Tharwa Valley Forge

Karim Haddad began knifemaking in 1995 under Thomas Gerner, Australia's first ABS Master Bladesmith, started teaching bladesmithing himself in 1998, and founded Tharwa Valley Forge in 2003 on Naas Road in Tharwa, just outside Canberra. The business now combines a working forge making custom knives — Damascus, kitchen, fishing, and decorative pieces — with a structured programme of forging, knifemaking and sharpening courses, and onsite accommodation at Cuppacumbalong for course participants.

Haddad's own background outside the forge is unusual for the trade: before establishing Tharwa Valley he spent more than thirteen years as an outdoor educator with Outward Bound Australia, and he later served four years as president of the Australian Knifemaking Guild. That teaching instinct shaped the business model — Tharwa Valley is as much a bladesmithing school as a knife shop, and it has trained at least one bladesmith, Adam Fromholtz, to Journeyman status with the American Bladesmith Society.

The forge has also become something of a family operation: Haddad's daughter Leila has been forging since age six and has donated knives to charity auctions, one of which sold for over $4,000. For a region — Australia — with only a handful of full-time bladesmiths working at all, Tharwa Valley Forge is a rare case of a knifemaking business built to be visited, taught from, and bought from in person, all at one address.