My great grandfather, my grandfather, and my father all earned their livings as butchers. So as a small child I was introduced to knives as my father had literally hundreds and he would make them by using the stock removal process. He’d do this by bringing home broken meat saw blades and grinding out the knife shapes and then putting handles on them. I wish I had some of his knives, but over time they all disappeared or he gave them away to friends. I joined the Air Force right out of high school and was sent overseas and then up to the northern tier. I didn’t get to see my father much after that until he was in the latter part of his life and by that time the knives were all gone.
I picked up blacksmithing and bladesmithing as something to do in my retirement. To make this happen, I took many courses in blacksmithing and studied at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Academy in Minneapolis, MN., and then later learned bladesmithing, taking in-person and online courses from Master Bladesmith Jason Knight at his forge studio in his Tennessee Tri city shop.