Steve Auvenshine: From Kentucky Trooper to Knifemaker to Hollywood Armorer
Hi, I'm Ethan and I love muzzleloading today we're talking with custom knife maker Steve Auvenshine about his history and muzzleloading and black powder as an extension into accouterments and then how that led him to be on the set of more than ten Hollywood productions here as an industry prop maker, black powder armorer and just all around handyman for historical media.
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Steve's IMDB Page with a list of all the productions he's been involved with: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2935660/
Follow Steve Auvenshine's work:
https://www.facebook.com/auvenshine/
https://www.instagram.com/auvenshine_knives/
American Bladesmith Society (ABS): https://www.americanbladesmith.org/
Above: A knife similar to that used in the Jurassic World series, made by Auvenshine.
How did you get your start in muzzleloading and the associated crafts?
I guess it started from just a love of shooting at the at the base, I was a competitive shooter. From nine or ten years old I shot in NRA competitions. I like shooting of all kinds and then I had been given a CVA kit for Christmas or birthday or something at some point and it was still in the box many many years later and I moved to Bourbon county Kentucky. At the time, I was with the Kentucky state police. I had been stationed in eastern Kentucky and then got transferred to Bourbon County and I ran into Wayne Estes, a contemporary muzzleloader builder in Kentucky. I got to know him well, I think he had a crime I had to investigate, I did that and it was quite involved so I got to know him a little bit and recovered some property for him that had been stolen, muzzleloaders actually. I got to see his shop and hang out a little bit and I said, "Well I've got this kit, do you think you can help me build it up?" He was a good sport and didn't say, "Get that out of my shop!" We put it together and then of course you know what happens after you have one, you've got to build another one, can't have just on. So we built a nice short-barreled hunting rifle in walnuts and I still use it today. It's a fifty-eight caliber I want to say it's like a thirty-eight-inch barrel thirty-six-inch barrel, I shoot minie balls out of it, five hundred and thirty-five-grain minie balls. There's not a deer in North America that can stop it.
That's how I was introduced to the Kentucky Corps of Longriflemen, great great bunch of guys. They have the interstate shoot each October. I eventually started going to Friendship, probably in 1991.
Above: Two knives Steve made for “Piccard”, using grape vine for the handles.
I did mention that I've always liked to make things, you know this term maker is huge now and I don't think we called ourselves that back in '91 but I just enjoyed making things whatever they were I just did it and I wanted to make knives okay, that was what I was always interested in. I always collected knives and I'd always loved history and that was part of the thing that I loved about the muzzleloading hobby was, you can dive in as deep as you want to into the history. Whatever you like, there's something in it for everybody.
I saw all these handmade knives going to rendezvous's I went to a couple eastern's and I was like, " well there's people out here makin knives. I like to make stuff." It wasn't long before I put two and two together there, it was kind of a no-brainer. It might've been a slow burn for the light bulb to come on but it did come on.
Above: One of Steve’s layout watercolors
Follow Steve Auvenshine's work:
https://www.facebook.com/auvenshine/
https://www.instagram.com/auvenshine_knives/
Conversation Time Stamps:
0:25 Steve's start in Muzzleloading
9:48 Early Artistic Research
18:35 Steve Auvenshine's Independent Work Process
14:30 Artistic Principles in Knifemaking
28:00 Making a Bowie knife for Duane "The Rock" Johnson
37:45 Making a knife for Sir Patrick Stewart on "Piccard"
45:20 From Kentucky Trooper to Knife Maker/ First Hollywood Job "Master and Commander"
57:18 Armorer on Netflix's Pale Blue Eye
01:00:00 Historic Accuracy in Hollywood
01:10:00 Classes and Education Opportunities
01:11:47 Where to find Steve's work