAD: Fusion 360 Cad Beginners Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hko6q5jm_EY&list=RDCMUC2YzIih9K5363N4n3ERmhMA&start_radio=1&rv=hko6q5jm_EY&t=54

Listen, subscribe and review his podcast XYX- The CNC podcast

Where ever you listen to podcasts of here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/xyz-the-cnc-podcast/id1541963412

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Akinteractive

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Keith Decent is a maker, artist, content creator and overall fun guy. As a young man he learned coding on his own to build websites and after being disillusioned by the corporate direction of art school he struck it out on his own. His YouTube channel is a fun foray into his style- flush with humanity and spontaneity. Reclaimed and upcycled projects, using rusty tools found in the bottom of buckets Keith brings you on a journey where the end result is not perfect but sincere. I really enjoyed our conversation about his direction whether it be about his love of ice cream and the projects that resulted from it, his series on making guitars and his celebration of imperfect quality control. When you look at the body of his work, especially on his YouTube Channel you are seeing his development as an artist. These videos are a look in the Artist’s notebook; some videos are like a sketch of an idea made on a whim. An artist should celebrate growth as apposed to following trends and the viewer should should be able to trace the evolution of work. Keith has the receipts of his direction and the viewer can wind their way through his thought process. I’m looking forward to what’s next and you should too. 

Links:

Follow Keith on Instagram:

hhttps://www.instagram.com/keithdecent/

Visit Keith’s Website 

https://www.keithdecent.com/

Subscribe to his Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Protojones

Some of the videos we talked about:

The Hand Tool set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C00ZzA93g6g

Diy Electric Guitar from scraps of Plywood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXq3ov0UXI

Glowing Ice Cream Bar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkLUt5wxMKY

And Listen to his podcast From the Ground Up:

https://www.ftgupodcast.com/

Go get yourself some all natural , food safe Axe Wax

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And get 10% off with promocode: FULLBLAST10

Akinteractive

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20+ years experience in Full service design and marketing for knife makers and Craftsman:

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To get the next generation of hearing protection

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My friend Ashley Childs joins me on a particularly hot day in The United States. We talked about the building of her new project Elk & Hammer, which will be a gallery filled with artists, craftsmen and quality made things. Ashley’s time as a jeweler has shaped this vision to prioritize the artists she will represents and tell their story so the buyer gets an experience. 

We talked about her time with Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, being put in dicey situations with shady jewelry companies and her time teaching hammer making in Argentina without speaking the language. 

AC is a wonder spirit in the maker community and brings joy to everyone she meets. It’s always fun catching up with her and I look forward to anything she does. 

Links:

Follow Ashley on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ashleychilds/

Check out Elk & Hammer and subscribe to thier newsletter:

https://www.elkandhammer.com/

Follow Elk & Hammer on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/elkandhammer/

Go get yourself some all natural , food safe Axe Wax

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And get 10% off with promocode: FULLBLAST10

Akinteractive

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20+ years experience in Full service design and marketing for knife makers and Craftsman:

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This solo episode wasn’t my fault. A perfectly juvenile & hilarious episode with Onur & Ben was snatched away from all of us. And who’s here to make sure there’s something to listen to? That’s right… at the last minute too. I recounted the heartache, explained my side of this kick in the nuts and apologized that it happened. 

I also answered some listener questions and connected some dots from my youth that holds true today. I talked podcasting, a pivotal radio bit and maybe the world’s largest human penis. Then at the end I told a story of one of the worst things I ever said to someone in my family. The worst and easily the funniest.  Onur & Ben will be rescheduled this summer for sure. 

