About Us

Simon has had a passion for the outdoors from a very young age, from wildlife watching through to all the components of what is now known as 'bushcraft'.  He lived for a long time in the Ashdown Forest, where he was a carpenter by day and a bushcraft instructor at the weekend.

A regular attendee of the Sussex Bushcraft group, Simon worked for a couple of years as an assistant instructor with Neil Andrews of Greencraft where he plundered Neil's bottomless knowledge of the subject, before branching out on his own, running classes for adults and children for nine years.

During his time instructing, and some months actually living in the woods, Simon found that he could not find a knife that fitted his large hand that he could work all day with, so set about designing and making his own, producing his first one in 2007.

After working with a couple of other bladesmiths to produce his designs, Simon settled on old friend Mark Hill as his principal blade maker and he remains so today.

From Simon's initial design of knife it had taken hold as a hobby and he was soon making knives for friends and colleagues under the name Ashdown Forest Crafts, which is the name he still uses today, even after moving to Lancashire.

Simon went full-time as a knife maker and leatherworker in 2013 and still occasionally works as a bushcraft instructor.