Full Blast

Jimmy Diresta is back and we had a great time talking about holiday childhood memories, how to capture your ideas and will there be a second season to the Emmy award winning Netflix series “Making Fun”. Lots of behind the scenes and what it takes to get a TV show rolling. Jimmy rules and is always super forthcoming and candid about his life. Many thanks to Jimmy as always and I look forward to wha...

It’s Christmas time and who better to talk food and family than the great Fingal Ferguson. The family farm- Gubbeen is cranking out ham’s and cured meats for the holidays and we talked about what goes into the rush. We talked a lot about food and the science behind curing, brining and developing flavor. We discussed the meaning of life being grateful for the wisdom of age, took care of some weird...

Ben Kamon is an incredible Bladesmith and is back for another episode. When it comes to well thought out designs and execution Ben is in rarified air. We had a great time catching u, talking about our experiences in metalshops, how they influenced our work today, social media and how it gets a bad rap, Plus Austrian cooking! We also covered a little weird Austrian News and cleared up the legality...

My friend Julia Sexton is back and I’m glad. She is an incredible food writer and Editor in Chief of Edible Manhattan, Edible Brooklyn. Edible Hudson Valley and Edible Westchester. Dedicated to food writing and the restaurant biz Julia is the last of a dying breed. TikTok food reviews and social media influencers are the new delivery system for the masses to find out where to go out for something...

As a young boy alone, listening to the radio I used to love the episodes when radio hosts would go on holiday vacation and have a fill in. So I started having my two friends Ben Snure and Jonathan Porter on and we’d fool around for a Black Friday show. We should be having Thanksgiving with our families and were recording a podcast instead. Perfect. This is the 3rd year of this tradition and unfort...

I’m honored to talk to my great friend and podcasting partner on Knife Talk, Craig Lockwood about the debut of his new Single: “This Town”.  You are reading that correctly.. Knife Maker, podcaster and now Recording Artist…Craig is a man of many talents and had the bucket list opportunity to record at the legendary studio Rockfield; home to Queen, David Bowie, Ozzy Osborn, Oasis, Coldplay and many...

Jesse & Butch are 2 knife makers out of Pennsylvania who I’ve known for a while and gotten to hang out with at Makercamp. Part of a great group of makers around Philadelphia I wanted to some perspective on the end of the World Series with the Phillies as an incredible underdog story. After being counted out this season, the Phillies kept advancing in the post season past the Cardinals then the...

Vince and Ryan are the owners of Brodbeck Ironworks, one of the fastest growing Grinder companies around today. I met them both a few years ago and have been a fan of them and their company for a while. Both mechanical engineers and knife makers they met as competitors on the TV phenomenon “Forged in Fire” on similar paths. It was a fascinating conversation on who they are how they met and what ar...

Kev Slattery and I have been friends on Instagram when I first started making knives. A leader in  Austrailan bladesmithing , Kev has been a huge part of the kindness, supportive and generous nature this community exemplifies  while also and giving back by teaching and creating a very popular podcast with a cult following. We had a great catch up talking about our first meeting at Bladeshow,  Aust...

The Full Blast Podcast has a wide berth for conversation and interviews. Sometimes serious, thought provoking and insightful- then there are episodes like this one. Ben Snure is hilarious and that’s just what the doctor ordered. I always love catching up with Ben, telling stories and reading weird stories I find on the internet. The first half we talked about what’s going on in our lives and hit o...

 This past week I had the honor of once again of attending the Catskill Mountain Makers Camp in East Durham NY. Blacksmiths, woodworkers, artists and makers convene there for fellowship and general making. Tools, techniques and tricks galore with so many disciplines and things to see it can be over whelming. One of the highlights is that Photographer Mark Adams takes amazing portraits of all the a...

Andrew Alexander is back and I’m grateful for it. Last week I had to end the episode in a panic because the service we used said after an hour: “You have 5 minutes of recording time left before the recording stops”. Needless to say I was disappointed. And panicked. So I ended it abruptly with my guest Andrew Alexander just as we were getting warmed up. AA is a gem. I asked if he wanted to suffer t...

When it comes to the appreciation for Anvils, tools and their history, its hard to find someone as knowledgable, articulate and compelling as Andrew Alexander. @Blacksmithtools returns for another fun filled conversation about the ongoing conversation I’ve been having with my guests about “The role of the modern day Blacksmith” and where blacksmithing fits in to the times we live in. We talked abo...

