About Stefan Diedericks

I made my first handmade knife when I was about 10 years old. I took an old file from my father’s workshop, striped the plastic handle off and ground it to shape on a bench grinder.

At that time I had no knowledge of heat treatment or anything else that went into making a good knife. The maintenance manager at the company that my father worked for advised me on how to heat treat the blade, but I thought he was mad. There was no way that I was going to stick this blade, which I had worked so hard on to get it nice and shiny, in a fire.

Twenty years later in 2001, I was slightly wiser, and I then knew much more about steel and heat treatment, so it was time to try and make my second knife. This time the result was much better.

One year later I attended a fixed-blade knife course with Andrè Thorburn and later with Gawie and Thinus Herbst, who are all members of the Knifemakers’ Guild of Southern Africa. Thanks to their guidance, my knife-making has improved by light-years.

In both 2007 & 2011, I was awarded the first-place prize in the bi-annual competition for non-guild members at the annual Knifemakers’ Guild of Southern Africa Guild Show. And in 2009 I was awarded the third prize at the same competition.

I currently live in Benoni, Gauteng, in South Africa. I have a small workshop at home where I make my custom knives part-time and run my online knife supplies store.

In 2012 I was the co-founder of the North Coast Knife Makers Club, of which I was the chairman for the first 3 years and am still an active member.