E136: Hangin with John Norwood!

Transcript

Speaker: Hey, welcome to another episode of the Triple T for Knife Makers podcast. I have the absolute pleasure of having the one and only Mr. John Norwood of Old Hickory Forge with me. And I'm thrilled to have you, John.

Speaker: Welcome. How you doing? I'm doing good, man. It's great to be here. I've never actually been on a podcast before, so you know if I sound stupid, sorry. But it's a great honor to be invited, so thank you.

Speaker: i'm I'm happy to have you here. I'm excited to have you in the shop in November, um to have you down here to... Down here? Over here? Whatever it is? Yeah, let's say over here. I'm going west. I'm going all the way across the country. But yeah, man, going to be great, and I'm excited.

Speaker: Cool. oh Oh, there's one thing I have to show you. I i want you to see the shirt. yeah Hang on. Check this out. ah Nice. Yeah. My shirt says nothing to it, really, which is ah John's favorite saying.

Speaker: Yeah, it it kind of involuntarily became a catchphrase. Like, I never really meant for it to become a thing. But, like, you know, I'm i'm completely self-taught when it comes to, like, YouTube and videography and all that.

Speaker: And, like... the phrase nothing to it really just kind of was a good way to end a sentence that conveyed hey this is not as hard as you might think it could be and as i'm putting my videos together i just noticed i'd said it like 10 times every single video so it kind of it kind of just became a thing that everybody took and ran with so here we are it's one of those connector statements that people that don't record videos or don't edit themselves you don't see that like i I have a bad habit of saying, okay, like right before I, like I start a clip and I go, okay, we're going to do this. And then in post, I'm always having to remove the okay. Cause it sounds ridiculous. I do the same thing with the word. So like, I'll be like, so here's what we're doing. Or so here's how that, and then sometimes I'll go through and rerecord takes and be like, don't start your sentence with. So like the, uh, yes, the, the problems of being a YouTuber.

Speaker: ah i i don't I don't think I've laughed so hard as I did. You watch my video, you know, the part when I'm I'm sanding the handle. You remember that? yeah yeah, I remember. yeah It looks like a big dildo.

Speaker: I'm recording that clip um the first time and I'm looking, you know, I just set up the camera and then I start sanding and I look up at the at the camera. And I start laughing and I immediately text Jared. I'm like, you're not going to believe this. I got to, I got to send you this clip. and He was dying. And I was like, oh yeah, I'm going have to make something funny in the video over that. That sword came out sweet, man. That was a beautiful piece.

Speaker: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. yeah I mean, it's a little more anime cartoony than what I would typically do, but yeah, it was fun. It was fun to do something different. Yeah, same with my project. i kind of because i'm like I talked about it in the video. I'm not really a very big sci-fi guy, so I just kind of looked up sci-fi bladed weapons and picked one I thought I could make. like I've never actually played any of the Fallout games, so like I kind of feel like a poser making a knife from one of those games, but you know it turned out pretty cool. That D-guard was...

Speaker: If I never make another one, it'll be too soon. I had pains watching you do that. Yeah, it looks pretty straightforward, but then once you actually start to make it and nothing goes the way it's supposed to, they got frustrating pretty quick.

Speaker: but Yeah, i I spent some time with Dave Lish, Master Smith up in Washington, and he does a lot of those D guards and the ones where it's like the front and the back and then it's got a little curl and like so the front and the in the back kind of meet in the center.

Speaker: And of of course, those have to be pretty precise and you got to forge that little swirl where they meet. And every time I look at one of those, I'm like, no, I don't want to do it. Yeah. Yeah, my my hat's off to that guy. they're there like they're not ah They're pretty straightforward on paper, but in practice, it's like, you know, you get one side right, now the other side's messed up, and you got to get your handle block exactly the right size, and it's, it's it's yeah, it's something.

Speaker: Yeah. So, ah that was your first video back, right, after a pretty long hiatus? Yeah. Yeah, it was. so I've been off YouTube for about two years now, there about, ah because after, you know, the disaster back in 2024, I really wasn't sure where I was going to go or what the plan was. And while I was in the hospital, that's when I decided I wanted to go hike the Appalachian Trail. So February of 25, I set off and did that. It took me five and a half months. um

Speaker: And then I still was like the whole time I was out there, I was like, I'll just figure it out when I get back. And then when I got back, you know, I was just thinking, you know, where am I going to go? What am I going to do?

Speaker: I've got a space to set up here. And with all the crazy support that came out of the blacksmith and knife maker community in the terms of monetary support, it's Something I've never seen anything like it. And I hope I never have to again. um I didn't even know that my mom and sister had made that GoFundMe for about the first few days.

Speaker: I was in the yeah ER just kind of fading in and out. um And then when they finally moved me to like the actual hospital, My sister showed it to me and it had already passed 25 grand and it it it ended up going well over 100,000. So that's which it was all put to good use. I'll tell you that because it's like Dennis and I were talking about earlier building that new shop. it It turned into a money pit pretty quickly. You know, getting all the new equipment, having new power run. It's it was a bit of a job.

Speaker: yeah we We were all, well, I can't say for everyone, but certainly my wife and I were following you. just we were just talking earlier because I told her were going on the podcast. And she said, well, tell him that I was watching the updates on the GoFundMe, which she really appreciated. And she was watching the, you know, just your adventures on the Appalachian Trail. And as you would post things, I would say, oh, here, look, John's here and he's at this peak. And I think we all really appreciate watching that.

Speaker: as it unfurled and seeing you spend the time and do that i think that was good mental karma yeah it was definitely something uh it's it was an adventure it's honestly something anybody could do uh people talk about it like it's this long crazy drawn out wilderness adventure and i guess it's in some aspects five months five and a half I could have done it faster. There are people who do it in as little as three months, which is freaking insane, if you ask me. But I i took a good, like, I wasn't in a hurry. I had nothing to come home to anyway. So if I knew bad weather was coming, I would just get off trail and hole up in a hotel for a few days to wait it out.

Speaker: And in New York, I actually, I took about a week and a half off in New York. I got off trail to wait out some bad weather. And then I got food poisoning. I'm pretty sure what it was. And I think I know how to because the day before I'd gone into Bear Mountain, New York, um a lot of times like ramen and tuna is like a staple through hiker food out there. And rather than cooking it in your cook pot and then having to wash it, ah you'll reuse a freeze dried meal container.

Speaker: And I guess I had forgotten to wash mine out. So I opened this freeze dried meal container I've been eating out of for a week. And it smells horrible. Like it smells horrible. It smells like vomit.

Speaker: And then um I'm like, well, this is the. Yeah. So I was like, I was like, well, this is the only thing I have to cook in. So I cooked my food and ate it out of that bag. Luckily, it was really spicy ramen. So it covered up the flavor a good bit.

Speaker: But i'm I'm pretty sure that was what did it. But that laid me up for a few more days. And then um a good buddy of mine who lives not far from there was like, hey, man, I'm going up to my family's cabin in Maine for the weekend. Do you want to come? And I'm like, yeah, sure. You know, trail ain't going nowhere.

Speaker: So anyway, it took me five and a half months. But had I really locked in, I probably could have done it at least a few weeks faster. But it takes the average thru-hiker between five and seven months. And um the advice I would give to anybody who's going to do it is take your time.

Speaker: Like, you know, it's easy to get what we call mile fever out there and just just take your time. yeah I don't mean to ramble. It's just there's a lot to say about it. Yeah. I mean, the the one out here that people do is the Pacific Crest Trail, which is lot. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Speaker: I know that's a really long, I've never considered doing it, but it's, I don't remember how many miles it is, but it's crazy. It's the, the PCT is about 2,700. And I, there, I did meet quite a few people out of the AT who had done the PCT as well. And the PCT is longer and it goes to higher altitudes.

Speaker: But the AT actually has quite a bit more elevation change and the terrain's just a lot rougher because the PCT was originally built for horse travel. So it's basically just like a road the whole way. At least that's what I've been told. I've never been there.

Speaker: It's nothing like, you know, you're not climbing up and down mountains all day like you are on the AT. If I was to do another log trail, that would be the one I would do. There's also the Continental Divide Trail. If you do all three, it's considered you're you're called a triple crowner.

