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"I live in central Minnesota and am a full time blacksmith,
bladesmith and primitive/survival tool maker and enthusiast.
Ever since childhood, as long as I can remember, I have had
some internal primal need to recreate and use primitive
knowledge. I have been making primitive survival tools, along
with many other things, for 30 years. I spent the first 21 years
of my life surrounded by concrete, steel and brick in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. At that point, I moved to central Minnesota to an area
that had lots of woods to play in and time to practice my skills.
The first thing I did when I got here was to brain tan and smoke
some deer hides and made a pair of knee high, plains style, lace
up the front, moccasins to run around with in the woods. Its
really weird to look back and see how one thing has lead to
another, where I am now, and where I would like to go."
bladesmith and primitive/survival tool maker and enthusiast.
Ever since childhood, as long as I can remember, I have had
some internal primal need to recreate and use primitive
knowledge. I have been making primitive survival tools, along
with many other things, for 30 years. I spent the first 21 years
of my life surrounded by concrete, steel and brick in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. At that point, I moved to central Minnesota to an area
that had lots of woods to play in and time to practice my skills.
The first thing I did when I got here was to brain tan and smoke
some deer hides and made a pair of knee high, plains style, lace
up the front, moccasins to run around with in the woods. Its
really weird to look back and see how one thing has lead to
another, where I am now, and where I would like to go."
"I have no idea why I wanted to know all this, but now all the
information and skills are coming together into something
much bigger than I would have ever dreamed. This is still fun
for me, and it gives me the ability to create new things and get
better at what I'm doing everyday. When I make something, I
always start off thinking "I'm going to keep this one.." But I
don't keep anything I make because, before I'm finished, I'm
already thinking of something different and better. It works
well for everyone else because they know that they are getting
the best of my ability each time that I make something."
information and skills are coming together into something
much bigger than I would have ever dreamed. This is still fun
for me, and it gives me the ability to create new things and get
better at what I'm doing everyday. When I make something, I
always start off thinking "I'm going to keep this one.." But I
don't keep anything I make because, before I'm finished, I'm
already thinking of something different and better. It works
well for everyone else because they know that they are getting
the best of my ability each time that I make something."
| "Now that need inside has grown to a stronger need to begin passing on the knowledge and skills. That is the only real useful reason for having the information, that it may be used somewhere along the way in the future, if not in my life, in my children's, or whomever may be in need or want of the information. But most of all, so that it may not be forgotten." |
| "Although I have been making primitive and survival things for 30 years, I have only been making them to supplement our income for a few years, and have only been full time since the spring of 2006. My wife and I are a team of two. I do the metal and wood work, she does the online work. Our biggest dream is for both of us to be able to do this full time with our three children surrounded by, living and breathing, natural skills. Nothing makes me more proud then to watch my children identity plants in the yard or ask for yet another fire piston to play with." |
| ABOUT US |