Barnett Custom Knives

At Windy Hollow Forge outside Bridgetown, Bruce Barnett forges pattern-welded and feather Damascus steel into bowies, fighters, slipjoints, hunting knives and chef's knives, taking each blade from raw billet through to a hand-fitted handle. He's an ABS Journeyman Smith and a founding member of the Knife Art Association, and in 2024 took out Best Folding Knife and Best In Show honours at Australian knife shows — recognition from a community of makers rather than a marketing claim. Barnett also opens the forge for three-day folding-knife courses, teaching the same techniques he uses in his own commissions to small groups who travel out to learn them. It's working craft rather than display: a one-man forge in timber country south of Perth, taking custom orders and putting newcomers through their paces on the same anvil. For knife collectors and anyone tracing Western Australia's small bladesmithing scene, it's a genuine outpost of the trade.