[rock music]
- My name's Jerad Clymer from Waukegan, Illinois,
and this is my shop, Clymer Knives and Metal Work,
and we're here to take the naval officer tour.
♪ ♪
So this little area of my shop here is mostly just for,
uh, small little pieces.
Uh, mostly handles and small piece metals.
I have this sign up here.
Another one of my navy buddies,
he made this sign for me to show support.
We help each other out. I made him a knife,
he made me a sign.
So I use this kiln right here,
uh, mostly just to temper my blades.
It's not a huge working space.
And right over here is my anvil.
This anvil is a trade I made
with another blacksmith for knives.
That's pretty much how I built this shop together
was just off of trades and deals.
This hammer here, I made it.
Hook it on round one, round two.
This is my favorite hammer.
I do the vast majority of my work
with that hammer right there.
I have the Constitution on my wall right here.
There's a guy named George Clymer on there.
There's no proof or anything that he's related to us,
but, uh, I like to think he is.
Makes me feel good at the end of the day.
♪ ♪
- Hi, my name's Lee Crawford.
We are in the Central States Metal Artisans blacksmith shop
here in historic Haysville, Kansas.
We teach the basic skills
of moving metal and making blades.
Over here we have gas forges set up,
and there are several anvils down here through the center.
This is our 2x72 grinder.
It's an old one, but it works really well.
This is the little giant,
old power hammer that's been reconditioned.
Works great. That's what we'll be doing
the majority of our metal work on today.
Double burner coal forge.
This side is the hand crank air power.
Get it as hot as you want and keep it as cool as you want.
And on this side,
it's an electric blower,
and the speed control for the electricity
is this pull knob in and out.
And then over here is a big mess of stuff
to do fine detail work--
finishing work, and stuff like that.
♪ ♪
- This is my Majestic two-burner forge.
Same company that makes 'em for "Forged in Fire."
"Forged in Fire's" what got me compelled to make knives.
So over here we have my 2x72 belt grinder.
It's a 2-horsepower Texas Grinders,
uh, made belt grinder.
Also have my welding station here,
welding table, along with several welders.
As far as my welding goes,
I can make something structurally sound,
but, uh, pretty, it is not.
♪ ♪
So these knives right here,
these are all time trials for "Forged in Fire,"
and then this one here is one I just did
probably about a week before the show,
cable Damascus with a hidden tang.
Just wanted to make sure,
you know, I was ready for the show.
This is the first knife I ever made.
When I make something I'm not particularly proud of,
I just look back at this and I'm like,
"All right, well, it's definitely improved."
So my forge doubles as my man cave.
I'm in here way more often
than the old lady would probably like.
Usually there's a bartender behind the bar here
just making sure everyone's having a good time.
And, of course, right behind the bar,
we have to have a big ole Navy flag
for everybody to see when everybody gets here.
So that's Clymer Knives and Metal.
I hope you guys enjoyed the tour,
and I got a sword to make.
♪ ♪
- I've been blacksmithing for 2 1/2 years.
I was in a real bad accident back in 2015
where I got burned--
30% of my body, second- and third-degree burns--
and coming here on Monday nights,
at first was, like, five or ten minutes.
A therapeutic thing to try to get over the fear of fire
that I obviously had after the accident.
My military career
and being in the navy taught me fundamentals
of attention to detail
and focusing on what you're doing at the time
and being able to problem-solve and get things done,
which are a lot of the key components
to making a good knife or sword.
So I've gotten over the fear of fire,
and in the process of that therapy,
I got the bug to blacksmith and make knives.
More so the making knives bug,
and I just-- I haven't been able to stop.