How I got started making swords is a funny story. I taught middle school science, and one time I assigned my students to research an element and bring in a sample of it as part of their presentation. The girl who was presenting about zinc forgot her sample at home, so I suggested that we could [...]
I love what I do because I get to teach people about the things I’ve always loved—ancient history, science, mythology, metallurgy—and give them a hands-on experience that they don’t really get anywhere else. Seeing everyone’s excitement and full engagement with every step of the process is a teacher’s dream. And at the end of class, their [...]
Other than taking blacksmithing classes 20 years ago, I’m mostly self-taught. I learned to build a foundry and melt metal from a library book about casting replacement parts for old cars, which meant I had to adapt a lot of the details and learn a lot from trial and error. The first time I poured molten [...]