Luke Sorensen recently received the Southern California Blades/ Knife Collectors Club Scholarship to attend the Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing in Historic Washington, Ark., through Texarkana College.
Luke received over 80 hours of intense training in the art of knife making from master bladesmiths Jim Crowell and Tim Potier, his instructors.
To complete the two-week course each student was required to create a knife that would pass through a free hanging 1-inch rope, cut through a 2″ x 4″ piece of wood two times, and still shave hair from your arm. The final test was to bend that test blade at a 90-degree angle without it breaking.
Luke’s passion for knifemaking is evident from his commitment to his craft and he is very grateful for this opportunity and experience.
While Luke attended bladesmith school, his mother, Darlene, and sister, Sally Sorensen, decided to volunteer for the two weeks at Historic Washington State Park.
Washington, Ark. is a restored city from the mid-eighteen hundreds, complete with wood sidewalks, horsedrawn carriage rides, and Greek Revival architecture.
Darlene and Sally were welcomed and participated in the morning staff meetings and were assigned different tasks each day including dressing in period clothing and giving tours in some of the historic homes like the Augustus M. Crouch House built in 1857 and the Royston Log House built in 1837.
One day was spent working for the Arkansas State Archives going through and helping to preserve historic documents. They attended the employee appreciation lunch under huge pecan trees and also folded hundreds of luminary bags (5000 needed!) for the Christmas in Historic Washington Celebration in December.
It was an awesome experience in living history and as always, working with wonderful people who love and are committed to their task was rewarding.