Speaker: um The Continental Divide Trail is like 3,100, I think. But it's a lot less developed. No, it's ah it goes it's in the center of the country. It goes from like, I'd have to look at a map, but it goes from like the bottom of Texas all the way up to the Canadian border or something like that. So you start right at the border with Mexico, kind of in the middle of the country and you go north.

Speaker: But the like the AT t is kind of the most popular one. And there's a lot of trail infrastructure and community and culture built up around it. Like there's a whole subculture of people whose whose sole job it is to help hikers on the AT get on and off trail, get food. you're never really You never have to be out for more than three or four days, except in the 100-mile wilderness, but that doesn't really count.

Speaker: um Well, I guess it does, but... The CDT is nowhere near as developed. Like there are times where I've heard you'd be out there for 10, 14 days going in between towns and there's nowhere to get off trail of like, like it's the least done of the three because it's considered the most dangerous. But if I was to do another long trail, I would, I would do the PCT, I think.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't want to do any of them. I'm too old for that. Yeah, it's funny. um my ah My girlfriend, Hannah, she's actually, um we're tentatively planning for her to attempt a through hike in the spring of 2028.

Speaker: ah Because I'm like, you know, you're kind of in a unique position to where I've got all a lot of the gear and all the know-how. And, you know, I can help so ah because I'm self-employed. Like I can take off a couple of days and help get her on and off. Like I can.

Speaker: um But she was like, don't you want to come with me? And I was like, no. ah one one One time was enough. I don't want to do it again. Yeah, i mean i didn' I mean, the only hunting I do now is turkey. But when I used to do deer hunting and like go for a weekend, by like Saturday, I'd leave like Thursday. And then by Saturday morning, I'm like, I'm done with this sleeping. need my...

Speaker: you know thirty you need you need a shower and clean clothes and like it yeah i'm not built i need a soft cushy you know memory foam mattress and a big pillow and yeah yeah like a real bed ted and like it's yeah it's i get it yeah we joked it because we love to show naked and afraid and uh oh yeah kim always says yeah we want to do naked and afraid but we want it with clothes and an rv Those people are crazy. Like you meet, there's a, you know, the outdoor community and the blade maker community kind of overlap a lot. So every time I've been to blade show, I've met people who have been on naked and afraid. And I'm like, you people are crazy. Like there is something wrong with you. If you want to go on that show.

Speaker: Yeah, well, Kayla, Amber. um the the Melissa, the gal. Melissa Backwoods, yeah. She works for Blade now.

Speaker: Maybe, I don't know. so Like, I know she recently moved out to Western North Carolina somewhere, and she's out there doing all all her outdoorsy stuff. so And Kayla's been on it like three or four times, I think. well Yeah, same with Amber. She's been on it more than three or four times.

Speaker: I've talked with andber Amber at Blade before. She's super nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's the Smith can like, I've never met anybody at blade show or just anywhere in the maker community who wasn't a nice person. Like it's, it's rare that you meet somebody in our sphere and you're like, that dude's a dick or something like that. Yeah.

Speaker: There's a couple, but there's a couple there's, there's, there's, it's happened. It's rare, but it does happen. I'll give you the, the vast majority of people are super cool. And yeah, just, you know, salt of the earth kind of people.

Speaker: Oh yeah, definitely. So tell me about the new shop. but you know we so We saw a bit of it in the video, which was my favorite part. Tell me about building it and the kind of trials and tribulations doing that.

Speaker: Okay, so like I knew it was not in good shape because like, you know, my dad, he passed away ah few years ago. I think it was 2023. I'd have to look. I'm almost certain. But, you know, his health had been going downhill for quite a while before that, and he hadn't really spent a lot of time out there. So everything was in like this horrible state of disrepair. It had kind to kind of turned into this storage overflow. ah You know, my dad, I talked about it in the video. I love him to the moon and back.

Speaker: But he had a compulsion to hold on to things like he wasn't a hoarder, but he was closer to being one than he was to being a normal person. And I purpose I purposely didn't take any before photos or a lot of them because I was just like, I don't want anybody seeing it like this.

Speaker: um But anyway, I more or less expected that when I got back from trail, I could just clean the place out and get to work. And I quickly learned that that was not going to happen.

Speaker: Um, basically there's the building that's the wood shop. Now it had the roof off the front of it, another roof off the other side. And there was two smaller buildings.

Speaker: Well, the two smaller buildings ended up having to be completely torn down because they were just lousy with termites. Like the roof was rotted and caving in and it was just not, it wasn't, it couldn't, it was no longer usable. So I had to tear all that down. I had to build another small building to replace it.

Speaker: And then the main shop had to be taken all the way down to the studs because the siding was bowed and buckled and was rotted through in some places. Luckily, the framework is fine, but I had to tear off all the siding, take all the windows out, put new siding on. And mind you, I'm doing all this by myself for the most part. Like I had some help in a few places, but there were plenty of times where I was like climbing up a ladder with a nail gun hanging off of my belt and carrying a piece of siding up over my shoulder.

Speaker: And that's... And you saw on the outside area, of the blacksmith shop is just what I call it. It's got this wraparound hip roof that I built. There was two roofs and I knew I wanted to connect them, but they attached to the building at different heights. I don't know why my dad did that.

Speaker: but So one of them had to be completely torn down and a new one built because they just couldn't be connected, at least not in any way that I knew of. you know I'm not a carpenter, um but I had to wait on the power hammers to get here before I could build that section of roof, like the the corner on the outside. So if and when the time comes that I have to move those power hammers, it's going to be a a bit of a job. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. So I had to pour the concrete slab for the power hammers. That was, that was another bit of a job. It's, I did a four foot by eight foot slab, 12 inches thick with four inches of compacted rock under it.

Speaker: And that's about the biggest pad that I would ever want to pour solo by hand. Anything bigger than that, just, just hire, hire somebody to do it. And these are tire hammers, right? Yes, sir. yeah um Excellent, excellent machines. you know ah It's kind of funny. Dave Custer, he he actually did. He made a big batch of coffee scoops for the GoFundMe for part of the fundraiser, and he sent me all the proceeds.

Speaker: So he ended up raising like $7,500 or something like that. And then I was like, well, i'll just I'll give you this back plus a little more and get me on the on the on the books for two tire hammers, please.

Speaker: um That's cool. Yeah. So, ah but they're great machines and, you know, I don't, I don't want to hijack talking about him, but um this is the, i've muffed the sorry.

Speaker: The first power hammer at my old shop that I ever bought was also a tire hammer. And I had a couple of things go wrong with it. Like one of the sets of dies broke, like the die broke off from the base plate, which kind of a freak accident. It's not supposed to happen. He sent me a new set free of charge.

Speaker: Also, the spindle axle, which is what the tire actually spins on, broke, which is, again, a freak accident. It's not supposed to happen. It looked like whenever, like, you know how when you get a blade that cracks during the quench, there'll be like a little brown spot?

Speaker: Sure. Yeah. Yeah, like um where it looks like it originated. There was something like that. it was like a defect in the steel that was used for it. um But he sent me a new assembly with detailed instructions on how to weld it back up at no cost to me.

Speaker: So in an afternoon, I took the whole top part of the hammer apart, welded on the new spindle axle and was back up and running. um And he didn't charge me for labor or shipping or anything. So, you know, stand up guy. If you're in the market for an entry level power hammer, there's there's no better place to spend your money, in my opinion.

Speaker: If I could have one, believe me, I would. It's the only tool that I can't have in the shop just because noise. Oh, yeah. You're in kind of a more suburban area, aren't you? Very suburban. My neighbors are like 25 feet away from where my shop is. Oh, wow. Okay. So, yeah.

Speaker: You'll see when you get here. Yeah. You got that rolling mill. Yeah. You got that rolling mill, though. That's a pretty sweet bit of kit. Yeah. It's definitely... a i why They're becoming more popular, but I definitely think it's like a...

Speaker: almost like a luxury item for a shop these days, but it's, they're growing. But for Damascus, you can't beat it. It saves too much time. And so, yeah, everything gives you like a nice uniform thickness on the piece to work with. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. You spend a lot less time grinding, grinding. Yeah. crop yeah Super useful. We'll be using it for sure. Oh, excellent. I'm excited. I'm going to pause here and I'm going to talk about our sponsor that makes excellent Damascus and that is Baker Forge and Tool. If you guys need premium steel, whether it's copper, bronze, my, um you name it, they've got it. I am totally not prepared to don't have their drop of the week this week, but if you go to their website, you will find it or you can find it out on the app.