As far as Metal Artists go, David Madero has reached some incredible heights. Making giant public Art and incredibly expressive work David has found his voice in Steel. His father was a metal sculptor and brought David’s older brother into the shop to help with the fabrication of art. A 4 year old David was compelled to follow and help. These formative years gave him the technique and training to...

I’d say Jesse Savage is man from another time.. His knowledge on Anvils, forging and history is impressive. He and his wife Carrie are a wonderful couple who run a weekend Forging workshop at the Center of Metal Arts as well. Catching up with Jesse is always good. We recorded on 9/11 so we talked a little about that. We also talked about the passing of Richard Postman, author of the most comprehen...

I had the distinct honor of returning to the Center for Metal Arts in Johnstown PA to teach a weekend work shop and I brought a microphone to have another conversation with CMA’s Executive Director Pat Quinn. I was lucky enough to catch John Williams after finishing up a week long Tong Making class he taught with Pat. I’ve known John for years online and it was great to finally meet after years of...

I met Henry Hyde of Hyde Handmade Knives at The Center for Metal Arts last spring and he was humble, soft spoken when he wanted to be and confident and hilarious too. Always fast with a clever and timely joke, and very reverential towards his hosts, his cohorts and his teachers Henry forged with intention.  Henry is an incredibly talented Bladesmith who found his way into knifemaking after being m...

The Realest Cowboy I know, Ben Snure returns to the show and its always good. We talked about some of the forging he’s been doing lately and how he’s evolving as a blacksmith. Ben had some insane Mountain Lion stories from his family and we went off-road and dove into some weird news which is always fun. Ben rules and is one of my favorite people to talk to. Thanks again my buddy- GF  Follow Ben o...

Mark Peacock (@deer_river_craftsman on Instagram) returns to the podcast on the heels of joining us in Barcelona for our Knifemaking Workshop at Florentine Kitchen Knives. Mark is a skilled woodworker with a few blacksmithing classes under his belt he made an awesome knife with us and it was fun to see how his skills translated to knifemaking and how it changed the way he sees his own work. We als...

I remember as a young boy, the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. It was a bizarre time as an American seeing the pomp and circumstance of a Royal Wedding. When I heard Onur Caglar and his fiancé Emma Whitaker on the Fire and Steel Podcast I thought it would be fun to cover their impending wedding. We had a great time catching up with Emma and Onur, talked about the plans and what’s o...

Keith Johnson AKA @kjsawdust returns for a little catch up. Before I started Full Blast I asked Keith if he wanted to do a podcast as a cohost. The timing didn’t work out but we thought about it. Keith is also a big fan of Talk radio and we had a lot in common. Good thing he didn’t. He’s now on a great podcast called Shop Sounds with Nick Key and Jason Hibbs -check it out.  We had a great time tal...

I’ve been extremely fortunate to be here in Barcelona, Spain as a guest of my dear friends Tomer and Noam, owners of Florentine Kitchen Knives to co-teach a knifemaking workshop for the second time. And as we had a little time before my flight home, we recorded an episode that would have been completely different if we talked in the beginning of the trip. After spending a few days with Tomer and w...

Benjamin Kamon of Kamon Knives is an Austrian Blademith whose work has graced the cover of Blade Magazine and is held in high regard in the knife making community. When you look at his work the design decisions he makes are beautiful, elegant and well thought out. The contrast between forged blade and mechanically fastened handle are stunning and must come from his experiences between being a mech...

Meet Tansu is back and we had a great conversation. Owner and Bladesmith of Tansu Knives and Hunter Valley Blades, Mert has a unique perspective in the knife making game. Born in Turkey, he moved to the US as a chef, met his wife in the hospitality business and decided to take a chance on living in Australia for a bit. Life was good and the slower pace allowed for more free time. So after years of...

Back by popular demand, one of the greatest character to ever grace the Emerald Isles Fingal Ferguson is back in the saddle again!!! We had a great time talking about the award winning short documentary He and some of his fellow Irish Knifemakers were in called “The Small Steps”. It was interesting diving deeper into the relationship he and these talented craftsmen have and their connection to Bla...