One of the current projects at the Parksville Museum forge involves hand crafting knives from series Land Rover leaf springs. Series spring steel has not changed spec since the first run in 1948 and replacements today are even made with the same composition. The projects shown below are made from original 1965 Series 2a Land Rover steel by heating in a charcoal forge and hand hammering to shape on the anvil.
Poppy the 1966 Series 2a rover is currently earning her keep hauling hundreds of lbs of blacksmithing tools to and from the forge. Generally on Saturdays from spring to late summer the forge is open and running knifemaking demonstrations in conjunction with the artist-in-residence program as the weather permits. For more about the Land Rover projects visit islandrovers.ca