Links:

Follow Ben Snure on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/bensnure/

Follow Onur Caglar on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/diesineveryfilm/

Opie & Anthony: Baby bird bit I talked about (Short)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in02LCdufUc

Great follow I talked about in the preshow: Jomboy breaks down baseball in a dramatic and hilarious way. 

https://www.instagram.com/jomboymedia/

Go get yourself some all natural , food safe Axe Wax

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And get 10% off with promocode: FULLBLAST10

Get your Website designed by AK Interactive

20+ years experience in Full service design and marketing for knife makers and Craftsman:

http://akinteractive.com

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Nick Rossi is arguably one of the best bladesmithing teachers in the United States. He is one of the foundational pillars of the growth of The New England School of Metalwork and has taught some of the best Bladesmiths around. Nick is also one of my favorite knife makers because the direction and evolution of his work is based on his sincere love of knives and the process of forging. At 15 he got a job at Casco Bay Cutlery selling a wide variety of knives. That’s where he met Mudd Sharrigan, a custom knifemaker who inspired him to get into knifemaking. Timing was perfect as  Nick found that The New England School of Metalwork was starting up close by and  he ended up teaching a class. The confidence from talking to customers at a knife shop clearly had a direct influence on the way Nick connects with his students. Combined with the knowledge learned from the incredible blacksmiths and bladesmiths  who have taught at NESM, Nick has set himself apart as the gold standard in Bladesmith teaching to a new generation. It was an honor having him on. 

There is no substitute for in person learning. Nick has spent years struggling with technique so you don’t have to. When you take a class at The New England School of Metalwork you are getting the proper information and personal attention that will accelerate your growth. Check out the NESM and take a class you won’t regret it:

https://newenglandschoolofmetalwork.com/ 

Follow Nick on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nickrossiknives/

His Website:

https://nickrossiknives.com/

Get the Virtual Bladesmith Education:

Definitely get this video. Nick is an incredible teacher who explains forging and procedures in the most efficient and approachable way. Even if you aren’t interested in being a Bladesmith but you want to have a firm understanding: This is the way at an excellent value:

https://nickrossiknives.com/product/virtual-bladesmith-education/

Plus:

2 printed tracings of Nick’s exclusive 9 step forging process.

• Membership to a private Facebook group where tech support will be offered by Nick along with exclusive educational opportunities.

• Detailed breakdowns of each forging step and techniques that until now were only available via in-person workshops.

Article about Mudd Sharrigan:

https://www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/201805MuddSharrigan.html

The NESM video of the Peter Ross forging Box jointed pliers 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vPoFdNgQn4s

Links to the Joinery knives we talked about:

edgarbrant knife

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_8R-nMgn2d/?utm_medium=copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt1LwDDA8AP/?utm_medium=copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzywoD4AIoe/?utm_medium=copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN0Mg4aDUTl/?utm_medium=copy_link

Go get yourself some all natural , food safe Axe Wax

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Mark Peacock is a custom furniture and fine woodworker in North Wales. He builds beautiful furniture and creates an experience for his customers. Mark has a great Youtube channel that shows the building of the work and his direction on the channel is different than most content creators: he’s not telling you how to do it. I love the fact that you watch what he’s doing and that’s it. That means his audience isn’t the DIY crowd; it’s his customers who ask him to do videos about their commissions a lot of the time. 

We covered him growing up and the influence of his father and uncles, being sent to live in Canada as a youth and his love of the Toronto Blue Jays. Mark is a great guy and we had a lot of fun. Thanks again Mark I look forward to that baseball game. 

Follow Mark on Instagram (@deer_river_craftsman)

https://www.instagram.com/deer_river_craftsman/

His Website:

https://deerrivercraftsman.com/

Subscribe to his Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd88ByEEf3GRNQWwr6n3QKg?view_as=subscriber

Get your Website designed by AK Interactive

20+ years experience in Full service design and marketing for knife makers and Craftsman:

http://akinteractive.com

10% off with promo code: FULLBLAST10

Go get yourself some all natural , food safe Axe Wax

Go to https://axewax.us/

And get 10% off with promocode: FULLBLAST10

Go to https://isotunes.com/

To get the next generation of hearing protection

Get $10 off with promocode FULLBLAST10

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