Speaker: And that also gives you early access to their drops. While you're there, pick up some Gator Piss of any of the awesome varieties. Get some Grime Reaper and some Gator Skin to keep those blades nice and rust-free. So go check them out. Use the discount code TRIPLET10 to get 10% off your order. And tell them the boys that Triple T sent you.

Speaker: And yeah, actually, I'm doing a little favor for Koi. He needed a laser. So I'm going to do a little laser project for him. I'm interested to see how that goes. But I don't know if he wants to talk about it. So I'm not going to say any more.

Speaker: But um yeah, stay tuned. um We'll talk about some other sponsors in a bit. So power, so roof built around the hammer.

Speaker: Yeah. And um the main shop, the wood shop, you know, the main building, it does need a new roof, too. And I actually bought all the roofing to like actually redo it myself.

Speaker: But the more I looked at it, I'm like, you know, a lot of this plywood is starting to show starting to show signs of wear. And it it would be prudent to just replace the whole thing. But it's pretty high off the ground and it's a pretty steep pitch.

Speaker: And something I quickly learned about myself is that I really don't like being on roofs. I just I really don't like being on roofs. So I'm just um all the extra roofing material. I stowed it over in the woods out of the way. I'm sure it became a snake hotel pretty quick.

Speaker: But whenever I've got the time and money to throw at that, that's something that does need to be done. But it it can wait. for now on having new power run was probably the biggest obstacle over of the whole thing because the old power was pretty jerry-rigged uh you know my dad had put it together with just like stuff he'd pulled off of job sites it had the old time he screw in fuses um yeah and like the cable that was in the ground was only rated for like 60 amps or something like that. And I was just like, I just, I need more than that. Like he had one 220 outlet in the entire place and literally nothing else could be on if you wanted to run it. Like if he wanted to run as well there, everything else had to be turned off.

Speaker: And even then it would still trip it sometimes. So I'm like, okay, let me clear all this out and do it the right way. Thank God, you know, eighth grade meet at a crappy job, Barry in the cable. So I got it out of the ground pretty quick.

Speaker: And then something that kind of took me by surprise, because where I lived out in the mountains in McDowell County, North Carolina, if you're outside the city limits, like you're pretty much on your own. There's no building code. Like you you can do whatever you want to on your property. No questions asked, anything like that. No permits, no nothing.

Speaker: Yeah, nothing. um ah Maybe if you're putting in septic or something, they might have to about that. But if it's just, you know, running power to an auxiliary structure on your property, you just call out an electrician and they do it for you. um So like I get an electrician out there. i tell them what I want. I tell them how much power I need.

Speaker: And um they were like, OK, well, are you just... They were like, okay, well, you got to go get a site plan from the county and pull a permit before you can start doing anything.

Speaker: Luckily, because that structure had been there for more than 20 years, like it didn't, it was grandfathered in or something. So the building itself didn't have to be inspected, which is good because that thing would never want pass any kind of actual inspection.

Speaker: Um, so I jumped through all those hoops. I started digging the new trench and, you know, they tell you, I don't know if you've ever had to run power, um, like dig a trench into the ground to put a power cable in.

Speaker: They tell you to call 811 before you dig. And that's, they'll tell you where all the power cords are and everything in the ground. I was like, yeah, you know, I probably don't need to do that. This is going right where the old cable was and only a little bit deeper.

Speaker: ah yeah you really do You really do need to call 811. So I'm digging. um I hit a few power lines. Luckily, they were small. um But anyway, the way I found out I hit one is another reason the power took so long is because I was doing it during the winter, and it was a very cold, very wet winter out here. Lots of rain, some snow, lots of mud. Yeah.

Speaker: And I was doing a lot of traveling at the time too. Like I was going up to New York to see my buddy, Eric. And I was also going to Massachusetts for like two weeks for a church mission trip. Um, but anyway, and then like, while I'm home, I'm trying to coordinate with the electricians because I keep having to pump water out of this trench.

Speaker: And this thing's like 60 feet long and two feet deep. It's, it's a lot of water getting, you can't just bail it out. I killed like three transfer pumps out there. yeah. But at one point, the easiest way for me to clean the mud out of the trench was just to stick my hand in there and scoop it out.

Speaker: And at one point, I stuck my hand in there and I got a little zap and I'm like, oh, crap, I hit a power line. But luckily, it was small. The power company came out and fixed it. Um, well then the power in the house. could work Yeah, i learned I learned a lesson, but anyway, so we finally get, uh, we get the new cord in the ground with all the conduit and everything. We get the new sub panel put in the shop.

Speaker: Rough inspection is passed. I bury the power line. I think we're good to go. Then the power in the house starts flickering on and off a lot. And I'm like, ah, crap. I hit something else. And, um, yeah,

Speaker: They came out and found it. They got this fancy little fork stick looking thing that they can use on the ground to trace where the power is coming out. It's pretty high speed. ah But they found where I had just barely nicked, like just barely nicked the main power line for the entire property. You know, thank God. Like if I'd hit that thing with the earth, would have been fried like a piece of bacon probably. um Yeah.

Speaker: that wouldn't but it was yeah But it was like smoldering and it had just gotten worse. But they they pulled it up and fixed it and now everything's great. You know, I got a dedicated 100 amp panel out in the shop, all the power I need.

Speaker: But just in between, what a mess that turned into with how much I wasn't there and the weather not cooperating. It ended up taking like two months. And, you know, it's it was a very messy, unpleasant task, but it's done and we got what we need.

Speaker: That's about it as far as like you know the two small buildings being torn down, the new one built, all the you know siding on the main shop being replaced and building the new sections of roof and the power.

Speaker: And it was just one thing after another. And there was just also, like I like i said, my dad, he had a compulsion to keep things. So like I had to, it took three months of work just to get to ground zero before I could even start doing anything. I had three full 20 cubic yard dumpsters just full of just junk hauled out of there. And there was like an old rotted out camper I had to have smashed up and torn out of there. It was, it was a lot.

Speaker: But we're getting somewhere. Sounds like a big chore. The demolition can be the worst sometimes. Yeah, because it makes such a mess, and then you've got clean it up. And it costs a lot of money, too, like hiring a guy with an excavator and a dump truck to come out here and get this thing out of here. And there's no other real way to do it.

Speaker: The axle was rotted, not rotted, like rusted solid. The tires were no good. You couldn't just hook it up to a truck and pull it out of there. Like it was, but it's, it's been a long road. It ended up taking about a solid year before I could really get to work. And of course there's still improvements I want to make and new tooling I'd like to purchase.

Speaker: The new website is still under construction just because I'm going to be, The past month or so, I've been really busy making a lot of stock for a couple of events I have coming up. I'll be one of the blacksmith instructors at the Carolina Renaissance Festival every weekend starting the 1st of October through Thanksgiving, except for the weekend I'm coming out to you.

Speaker: And then the North Carolina State Fair, I'll be doing a lot of the demo work at the blacksmith shop there as well. So I'm making stock to sell in both those places. And that's kind of why, like, when I made the YouTube video for the Sci-Fi Challenge,

Speaker: I got my timelines mixed up and I thought I had about a week longer to do it than I actually did. So I ended up having to bang that build out in a few days. But yeah, did well, so we we we cut it close, but we made it.

Speaker: It was well received. So you did awesome. Cool. So you you're all set up in the shop now. Like what what's what is the next tool you'd like to have that you don't have?

Speaker: oh I definitely need a better forge. Right now, I'm just running an El Cheapo Vivor forge. It does the job, but it's it can be kind of finicky because the burner is kind of poorly designed. So I just need to get my hands on a bunch of plate steel and angle iron and i build some ribbon burners. And it's...

Speaker: It's kind of the thing that went on the back shelf because what I'm doing now is working for what I need it for, but I wouldn't trust it to forge weld or make Damascus or anything like that. um A heat treat oven would be nice to have.

Speaker: um You know, I've got to rebuild my sword forge. If I want to do swords, I need a way to heat treat them. need to make a sword quenching tank. ah Yeah, I'm sure like crazy amount, like crazy dollar. Yeah. Well, I mean, the oven can be crazy. But other than that, the other like building a forge and stuff, that's not too bad. Yeah, that's that's all easy. But it's just, you know, right now making stock for these events has just been it's taking priority over everything else. And once once that's done, I can focus on other stuff. And there's always improvements to be made.

