I was walking along to the Hoedspruit Café minding my own business and trolling my WhatsApp when I suddenly had to take evasive action to stop walking into a table. At the table was a man fondly admiring a knife – not a penknife, not a run-of-the-mill piece of cutlery – a BIG knife. It looked like it had been painstakingly forged by some medieval craftsman – it was a beautiful piece of work, in fact a piece of art.
Being the curious type I stopped, looked at the knife and then questioned the man that was lovingly looking at it. It transpired that he had made the knife, almost as a labour of love, and was passionate about what he had created and the process of that creation.
Enter Reuben Erasmus – bladesmith extraordinaire. Growing up in Parys in the Free State he developed a love for craftsmanship through honing his carpentry skills in his parents’ furniture factory. But since early childhood he had a fascination for knives – he even hammered nails flat to make swords and knives for his ‘little green army men’.
Naturally he started collecting knives, but that soon became boring after watching the series “Forged in Fire” and that is where he decided to try forging for himself. He started making knives as a hobby during studying, where he found it to also be a very therapeutic outlet.
It all began with a small hand-made forge, his grandfather’s bench grinder and YouTube! Reuben basically taught himself how to forge by watching hours and hours of videos on YouTube. He also happily turned to his carpentry skills and had to endure many occurrences of ‘error by trial’. Over time he began perfecting his skill, added equipment to his workshop and built most of what he needed himself. This man is really a dark horse.
In 2020, during lockdown, Ruben entered an international competition, “Four weeks of Forging”, hosted by a very well-known Blacksmith, Alec Steele, famous for his YouTube channel on forging. Ruben was placed in the top three contestants world-wide(!), for his artistic creation of forging tongs.
Ruben then went on to win the ‘Best in Show’ at the Lowveld Knife show in 2022 with his elaborate CuMai fighter knife, that sold later that day at the show.
He is now known for his self-forged Copper Damascus (CuMai) pieces, Brut-de-Forge, and his attention to detail. Most of his work is on commission, but he is always working on a challenging, extravagant showpiece on the side.
Ruben has a passion for functional art. He designs his knives based on function, comfort of use and aesthetics of the design. He enjoys creating chefs’ knives, axes, extravagant show pieces, weapon recreations of famous games and other pieces of art.
He is curious by nature and has always driven himself to learn new skills and expand his knowledge. He constantly challenges himself with new types of blades, techniques, and materials, and is currently busy working on a design for a hand-forged folding knife.
But hold on – it doesn’t end there!
Ruben completed his MTech Chiropractic degree from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2021. During his time at UJ he worked with many athletes at events like the Arnold Classics, KEPS Rugby festival, 94.7 Cycle Challenge, Triathlons and Ironman events.
After completing his studying, he moved to Hoedspruit to open a chiropractic practice with his wife, Dr Rolene Rademan. This is a man with many hidden talents, humble and engaging – he has a great passion for helping people, animals and creating functional pieces of art.
Keep a look out for him – Dr Ruben Erasmus!
