Jack and the Bear

My name is Paddy Baker, I am the owner and operator of Jack and the Bear Blades. I did 14 years in the Military, including a couple of tours overseas. I’ve always been interested in good field kit, especially blades and axes. Unfortunately, I had a tragic accident in 2017 that ended my military career. Whilst recovering, I knew I had to put my energy into something else. I thought, I have always liked steel and knives so why not try and learn how to make them. It started as a hobby, but soon after people started asking me to purchase them. I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of work with some prominent knife makers . I learnt a whole heap from these gentlemen, and have taken and practiced those skills and now am a full time knife/axe maker. I specialise in making working knives for the greater outdoors, military personnel and butcher sets for old dirty bastards, as well as medium sized full tang bush hawks. Don’t mind making the odd chef knife also. My favourite steel to use is 80CRV2 and high carbon Damascus. I believe that Australia has the best timber in the World, so I am always trying to find and use figured Aussie hardwoods. I make all of my tools in my shop in my backyard. It is a pretty large shed, but am rapidly running out of space. Hope to see you at the show!