Speaker: Um, like where I put my swage blocks, I would like to pour a concrete pad there because I thought they would be heavy enough to not really move around when you worked on them, but they, they do move around a little bit and the ground's not level. So I'm like, eh, the right way to do this would be to pour concrete.

Speaker: So, you know, that's another job that needs to be done. ah and there, there's always improvements to be made. Other tools you want, like a lathe would be nice to have, you know, it's,

Speaker: Yeah. yeah i'm You'll see when you get here, I am confined by space. That is my problem right now. There's tools that I could add. i would have to build a second level on that shop. yeah Everything's on wheels. Everything moves because I would need, you know, there's no room for anything else in the shop. When i I had to like knock, take the sink out. I had to do a bunch of things just to get the water jet in there. Oh, wow. Make that a little space.

Speaker: There's definitely no room for anything else, but you'll see when you're here. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be fun weekend. and we'll We'll figure out what we're going to do. I have some some ideas, but yeah. And we're going to do some fun things too, not just spend the whole time. Cool.

Speaker: Yeah. Cool. I've never been to California before. The furthest west I've been was Oklahoma for basic training. um I hated it there. hated Oklahoma.

Speaker: Don't tell my one of my students, Jeff. He's from Oklahoma. oh Well, he's welcome to it. I hope he loves it there, but it wasn't for me. Yeah, I would say yeah California is great, except for all the Californians that live here. Yeah.

Speaker: That's what always say. but um We do have the best weather. and Anybody can debate me. We have the best weather of anywhere in the country, for sure, hands down. um It is a nice 80 degrees today, not not humid at all. We have the best weather for sure. It's finally cooling off a little bit here. Like, yeah this summer was brutal. Like, we had weeks straight of, like, 95 with a heat index of 103. Like, it's humidity was, like, 70, 80%. Like, seventy eighty percent like it was it was rough. And I don't know, some jerk on the news talked about some sort of weather phenomenon that caused it to happen. And I'm like, dude, I don't care. I just want it to be cooler. Yeah. We had an unusually cool weather this year. I think i um we only hit over 100 maybe once or twice here.

Speaker: And it's hit 117 here before Wow. But that's zero humidity. So you can stand in the shade and it's 15, 20 feet cooler. but Yeah, out here the humidity is what what makes it.

Speaker: I remember. You step outside and you're soaked in sweat and then you're just soaked in sweat all day. Yeah. I remember growing up in Toronto was the same thing. Humidity is terrible. But...

Speaker: um Speaking of Canada, we should mention our friends Maritime Knife Supply. If you guys need anything knife related, whether it's steel, abrasives, tooling, equipment, folder material, you name it, they got it up there at Maritime Knife Supply. And if Lawrence doesn't have it, ah you know, send him an email. He will probably get it.

Speaker: So go check him out, Maritime Knife Supply. And yeah, go get some. um So what do you got coming up? You got ah you got you got this Ren Fair, you got a couple other things going on. What's the what's the plan in a year or so? is there a plan?

Speaker: Some people don't. Yeah, as of now, I have a plan that far ahead. Let's see. You know, I've got ideas for like just personal projects and stuff I want to do that I could make YouTube content out of. But something I tell people is like, you know, I'm not a YouTube blacksmith. I'm a blacksmith who makes YouTube videos.

Speaker: Like for me, YouTube is it's not my main source of income. I doubt it's ever going to be. Like it's kind of a side project, off a side project, off a side project. um But I'd like to just expand my tooling capabilities, get the website up and running, which it's almost done. But a lot of it is just like writing descriptions and things like ah SEOs and making all that work. And it's It's just, I need to, I need like a solid couple of days to just sit down in front of a computer and do it. And a solid couple of days of there not being any shop work that needs to be done is kind of a difficult thing to come by.

Speaker: ah but once the website's up and running, I've got all kinds of ideas for like stuff that I want to put on there that I want to make to order. um As when I get started, as of right now, all that's really on there is hammers and like some railroad spike knife stuff, you know, kind of the fast movers and, you know,

Speaker: of course i got asked most about the hammers while I was gone. Like, are you going to start making hammers again? When are you going to start making hammers again? So um I wanted to do those first. Is that like your kind bread and butter is the hammers mostly?

Speaker: It is. Yeah. um When I got into blacksmithing, you know, years and years ago, like, of course, I wanted to do knives like a lot of guys do. And I like I don't really consider myself a good knife maker like I can make good knives, but often whenever people ask me every so often I'll get somebody like, hey, John, you know, I'd like to start making knives is like a side business or something.

Speaker: I'll actually show them your work and I'll be like, hey, if if you want to go far in the knife making world, this is how good you have to be. um And that's. You're obviously out playing on a much higher level than most of us are ever going to reach.

Speaker: I actually, when people ask me that, and and I've done a video on this, like I think it was, I don't know, six, seven months ago, about, so you want to start as a bladesmith.

Speaker: And I spent the entire video basically telling people this is a bad idea and you should not get into it. Yeah. Just because you know it' it's the it's the hardest way to make ah fun living.

Speaker: Yeah, it's like um they say, like how do you become a millionaire as knife maker? You start as a billionaire. Right. But so I'd like once once I figured out, like I just I didn't have the skills like, you know, maybe one day I would. But at the time, I couldn't really make money doing knives because I just couldn't make knives that were nice enough to pay for kind of what they cost to make in terms of time.

Speaker: Like, um like, I'd have people being like, hey, can you make me a custom buoy with this and this and this and I can pay you 300 bucks and I'm just like, no, I can't really make it for that. And, no um,

Speaker: So the tools, you know, starting out, especially before I had any big machinery like a power hammer or a press, I was doing it all by hand. um My first 50 or 60 so hammers were done all by hand.

Speaker: um But at the time I was still working as a bail bondsman, which is what actually paid my bills. So like I didn't really need it to make money. I just kind of needed it to keep the shop going. And then once I kind of went full time, I was like, ah I need to streamline this process quite a bit for it to become profitable.

Speaker: um But yeah, the tools are kind of my meat and potatoes. I just I enjoy making them more. And at the time, there just weren't as many people active in that sphere. So it was a little more niche of a market that I could break into.

Speaker: There's a lot of great makers out there doing tools now. So. eventually the direction I would like to go long-term is actually like custom ornamental iron work, like gates, railings, things like that. Just because that's the type of work I really enjoy doing. I like the challenges and the problem solving throughout all the processes.

Speaker: And, you know, that's where I think the really big money is. i could be wrong. Maybe I'll find out what I get there that it sucks to, um, but that's i It looks super fun. like the it's It's never, and I say this to all my students, I am not a blacksmith when it comes to forging.

Speaker: I'm not a forging purist when it comes to making knives. like I'll forge some, I can forge. Sure, I can hit things with a hammer, I can shape a knife, but it's not, unlike a lot of people where they're like, they love that aspect of knife making. I don't.

Speaker: um Yes, I'm in the ABS, but You know, yeah I'll forge something because it has to be forged, not because I love doing it. And also, ah sorry, I mean, interrupted you. yeah No, no. I was like, I like to finish work. The forging is just sometimes a a necessary evil for me.

Speaker: yeah maybe And also, when you get into a lot of higher-end pattern welding techniques, forging is like, you just, you can't do it. Like, sometimes I'll read in your comments, people, like, i think whenever we did that samurai challenge, it really brought the weirdos out of the woodwork.

Speaker: um But I remember seeing one comment on your video saying your sword was trash because it had silver in the blade and blah, blah, blah, blah. ah You didn't forge it and... You had to explain to this guy why with you know exotic powder welding steels, you can't you can't forge them to shape because they you just can't. That's not the way it works. um So like your copper QMI, or if you're doing mosaic Damascus or anything like that, or even like something as simple as ladder Damascus or a raindrop, like if you make a raindrop billet and then forge a blade out of it, you're just going to destroy the pattern.

Speaker: I mean, you can kind of forge the tip maybe, but you don't really want to forge the whole thing. Yeah, I find that like it just ah like it makes it look all squished up at the tip if I do that. So if I'm doing anything other than... Like if it's a random pattern Damascus, yeah, I'll forge a blade on that, especially if I'm trying to hit certain size goals with a certain amount of material.

