A Scots swordsmith has thanked popular TV shows and films for keeping his craft alive after “almost” being the last of his kind.
Rob Miller – who has a three-year waiting list for his commissions – has been working in the specialised craft for the last 33 years after he moved to Torrin on the Isle of Skye.
The dad-of-one recalled learning his art from scratch in the early 90s through magazines and writing letters to booksellers to find novels to learn how to make intricately crafted swords from steel.
With few swordsmiths around at the time, Rob feels he helped prevent the profession from becoming “completely redundant”.
However, in recent years he has noticed a boom in demand thanks to films and franchises such as Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones which hark back to the past.
Rob has now set up a workshop in his back garden, where he lives with his wife of 15 years Meg, 52, who is also an artist, taking between one week to several months perfecting each of his commissions which are sent “all over the world” and cost anywhere between £700 and £10,000.
“Whilst I’m not the last of the living swordsmiths, I almost was for a moment there and I feel I was someone who snatched it back from becoming completely redundant,” Rob said.
“There were a few people worldwide but there weren’t that many back when I started.
“It’s an old traditional occupation and we’re losing a lot of that these days, I don’t know how things are going to go in the future but I think there’s still a demand.
“And, since Lord Of The Rings and Games Of Thrones – which have been so popular over the past 20 years, there have been a lot more people that have started up to do this kind of work.”
Rob added some people have a “lack of distinction” between sword-making and those who make and sell knives, such as zombie knives.
“Something I come across from time to time is that lack of distinction between knives and swords – it gives a bad name to an otherwise noble profession,” he said, adding he has a licence to manufacture and sell his swords and those purchasing them must provide identification.
He said: “My customers are committed – they place a deposit, they wait for two-and-a-half to three years – so it doesn’t really make any sense that someone would be using it to commit some kind of outrageous crime.
“You’re very unlikely to find somebody having a £2,000 heirloom and waving that down the street – it’s a different world, it’s a different context.”
Rob relocated to the Isle of Skye from Cornwall in 1991 following the end of a relationship as his parents were living on the island at the time.
He first took on hospitality jobs at hotels to stay afloat before homing in on his passion of sword making – which he feels is a “genetic predisposition” after his father worked as a gunsmith (a person who repairs, builds or modifies guns).
“I set up a new life really, which involved teaching myself the ancient art of sword making,” he said.
“I’ve spent all these years mastering it to the point where my work goes out all over the world, and I have a fairly good reputation to go with that.
“I always refer to it as a genetic predisposition because it seems throughout the centuries, my family has been involved in some kind of militaria – my father is still a gunsmith.”
With no internet at the time, Rob said he learned how to become a professional swordsmith by reading magazines and writing letters to booksellers.
“There weren’t any resources available and Skye was a very different space than it is these days – it was still a remote island in the Hebrides,” he said.
“There was a magazine called Exchange and Mart and you could find old antiquarian booksellers there.
“I’d write letters to people and ask them to send me a list of books they have but it took quite a few runs before I could get anything that was actually of any practical use.”
Since then, Rob has taught himself to forge metals into working pieces through a variety of smithing techniques – such as blade snipping, the hardening and tempering of metal, and pattern welding, where different layers of alternating steels are blended together to create an intricate design along the blade.
“I wanted to be able to create the whole process, from the raw material all the way through to a finished sword with the scabbard (sheath), the leather work, the belts, the buckles, all the fine detailed work in gold, silver and gems,” he said.
“My principle is to make pieces that are both highly functional but are beautiful aesthetically as well.
“Each sword has to have a particular look, has to have a sort of graceful elegance, and as well as being something wonderful to look at, it’s got to be an eminently practical thing.”
Rob has set up a website to show off his craft where people contact him for commissions, and he built a workshop in his back garden where he develops his pieces.
He encourages his customers – who will use the swords in displays in their homes, as part of costumes for live action roleplay, or as heirlooms to pass down the generations – to add something personal in their commission requests, such as family crests or mottos, so he can incorporate this into the sword.
Prices for each commission start from around £700, with his most expensive sale being around £10,000, although he said his income varies each month depending on what he is working on.
“I’m never going to get rich from what I do but I’ve managed to get to a position where I can make a comfortable living,” he said.
He has now become so busy, he said he has a waiting list of between two-and-a-half and three years.
“What I do, it’s something out of time and out of place and there’s no real legitimate reason for it – but I think people like that it’s a representation of both times past and a living historical link too,” he said.
“I’ve ended in a place now where I’m lucky enough to be doing a job which is creatively very demanding and also very rewarding – while also living in a place which is absolutely stunningly beautiful.”
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