The Ogre's Forge

Joshua has always loved working in the shop, he was taught his leather skills by very skilled and talented saddle makers in our hometown before joining the Army. As we moved with the Army he started tinkering in the garage with a few things here and there, then he found a book on knife making and started reading any type of article or book he could get his hands on to learn more about the subject. Taking what he learned from some of his books he started making some small knives with hand files in the garage, and he fell in love with it. We started our business in Georgia, 2011 and trademarked our name and logo there. While stationed in Alaska and I had a woman from church approach me and ask if she could pay for a knife for her father but have him come make it. This older gentleman happened to be a Vietnam Veteran. It was working with this Vietnam Vet that we made the connection between PTSD and creating something beautiful; the clarity and peace of mind that it brings was astounding. We opened the shop up to others and thus began open shop night. We absolutely loved having everyone over and working together, especially the vets and emergency responders. While in Alaska Joshua received training from some great knife makers, Nate Kelse and D Holder, the latter a well-known knife maker. Joshua also received training at an ABS School for Bladesmithing taught by Jim Crowell, not only a Master Bladesmith but a Master instructor as well. As the company grew, we sat down and discussed what it was that we really wanted, and where we wanted this company to go. We knew then that when Joshua retired from the military, we wanted to do this full time and bring in vets, first responders, and anyone else who wanted to learn and share in the experience of making a knife. There is something peaceful and relaxing about getting lost in making something beautiful and that is our goal: to help emergency responders and vets that suffer from PTSD in their recovery process.