Speaker: um But a lot of you know more advanced pattern welding is just make the billet and then grind the knife out of it. yeah I mean, there's something like Feather where you have to forge. Yes. I tried i only i do want to try Feather again. um Years ago, I tried Feather and I did it way wrong. I got i made them all my Crush Ws. I split them, forge welded it back together.

Speaker: And I had a nice looking billet, but it was really short. And I wanted enough to make two knives out of it. So I drew this thing out onto an 18 inch bar. And then it just completely wrecked the pattern. It looked terrible. And then I ended up throwing the billet away like a few years later.

Speaker: Yeah, I've had this discussion with Marekko Mamasi when I was there. And he's like, one of the thing one of the problems he does is he he's like a miser with steel.

Speaker: And he said the times that he's run into problems is when he's he's too miserly and he tries to stretch something more than he should so that he'll get multiple knives out of it and then just fucks the pattern totally. And like if you would have just made the one knife, it would have been beautiful, but now you've ruined two.

Speaker: that's actually That's actually what happened when I made that serpent core Viking sword for the Viking challenge. I did a lot wrong in that video. But um I used, because the sword was made of seven different bars. And, you know, me thinking bigger bars means it holds forge weld heat longer and easier to forge weld. I used three quarter inch square bars. And by the time I had all 30 inches of that forge welded together, it weighed like 20 pounds.

Speaker: And I was just like, this is way too much steel. So I cut it in half and drew the sword blade out of it. And it made the serpent, rather than it being really squiggly and tight, it made it really long and flowing. Like, it didn't look bad, but it wasn't what I was... Yeah, like it it was it was still a beautiful sword, but it wasn't what I wanted.

Speaker: And eventually I do want to revisit that project and make another one and try to do everything right that I did wrong on the first one. Yeah.

Speaker: Rarely when I'm doing a pattern, do I get it right on the first time? Very rarely. um In fact, I was and I talked about it in last week's podcast episode. I was making I made like three feet of kumai because I was wow I was working on a bunch of folders, which I'm done that are going to Austria.

Speaker: and And I wanted um a big enough piece of this kumai to make a big buoy. And I put all of this effort, I made gradient Damascus cladding and then a gradient core. And I put these cross hatches because I wanted all this action.

Speaker: and And then I turned it into a kumai and I did like the the little valleys to give it kind of like the heartbeat kind of thing. And then I forged it out and it looks boring.

Speaker: Like, I didn't get any of the action that I wanted. Like, I was so depressed because I just etched it. I etched those three blades, what, two days ago or something like that, Friday or Thursday.

Speaker: and I was like, oh, like all the wind came out of my sails. And I'm like, oh, okay, I've got like two feet of this steel that is, I mean, it it looks nice, but it's not what I was going for. It's not what you were going for. Right. and like it It's not bad, but...

Speaker: Yeah, I could have made it without doing the gradient and it would have looked almost identical and it would have saved me a day and a half. So that sucked. But anyway, I have those three done. Yeah, speaking of what I'm bringing to Austria, I've got like three weeks now to, I got to do two sheaths. I got to do the sheath for that big dagger and then a sheath for that, of this frame handle buoy knife.

Speaker: And Then I'm working on one more folder for that. One or two, I don't know. I say I'm only going to do one, but I might try to do another one at the last minute. Yeah. Leather is like, I can do leather work, but like, I'm not an artist with the material by any means. And I also really don't enjoy it.

Speaker: um thank I procrastinate like that. But yeah, but if you want to make knives, you just have to make sheets. You just have to, because like, if you try to get one made from a custom leather worker, you're going to pay as much for it as you do for the knife or thereabout.

Speaker: So you just kind of have to learn to do it yourself. Yeah. One of the tools I bought when I was tooling back up was actually this really fancy Cobra class four leather sewing machine.

Speaker: Because most of the leather work I do is like sheaths for my spike knives or masks for axes and tomahawks and pretty basic stuff. I just need to be able to sew fast because hand stitching takes so long.

Speaker: um And even with that, I was doing some math the other day. I was like, this is how many sheets I get out of a c side of leather. This is how long it takes to make them. like you know I'm making like five bucks an hour here. like yeah never never If you want to be depressed, calculate your hourly wage sometimes. because that ah Yeah.

Speaker: But I don't make sheaths. I don't make a lot of knives like I try to make. Yeah. higher end knives so like i have to make fewer kind of thing so i don't make enough knives to warrant like the cost of the sewing machine but i really would love one uh so yeah i'm hand stitching them all yeah when with a lot of the the fancier stuff you do end up having to hand stitch anyway at least from what i've seen um like the big sewing machine is really it's really only good for like doing the welts where you're going through three layers of like you know seven eight ounce leather

Speaker: I've even had some people tell me that that machine isn't good for thinner stuff. So like if you're putting a fancy layer of snakeskin or something over your sheath or shark skin or something like that to make an accent piece, you're probably still going to have to stitch by hand.

Speaker: Or if you're doing like tooling, like if you do a lot of tooling and patterning on your sheets, the presser foot on the machine can like damage it. Oh, see what you mean. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And like, you have to do it before you so like, so when it comes to fancy leather work, at least, you know, again, I'm not an artist with the material. If there's, if there's a leather worker out there who's really good and wants to tell me I'm wrong, I'm happy to hear it.

Speaker: um But you know, yeah, I started sheets I did for the knives this past June, I think are the nicest sheets I've done. and basically, I started staying away from like the tooling because just i don't think i was very good at it and and it takes so long takes so long so i i switched to buying higher end materials for inlays like caiman skin and ostrich skin and different colored skins to do inlays which i think look for my skill level look way way better Oh, yeah.

Speaker: To do something like that. I love your leather work, man. You do great work. the The ones from this this June, I think, were the nicest. and I'm going to have to do a super fancy one for that dagger, which I have not even designed yet.

Speaker: um So, yeah, that's something i got to. I got it. The next four day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, i have a cloud guy coming from Canada for a class. So I'm busy all week, and then then it's going to be sheath work.

Speaker: get that done so i have all my absolute deliverables for austria done yeah miss yeah this uh this coming week for me um the stock drop off for the state fair is October 1st.

Speaker: There's also October 2nd, but October 2nd is when I'm going to be driving down towards Charlotte to get posted up to do the rent fair for the first weekend. So this week I've only got Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And, you know, just, I'm going to cram as much as I can into that. And after that, we'll, we'll figure it out.

Speaker: So do you dress up for the rent fair. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got ah i got a whole garb going. It's um it's um they want they call it's like part of this company that's called like the Dragonforge Experience. Oh, okay. Yeah, know what this guy's got.

Speaker: yeah they want the smiths to be kind of recognizable so we all kind of dress the same but yeah i got a black kilt to like ah period looking burgundy red shirt It's going to look pretty cool. I even bought a freaking, I bought a cold steel, like Dirk, a dagger to go with the outfit. Cause I'm like, that'll look pretty cool. But then the sheet was kind of a piece of crap. And I'm like, I'm not going to deal with this thing flopping around on my hip all day. yeah um So if I had more, sorry, go ahead. so Yeah. If I had more time, i would have tried to make like a fancy dagger and like a fancy looking sheet to go with the outfit or something. But yeah, I'm going to be dressed up out there looking like a weirdo. It's going to be, to be fun.

Speaker: ah Eric Rivers, who's been in our challenge, he's done the he's been a blacksmith for the Dragonforge Experience in Texas. Oh, cool. Yeah, they run, um i think the company's based out of like Michigan or something like that, or Wisconsin, one some northern state. Yeah, but they run Texas and yeah they ah run texas and the NC Rent Fairs.

Speaker: So it's it's a great opportunity to get a chance to work with them. So I'm i'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I love the forges with the dragon. and Yeah. Yeah, they're awesome. Those are cool. I can't imagine how much work those were to build, but there's some beautiful, beautiful pieces.

Speaker: Yeah, it looks like super fun. I haven't been to a Ren Faire in, God, it's probably 20 years. There's one here, but it's it's kind of, well, I guess it's an hour and a half. It's not too far, but...

