Full Blast

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...

This Crossover is actually kind of a part 2. Last week I was on the Work For it Podcast with Brian House and Bryan Kohn and we had a fun time there. The episode is titled “Blast off with Geoff Feder” and feel free to listen to it before this one. But you’ll get what’s going on  if you don’t. I listen to the Work for it Podcast every thursday and enjoy it so you should too. This episode was interes...

Leah Aripotch returns to the show and we dive deep into metal sculpture. Leah is an incredible artist known for painstaking detail and beautiful forged and fabricated nightmarish botanical pieces. Leah has grabbed the attention of the the knife making world including her recent sculptural collaboration with Bladesmith Joshua Prince and most recently, taking home “The Best Collaboration” Award at t...

We’re back with a blockbuster episode! I’m joined this week with Will Stelter JS, James Fleming JS, Matt Stagmer JS, and the Mysterious Nick Rossi MS! We all got together to recap the most recent Blade Show where they were all testing  for for the American Bladesmith Society’s Journeyman Smith and in Nick’s case, Mastersmith. They all told their stories on why the decided to test, the stresses in...

This episode of the Downward Spiral was recorded in 2012 When Niko Tavernise and I were regularly going to either his porch or my shop with a bottle of booze and recording an episode. This particular episode Niko was working on the film Noah with Russell Crow(see I knew who it was) Back from filming in Iceland, we just wanted to shoot the breeze, tell funny stories and fool around. This ep is inte...

This episode of the Downward Spiral was recorded in 2012 When Niko Tavernise and I were regularly going to either his porch or my shop with a bottle of booze and recording an episode. This particular episode we were joined by my great friend Tony Aiazzi who is now my business partner at Feder Knives. We had just had dinner and got the microphone. It was a lot of fun talking restaurant biz and our...

Matt Stagmer is back and on the road to test for the Journeyman Smith designation from the American Bladesmith Society (ABS). It’s no easy feat; even though Matt has made thousands of swords and knives the 5 he’s working on to submit have to be the best he ever made. We had a great conversation talking about how the process is going and how its influencing how he makes knives now. Will he will be...

2 years ago I didn’t think i’d have put out 104 episodes every week without a break. Consistent shows that get better and better. Amazing guests, and interesting conversations with makers from all over the place. This week I thought I’d celebrate with Mareko Maumasi and Craig Lockwood, the co-hosts of Knife Talk Podcast: The Number 1 Knife related Podcast on this germ infested planet(I started say...

Andrew Alexander is funny,  compelling and full of great stories with excellent flair. Falling in love with forging, Andrew started collecting tools and has become one of the most knowledgable facilitators of restored metalworking equipment in the United States. We had a great conversation about some of his adventures buying metal shops, crossing boarders and his greatest purchase. We compared Cul...

Matt Harris is a Blacksmith and sculptor in Perryville, Maryland where he has a studio and company specializing in architectural forgings and Sculpture called Matthew Harris Studio. Matt builds beautiful railings, gates and residential ironwork that range from classic to more sculptural and you can see the connection and his personal style. Creating movement and flowing lightness is a theme in bot...

Matt Parkinson is a Bladesmith and Swordmarker, of Dragons Breath Forge in Wolcott, Connecticut, a ABS Journeyman Smith and the first ever Forged in Fire Champion. We had a great time talking about how he got his start and his love of swords. His experience building them and how knowing the history has given him a unique perspective on famous swords and how to spot fakes. We talked about what forg...

For Episode 100 I hade my original Podcasting partner back. Niko Tavernise and I had a podcast 12ish years ago called “The Downward Spiral” where we’d catch up on what we’re doing- Niko is a Set photographer in the film industry and has a unique perspective on Hollywood. Then we’d spiral; I roam the Internet looking for weird stories of depravity and we’d dissect them. Recently the ones I find the...