Sam started out as a farrier but soon found himself being drawn deeper into the hearth and looking beyond the power to just give the steel a shape. In his many travels around the world he would meet bladesmiths, and become more and more curious when they spoke of the magical experience of transforming a slab of metal into a polished blade.

He needed answers only legendary knife-maker Achim Wirtz, a.k.a. the Master of Steel and the Pope of Damascus, could give. Thus began a humbling journey of apprenticeship by trial and error to understand metallurgical principles and how to apply them to a rebirth of the metal in the forge. As steeped in tradition as knife-making maybe, Sam also understood that is such a dynamic field in terms of aesthetics and materials that there’s no standing still.