Speaker: it's been yeah i've only i've only been to this one one other time and it was a number of years ago and i was just there to kind of check it out i wasn't um and at the time they had a much smaller operation like i don't think they had the same permanent building that they have now um and they're actually there is another renaissance fair that they're trying to get started out in western north carolina this was the first year they did it and they asked me if i wanted to be the blacksmith instructor there and at first i told them yes but then when i found out like they didn't have like a workspace i would have had to have built a whole separate mobile shop set up to take with me and i just didn't have time um i still went and checked out a good buddy of mine um his name's waylon olive he runs a company called swiftwood bows he's a bow maker he taught me bow making and whatnot um but i went out there just to see him and check the place out and it's it's something they got definitely got potential yeah how far are you from boone north carolina

Speaker: Uh, when I lived in Marion, I was like maybe an hour and a half from Boone. It's kind of weird. Like I always used to think that Asheville and Boone were right next to each other. Cause anytime I'd be, when I lived in Hickory, I went to Asheville and Boone a lot and they're about the same distance from Hickory, but no, they're like two whole hours apart over the mountains and everything.

Speaker: But when I lived in Marion, I was like an hour and a half from there. Now I think I'd have to look at Google Maps, but I'm probably like three and a half hours from Boone. Where I live now is like central, like almost dead in the center of North Carolina. So I'm like three and a half hours to the mountains, three and a half hours to the beach.

Speaker: So, you know, it's the flatlands. I do miss the mountains and I would maybe like to go back there one day, but we'll see what where the world takes us. Yeah, that's where ba that's where the Baker Forge guys are there Boone.

Speaker: Yeah, every time I've gone up that way, I've made it a point like, don't forget to message them and be like, hey, can I come see you guys' as shop? Because I've talked with Coy at Blade Show a few times. Really great dude. i've just Anytime I'm going out to Western North Carolina lately, there's just always something else I have to do, and I have to be back right away.

Speaker: So at some point, I will make time, but it hasn't happened yet. It's still on my list to go out there like like after Blade Show. Koi's always threatening us to you know get our asses out there after Blade That'd be super fun. And then maybe you know if you're up for a visit, maybe I'll pass by and it's not like exactly on the way or anything, but we'll see.

Speaker: yeah i don't know when that plan's going to be. next year because... not next year because the The plan was still to test for Master in June, but now I don't know if that plan's going to come together because the one blade that I thought I had in the bag is is not going to make Master. There were tiny issues that I'm not happy with, but that one's going to be up for sale in Austria.

Speaker: Yeah, i've I've never bothered with the whole ABS process just because it's like, eh, like you got to be a dues-paying apprentice for like three years before they'll let you test for journeyman. Yeah. And then how long do you have to be a journeyman before you can test for MasterSmith?

Speaker: Two years. Two years. So it's like ah kind of a five-year commitment. And the I looked up the requirements for the MasterSmith testing once, and it's all just really stringent.

Speaker: Like it has to be exactly this width and exactly this pattern and exactly this layer count. No, I mean, there there actually is no... um it has The only rules for master is that one of the five presentation knives has to be a Keown dagger, Quillian dagger, as some people call it. um and I've never heard it called a Keown dagger before. Well, if you look at it, it's it's actually not spelled Quillian. People think it's a Quillian dagger. It's actually not. It's Q-U-I-L-L-O-N. It's not a Quillian dagger. Quillian is the guards. Those are Quillians.

Speaker: It's a Keown dagger. It's French spelling. Fancy. Yes, fancy. um But the the dagger has to be at least 300 layer of whatever Damascus you want. there And it has to be a certain length.

Speaker: But there's no other parameters on any of the knives. Okay, so and they're basically judging you kind of more off a fit and finish. All fit and finish. And they have to be Perfect.

Speaker: like Yeah, that's that's that's still my biggest weak point when it comes to blade making. I'm still not very good at making guards. um Like, I can make guards that don't fall off and they don't look terrible.

Speaker: But like, if you hold it up to the light, you can see just a little bit through it. And I'm i'm still trying to, and every time I make a guard, I'm like, okay, we're going to do really good on this one. And it just takes so much time, though.

Speaker: Yeah, and that's even journeyman. Journeyman, you can't have gaps in your guards. You can't have that. That's what they're really looking for. um The reason that um the the frame handle buoy that I'm not that I'd like to take, but I'm not going to is because one of the um sides of the false edge is probably about 10 thou lower than the one on the other side.

Speaker: And you're doing all that free you're doing all that freehand by eye too, aren't you? Of course. My head is off to you, man. They're going to nail me on that and they will not pass me. I know it. So it's like, I'm not going to take the risk of failing.

Speaker: Everything else on that blade is... dead on. Like I've had, I've gone, um to master some of the Smiths, like Bill Burke, and that guy will take your knife and he'll look at it and he'll say, Oh yeah. You know, your termination on the swedge here is off by five thou on this side than it is on this side.

Speaker: Like that's the kind of thing that they're looking for. That's crazy. yeah's it's that's a whole That's a whole different level of precision right there. Yeah. It's like they want machine precision ah coming out of a handmade item. yeah But, you know, I still want it. I still am striving for that, but we'll see. and i get i don't know at this point if if I'm going to test in June. We'll see.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, I'm confident that whatever you do, you're going to nail it. that You know, like I said, anytime people ask me about knife making and whatnot, or from a making a living doing it standpoint, I'll show them your work. And sometimes I'll show them Kyle Royer as well. And I'm like, if you if you want to get if you want to go far, this is how good you have to be.

Speaker: Well, being in the same sentence as as Kyle is is high praise. So I thank you for that. i don't have Of course, man. now you're not You're not far off. he's a He's a savant when it comes to the du dude's an absolute beast uh just but and i i've said many times like the difference between like master and the rest of us or even a master and a dreamman is yeah you can say talent you can say no it's hours it's the sheer number of hours that he spends on like he'll spend seven days making a guard

Speaker: Like, yeah, I was watching one of his videos. He was making a guard for one of his swords and it was like he was using mild steel, doing the black and polished fittings, inlaying his gold and everything like that.

Speaker: And he was like, yeah, I've been working on this thing for about three weeks now. And this is just one singular piece. Yeah, he's been working on for this sword. And I'm like, dude, how do you make the big one? It might have been. I'd have to look.

Speaker: um But yeah, he's he's something. Yeah, that I've held it. It's crazy. I doubt I'll ever be anywhere close to that good. I'm just, you know, um I'm a lot better than I used to be, but I can be pretty impatient when it comes to that type of stuff. And I get like, if I'm hand filing a guard for six hours, I get by the end, I'm pretty frustrated.

Speaker: yeah I mean, now my, and actually my master's Smith, Mike Magnino warned me, he's like, cause took the folder class from him. And after, you know, through that class, he said, you know, after this, you're only going to want to make folders. And he warned me. And now I'm at the point where I'm, I'm, I love folders at this point because,

Speaker: <unk> You got to like precision. You have to have some of that like engineering mindset. Like there's a lot of milling, like one or two thou makes a difference, but it's a very different methodology than making a fixed blade.

Speaker: And I love making fixed blades, but folders have really, you know, turned that interest for me lately, especially autos. so Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a that's something I've never messed a around with at all because i I knew, like, if you want to make folders, you basically have to have – like a mill to make things perfectly flat and i don't know what other tools you would need because you probably have to fabricate a lot of your own hardware for the for the knives as well don't you not really i mean i buy most the hardware i mean and one of the things that um i suggested when you guys come down is we spend a couple of days we make some damascus and then we make folders uh yeah i'd love to yeah um are you familiar with uh the pine cone pattern that damascus pattern

Speaker: I don't believe so. Yeah. So ive I have a plan set for that. That's Bill Poer's pattern. um But I've never made it. And that is a pattern that I think, I'll say, shrinks well to put on a folder because you need a smaller pattern to get on a folder blade. That pattern um ah reduces really well. And I think it looks really cool. I'll send you a picture after this. I think that'd be a really fun one for us to do.

Speaker: Yeah, I'm up for anything. I'm just happy to be there. Yeah, we'll make a bar, whatever, you know, 12, 18 inch bar, and then we'll cut folders out of it. The nice thing is we can throw them on the water jet, cut out the blades and all the all the hard part, the profiling, the, you know. Yeah, I saw that thing in your most recent video. That is a sweet that is a sweet machine, man.

