Andy Davis

Growing up in the beautiful rural hills of New Castle Indiana to most young people sadly seems like a mediocre and average setting to live in, but for me things were a little bit different. I was blessed more than I deserved to grow up in such a beautiful yet simple community and environment. To have been brought up in a hard working family that helped me see the value of hard work even at a young age. I think the work ethic my family lived by growing up is a work ethic that is hard to come by in most American households these days. And while I sure didn’t always like our work ethic as a little kid, I grew to see the value of what my parents were passing on to me, and every step I take forward I’ve looked back with more and more gratitude. Throughout my endeavors to find my niche at a young age, I had many great opportunities and encouragements. Growing up in a family with ironworkers of all types in its history has given me the knowledge and inspiration I need to work with a wide variety of mediums and materials within this traditional craft. My father has owned a successful local woodworking & custom cabinetry shop which I worked hard at for over a year during high school, and in that time learned more than most do in ten years. After high school I then set my sights to college and hoped to dive head first into the metals arts department. During my time in college I was blessed with the job opportunity to then work at the Ball State museum of art in Muncie Indiana, which specializes in ancient artifacts from around the world. It was an amazing time working on the staff of curators as every day I was learning more and more about the artifacts I loved hands on. For someone who had hopes of pursuing a career as a professional bladesmith some day this job was an unbelievable opportunity to learn. On a day to day basis I was handling everything from an ancient Celtic Bronze sword, to a beautifully ornate Roman spear head, to a Japanese Katana over onethousand years old. Getting exposed to such a vast range of ancient craftsmanship advanced my abilities more than I ever would have been able to learn on my own.

My parents farmland property in New Castle Indiana:

Today David and I are blessed with the opportunity to pursue bladesmithing full time and bring our dreams to life. Bringing the creativity and uniqueness to every piece we forge requires us to have a working knowledge of may different crafts. Having a firm foundation in the skills required is very important so that I can then focus on the design and style of my work. You’re never done learning in a craft like this, our work is pathetic in comparison to most all of the craftsmanship seen in ancient work and especially in comparison to most of the masters living today. In recent years I have been trying my best to find my strengths and weaknesses in the craft, and be realistic about both. What I have found is that I tend to work toward the function on the piece and not so much the aesthetics. While David enjoys a lot of the artistic design work with decoration and aesthetics, I most enjoy working with the raw materials and letting them speak for themselves. I enjoy doing the grunt work for a piece more than most people do, so in collaboration with David we have always helped push each other further down the road of craftsmanship and quality.

Forging my first sword at age 15:

I draw a lot of my inspiration from many different areas of my life. My great, great, grandfather used to make springs for horse drawn carriages, and all of his son’s and grandsons have been involved in some way with a family owned casting company. Like David I have always drawn a lot of inspiration from the classics we grew up reading. C.S. Lewis’s work greatly influenced my life when I encountered the world of Narnia as a child, and later his Space Trilogy in my early teen years. Tolkien, William Shakespeare, and John Bunyan have also had a profound influence on me and my outlook on life. I was even given the opportunity to spend 10 days in England researching the lives of these three famous authors. This experience was a great inspiration to my artistic knowledge, and helped me take great steps in furthering my knowledge of these authors and their influence in my design.

In the end even though I have already been blessed with so many overwhelming opportunities to learn and grow I am still very young, and with that in mind I never want to loose sight of continuing along the path of learning. One of the biggest dangers for an artist or a craftsman is the idea that he has it all figured out and knows everything there is to know. God made this universe vast, unending, and full of wonder. We have 2 and a half pounds of brain, and I have just begun to dive into the ocean of information and inspiration out there.

I hope to one day be teaching the skills I have learned, and at the same time be learning along side the people I “teach”
I hope either my work or my sharing of knowledge can be an inspiration and motivation for you to use the God given talents that you have!

- Andy Davis