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Jackson Rumble had shaved off all the hair on his body in preparation for the test of a lifetime. It wasn't an elite cycling or swimming race he was taking part in, it was a competition to test his knife-making skills. Mr Rumble, 24, now holds the title of one of Australia's youngest and best professional knifemakers, a qualification recognised across the world, from the American Bladesmith Society. Shaving his own hair was one of the final tests, after he sliced through a one-inch-thick piece of hanging rope, and then cut through two pieces of timber, all with one perfectly formed hand-made knife. The first test with the rope is to determine the sharpness of the blade. The second test with wood is to demonstrate toughness. The shaving test is to show how the blade can retain its edge. The final practical test, and the most nerve-wracking for Mr Rumble, was the requirement to bend the blade of the knife 90 degrees. "It's basically a test to test your heat-treating and grinding abilities as a knifemaker," Mr Rumble said. "It's not a very practical test, there's not many times you'd bend a knife 90 degrees, but it proves you have enough knowledge of the metal to do that." Mr Rumble passed with flying colours. In fact, after travelling to America for the second part of the competition in June this year, where he was required to present five of his best knives to a panel of judges, he was named Best New Journeyman of 2019, the first time an Australian has been awarded the honour. But the process was rigorous and nerve-wracking, he said. "I was terrified. I think it was probably eight months worth of work to do that," he said. Mr Rumble has been making knives since his mum bought him a gift voucher for Christmas for a course at Tharwa Valley Forge when he was 18. He was always interested in wood- and metalwork at school, but had no idea he could make a career out of it. Over the past six years, Mr Rumble reckons he's made about 200 knives personally, and about 1500 for work. The ones he makes personally he sells and gives away as things like wedding presents. His mum, a ceramic artist, keeps one of his first knives for her work. "She's got one she uses in her shop and it's awful. It was one of the first ones I made and it's just terrible, so I hate that she keeps it, but she likes it," he said. Mr Rumble said most of his work is kitchen knives, and they sell from anywhere starting from about $600 for a small, basic one. The most expensive knife he's made sold for $3500. "I probably only made about $10 an hour on that one, but it felt nice to sell it for that." Mr Rumble, who has spent the past six Australian winters except this one in America as a camp counsellor, said the next logical step in his knifemaking career is to aim for the Master Smith qualification from the American Bladesmith Society. It means repeating all those tests, with more stringent guidelines and a better knife made from layered steel "which opens up many more issues". But beyond that, he's not sure. Teaching internationally would be a long-term goal, he said. "I'm pretty young for this industry, most people are much older than I am, so I've got a long way to go. "I guess it's the sort of thing you do when you're more established as a hobby, which is what it would've stayed for me if I didn't start working [at the Forge]. If it's a hobby, it's a much slower process," he said.

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