Speaker: Yeah, it it has its moments. Believe me, I've lost from some hair from using that machine the first few times. I'm going to do my review video on that. And it's definitely, there's a learning curve.

Speaker: And there's, I've said, there's some expectations, let's say, learning. wazer when they i said oh yeah this is what i want to do and they're like oh yeah yeah no problem i think they should have set some better expectations on some of the things that it could do and the time it takes like like how so like will it not handle material as thick as you need it to or something no no that part's fine it is really the one i have is a prototyping machine like i said yeah i want to cut like sheets of blanks

Speaker: like Because i thought, oh, maybe I'll do a little kind of a side business maybe for my Patreon members. I'll cut out sheets. I'll water jet blanks for people. Oh, cool.

Speaker: One of my friends, Noah, who's Noah, Antioch River Forge. He's also but oh yeah know on the podcast. You don't know no And so he sent me some steel that he wanted cut. And I said, yeah, send it. Get the steel sent to me. I'll cut the blanks for you. It'll be a good trial run through this machine.

Speaker: Well, cutting a 12 by 18 sheet of 20 knives. The cut time on that was 17 hours. Oh, good dear God. Okay. and guess how many pounds of abrasives it went through? How How many?

Speaker: 325 pounds of abrasives. And how much does that cost? Like, do they sell it in like 55 pound bags or where do you get it from? They do. And then when I got the machine, they sent me a pallet of 2000 pounds of abrasives.

Speaker: yeah I mean, this is all a YouTube thing. Like I'm doing videos to the Wazer. So I was not prepared for the time. And by the way, it's not like set and forget. yeah The machine stops every hour so you can empty used abrasives and refill abrasives.

Speaker: So it's not like you push a button and it cuts. Yeah, and you just walk away from it. and That's kind of always what I thought they were. Wow, I didn't even, had no idea. The bigger ones are, but this is like a desktop. Anyway, it's amazing for prototypes for folders where I'm going to cut a folder. I'm going to cut some frames, some liners. That's what we'll do with it, which is, it's amazing for. So that's why I say if it would have set expectations like, hey, this is a prototype machine. It's good for one-offs. It's good for designs and quick prototyping.

Speaker: that's the sweet spot for this machine so don't think you're going to get it and cut sheets of blanks all right well if ever the time comes that i'm buying a water jet i'll remember that right but ah for what i use it for it's it's perfect because like cutting like the the round like when i do want to do a bolster that has like a rounded edge and you want a scale that meets it you know, where you normally yeah they have to marry up perfectly. Yeah, right. That's a nightmare. But doing it on the water jet, I just cut each one.

Speaker: And, you know, that probably saves you a lot of time. Yeah. yeah So, yeah, I love the machine. It's great for doing those kind of one off things. So we'll probably once we make the Damascus, we'll throw the the billet under there. We'll cut the three blades and then we'll spend the next couple of days finishing those off in the folder.

Speaker: Yeah, that sounds great, man. Yeah, I think it'd be a good time. Got some other fun things. We got a gun range that's like a mile away. So I think we'll ah go shoot some trap or go go have some fun at lunch and shoot some guns.

Speaker: Yeah, i'll I'll try to smuggle one of my ARs onto the plane. there' I can't see anything going wrong with that. This is California. Yeah. they yeah And I heard our governor just passed like 12 new gun legislation laws. So who knows? might be Yeah, who knows? Like, yeah, they would.

Speaker: if If they caught me trying to bring guns into California, they'd have a field day with me. Well, you're ex-military. Don't you get special, you know? Oh, no, that that means I'm more likely to become a terrorist or something. Right.

Speaker: ah Well, you met my son, Parker. You remember? Yeah, Blade Show. Yeah. it's It's been a few years since I've been, but I remember. Yeah. He's he's Navy now. He's... Oh.

Speaker: He is... Actually, he's in Chicago. and I'm thinking, yeah, he does not want to end up on your side of the country. He's... He's in school and he'll get stationed probably the end of the year. And we're hoping for West Coast or he wants West Coast or Japan.

Speaker: So we'll see. yeah Well, I hope he gets to go there. You know, back in the army, like I knew a few guys who had been stationed in Korea or like Okinawa. And ah they they said they had a great time there.

Speaker: Um, so, you know, I, I went to basic and AIT in Oklahoma and then my orders came down from Fort Bragg, which is like an hour from where I grew up. And then, um, it's kind of a funny story. Uh, so at the end of AIT, which is where you go after basic training, I told them I wanted to go to jump school, uh, you know, airborne where they teach you to jump out of the planes and everything. yeah and,

Speaker: They got me a slot, but they were like, okay, we can send you, but you'll have to be a holdover here at Fort Sill for another month. If you go ahead and go to Fort Bragg now and just tell them that you want to go to jump school when they end process you, they'll send you right there. Turned out that wasn't true. Okay. It sounds like someone's just trying to offload you is what it sounds like. Yeah, there they just they just want you to go away. But I got to my first unit and they're like, hey, tell your family you're deploying in a month.

Speaker: um So that was fun. I graduated high school in June of 2010. And then by December of 2010, I was in Afghanistan. Wow. Yeah, I warned Parker that as soon as he gets stationed, it it happened to my stepson when he was Navy. As soon as he got stationed, he was deployed like a month later. i That seems to be like the de facto standard now is you're going to get down yeah it's right away.

Speaker: Yeah. with i don't really I don't know. I try to stay away from politics for the most part because it brings out the worst in people, especially me. um Yeah. So like I don't really know what the current geobike. I know there's all kinds of crap going on and it doesn't surprise me that they want to get guys out on boats as fast as they can.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I just think it's like regular, whether there's a conflict going on or not. I think there, um, that's just standard practice now is you're going to get deployed in the first couple of months. Yeah. Like you're, you're, you're doing ship time. Yeah.

Speaker: What, um, what's his MOS is that he went in for? i don't know if it's called the same thing in the Navy, but it's basically our job. MOS. Uh, yeah. He's electronics technician. Oh, cool. That's smart.

Speaker: That's something I tell young guys or like anybody who asks me about going into the military, because it can be a good like springboard to start your life if you're just an angry young man with nothing else going on. And like that was me.

Speaker: um And like I just I was just I was in the field artillery. So I was on one hundred and fifty five millimeter gun crew. But, you know, when I transferred into the civilian job market, no Nobody could get cared how good I could sling 155 rounds or anything like that. So I tell younger guys, if you do good on your ASVAB, you can get pretty much any job you want.

Speaker: Stay away from the combat arms um and go in there for something that's going to set you up good on the outside, like something you can get a job as a civilian doing that's going to pay you well. like you know, go in there and learn to be like a helicopter mechanic or an airplane mechanic or something like, you know, don't just don't fall. Don't drink the Kool-Aid and want to go shoot them up. Bang, bang.

Speaker: Yeah. I had the same conversation with both Cameron, my stepson and Parker that, yeah, I mean, I have all respect for like the army Rangers and the Marines and stuff like that, like the combat guys, but,

Speaker: I think those are also the guys that have some of the hardest reintegration problems and a hard time getting a job after. Yes, all respect for what they do, but unless you're a lifer, you know, maybe you get something, you're going to get a job after.

Speaker: And like, it's either, you either just need to do your four years, you know, get your VA benefits, get your GI bill and get out, or you need to go in there for your whole life. And there, there really isn't whole lot in between.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, let's get some of bills paid. if you guys, if you can't get a hammer from this man here, you might as well go over to two bastards, uh, Texas Smithy and supplies and get a hammer from Frank and Nita, uh,

Speaker: Excellent hammers. Go check them out. Home of the Fat Peen. You need a straight peen, cross peen, diagonal peen, a crisscross peen, you name it. They got it over at Two Bastards. So go check them out.

Speaker: And eventually you're going to have to put some handle material on those knives. You might as well check out some Grip Tech from Grip Tech Constance. I was going to say constipates, um, grip tech composites over at grip tech official on IG or grip tech.com. It is just this amazing grippy handle material. and now they've got a bunch of different flavors. They got the grip X 3d with the 3d printed, um, uh,

Speaker: Underneath, they got the Limitless Color versions, and now they got the new ColorShift technology that's real freaky color-changing stuff. Looks amazing, feels great in the hands, so go check it out and use the discount code TTT10 for 10% off.

