Their creations were a hit: Friends at the next oyster roast wanted the knives for themselves, their friends, friends of friends, and so on. So after the roast, Waller and Davis each went back to their own shops to take a stab at making a few knives for the next roast. “We thought it was crazy that we were metalworkers and no one had oyster knives,” says Waller. In 2009, Davis, Waller, and a few other friends found themselves at an oyster roast, but short on oyster knives. “We had never done anything like that in our life ever,” he says of the project.) (Waller and then-girlfriend Leah made the bull together over the course of 13 months while working for a metal shop Durham. Waller runs WallerFoushee Studios with his wife Leah his work can be seen in public spaces all over the Triangle, most notably the iconic, larger-than-life, 2,000-pound bronze bull in downtown Durham, Major. The shuckers pay homage to their Eastern North Carolina upbringing, they say, and are a tribute to the rich history and traditions of the state’s coastal culture.ĭavis, who lives and runs his own studio, ArtForms, in Morehead City, specializes in metal, iron, and woodworking. Now, the friends together have carved a niche locally and countrywide for their artisan oyster knives, Carolina Shuckers. The two grew up together in Kinston, North Carolina, and both received Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in sculpture from East Carolina University. Those story-imbued, historic railroad spikes-plus carbon steel and the occasional horseshoe-have come to hold high value to Waller and his lifelong friend Kirk Davis. “The older the better, then they’re all different and come with history and a story,” he says. Railroad spikes have a sense of place and give each knife character. The oyster knife he’s making on this particular day started out as a basic slab of steel, but old rusty North Carolina railroad spikes are what he most prefers to use, he says. Waller can make more than 100 of these oyster knives in just over a day, and he does it seemingly effortlessly. He moves quickly and steadily, shaping and pounding the now neon-orange rod again and again to make the oyster knife’s blade, then its handle. The piece of carbon steel will soon transform into a handcrafted oyster knife that blends art and functionality: a Carolina Shucker. His studio sits behind the idyllic Hillsborough farmhouse he shares with his wife, Leah, two young children Neva, 5, and Herbert, 4, their dog, and a few chickens. He’s meticulously inserting and removing a small slab of carbon steel in and out of a 2,200-degree forge in his cinder block studio, which was once was an old country store. “I t’s like a cooking show in here,” says sculptor and blacksmith Mike Waller.
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