Speaker: And before you get there, you're going to have to grind those knives. Go get yourself an Ameribraid best grinder on the market. go get yourself an Ameribraid. Use the discount code TTT10 for 10% off accessories or just TTT for discounts on machines.

Speaker: The Fastpack 2x72 is by far my favorite grinder in the shop. So go check them out at Ameribraid.com. And of course, you're going to have to heat treat those blades. So you got to use an even heat. Get and get yourself an even heat kiln.

Speaker: a Family owned and operated since 1948. These guys have been making kilns for a long time. ah I got two of them. I got a big sword kiln. I've got the regular 18 inch kiln for normal stuff. um Just an amazing product. Go get yourself an even heat kiln. You will not go wrong.

Speaker: I think that paid up all the bills. Just a reminder, follow us on the.tppodcast. That's the.tttpodcast on IG. Send us comments, questions, or just say hello.

Speaker: Check us out on on Instagram. I think it's time to do some maker spotlights. So and I will go first here and put it in the notes here. Wait.

Speaker: No, sorry. Ignore that one. That's not the right one. That's you. Yeah, that's the one I was going to do. um Okay, maybe you should go because I can find mine.

Speaker: um Go ahead and tell me who you got for your maker spotlight. Okay. So for mine, um this is a gentleman named Jason Lonan. He's a toolmaker out in Western North Carolina, you know not far from where I lived. The storm just kind of barely missed him when he passed through, thankfully.

Speaker: um But he's a nice guy. you know He told me after everything that happened with my shop, he was like, hey, man, like until you can get your business up and running again, my shop is open to you.

Speaker: So I ended up not having to take him up on that offer, but it it was incredibly generous and nice of him to offer. um but he's a great dude uh very kind very humble all around nice guy and an excellent excellent tool maker um you know he makes all kinds of stuff like carving gouges ads is chair making tools chisels you know carving hatchets hook knives broad axes all that sort of stuff like uh some of my ideas for axes i've you know i've gotten from him and There have been times where I've asked him questions about, hey, what's your process to make this do that and things like that. And he's always he's always been super cool. I got nothing bad to say about the guy, so I wanted to give him a shout out.

Speaker: Yeah, awesome stuff. I love love to see, like, the, the I was going to say old-timey tools, but I'm sure a lot of people still use these today. But um they're just the the coolness of tools like this. I mean, you know.

Speaker: You got to love these kinds of tools and and see them still being made today. I think it's awesome. Very cool. And that's Jason L O N O N toolmaker. No spaces underscores. Yeah. No, all, all one word. No. It's if you just, you look it up on IG, you'll find them.

Speaker: Very cool. The one I've got, I'll put in here and I, yes you may not have access to IG on that computer. um I'm going butcher this guy's name. um um Joeliton? It looks like Joel, J-O-E-L-I-T-O-N is his first name. And his last name is, I'm going to say Satiq, S-A-T-I-U-Q.

Speaker: Just an incredible um knife maker. Wow, yeah. There's some good stuff. I looked it up on my phone just now. Yeah, just crazy good stuff. I love that the second one in his profile, the dagger is just incredible.

Speaker: um The same with the buoy that he's got that's got the like the mother of pearl inlay in the handle, which is something that's that's on my list to do. Just really cool stuff. Just subtle things like how the there's like a ridge on the front and back of that handle.

Speaker: Oh, wow. Yeah. Like yeah just little subtle things like that. are like Yeah, that's that's gorgeous. The wow factor. And of course the Damascus is stellar, but really, really beautiful work on this stuff.

Speaker: So love me some, you know, awesome Damascus and just, you know, beautiful, beautiful work. It's got a few further down that are just gorgeous. Yeah.

Speaker: So yeah, go check him out. He's got just over 7,300 followers. I think we could push that up. um Yeah, amazing stuff. So there we are from Maker Spotlight. Go check them out. Go check out our sponsors.

Speaker: um John, it's been amazing to have you on the show. Where can people find you? I can be found on Instagram as well as YouTube just to under the name Old Hickory Forge.

Speaker: ah The new website is going to be oldhickoryforge.com. I've already paid for the domain and and everything. I just, you know, I haven't, the website's not live yet. So I guess check back in like a week and maybe it will be.

Speaker: Uh, but most of my work is on my Instagram and there's, um, all kinds of cool stuff on YouTube. You know, Dennis has invited me to take part in a good few of his, uh, build off challenges, which is always a great honor and a great time. Uh, but yeah, man, uh, thanks for having me. It's been, it's been awesome. This is my first time being on a podcast, so I'm, I'm pretty, I'm pretty stoked.

Speaker: Yeah. hope I did. Okay. what What are you using for your website anyway, like to build website? I'm doing Squarespace. Just because like I'm pretty technology. People think because I have a YouTube channel, I'm technology literate and I'm not like at all. um And I just know that other people I know have used Squarespace and they say it works. Like some people say there's better ones out there.

Speaker: And this this one's pretty straightforward. You know, maybe if years down the road, I decide I hate it. I used to be on Etsy. But yeah. but Yeah, it's it's not a good place. it's It's not a good place for like it, which really sucks because they had a really good idea to start with.

Speaker: But I would go as far as to say is probably less than 10% of the people on Etsy now are people who are actually making stuff and selling it. I think it's less than that. I think it's more like 2% to 5%. That's very, very possible. I was being generous. um But yeah, it's it's it's just it's not a good platform for you know serious makers to be anymore. So it's been long past time for me to have my own website. And we're getting there.

Speaker: Yeah, I tried Squarespace um and I do consider myself kind of somewhat technically savvy. And i actually thought it was a little difficult um to say, like, maybe it's better now. that This is like going on six years ago.

Speaker: um I also started on Etsy and yeah. but moved up to a website a while ago but i didn't i didn't like squarespace then but it could be better now um uh yeah well what do you use for your website i use um go daddy which is the same okay the company i got the domain from and their website builder really really easy to use and really easy to modify Not like I'm getting sponsored or kicked back or anything from them, but I really like it. And it's, they have an e-commerce section. You can,

Speaker: do sales and stuff like that really easily. So I was, I'm a big Yeah. yeah If I, if I decide I hate Squarespace in a few years and I want to go somewhere else, I might check that out. Cause yeah I know there's Squarespace was the only one I really knew about.

Speaker: And, but then as soon as I asked people, they're like, oh there's this and this and this and this. And I'm like, ah, I already typed in Squarespace. like Yeah. I mean, between, i think the big ones are like Squarespace, Shopify, Shopify is probably even one of the biggest now.

Speaker: And I, there's another one that's eluding my memory, but it's like, it's between those three. Wix, I think is another one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That one. and That's one I tried to that.

Speaker: Like I couldn't do it, but I didn't like it at all. But again, yeah that's five or six. Yeah. um My girlfriend, Hannah, she actually did a lot of the work on building the bones of the website. All I really did was put in pictures and type in descriptions and whatnot.

Speaker: um But she's a software analyst. So for her, it was pretty easy. Good, good, good. OK, not to get little personal. How long have you guys been dating?

Speaker: Uh, it's kind of hard to say, actually. Um, we, it kind of just happened, but I'd say, to yeah, maybe like eight months, maybe a little longer. Uh, that's good. But yeah, she's, she's something else. Then she helps out a lot with the website and she actually helped a lot with building the shop too.

Speaker: Um, you know, there were a few things where I just absolutely needed a second pair of hands, And she came out and helped me dig a bunch of posts out of the ground. She helped me do the painting on the final building.

Speaker: ah So oh and she helped clean out the she helped clean out the power cable trench a couple of times, too, which I was grateful for because that was a very cold, muddy, miserable task. oh So you get you let her get shocked. that's though Luckily, that never happened to her. like you know if If anybody's going to get hurt on the job site, it's going be me.

Speaker: Good. Well, I'm, I'm, it's great to see you happy and to see with somebody. And, uh, you know, I know you went through a lot during the hurricane and, uh, it's good to see you happy and moving on.

Speaker: yes It's been, it's, it's been a hell of a road. Cool. All right. Thank you for being on the show. um Thank you guys for listening and we will see you next week. Jared will be back from his escapades and we'll have a regular show next week. So thanks, John. um Hang out for ah for a bit here. We still need to chat and I'll talk to everyone else next week.

Speaker: Hey, thanks for listening.