Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here.
Fort Worth native Andrew Slaughter’s love of cooking sent him down a bladesmithing rabbit hole, leading him to take a stab at knifemaking for the first time.
Now, he makes knives in his garage for a small business he named The Trinity Forge. Slaughter, who also works as a bartender, draws joy from knowing his knives are used at meals that bring people together.
“It’s like a way to be a part of people’s lives and make memories with them,” he said.
He is aware of the irony of being a knifemaker named Slaughter, but don’t bother trying to crack a sharp joke: He’s heard them all before.
Slaughter shared a slice of life as a bladesmith with reporter McKinnon Rice.
The interview has been edited for length, grammar and clarity.
Contact information:
Instagram: @thetrinityforge
McKinnon Rice: Can you tell me a little bit about your business and how it got started?
Andrew Slaughter: I’m a bladesmith. I forge custom knives for people. I got into it because I’ve always loved to cook.
Years ago, my parents bought me a nice store-bought chef knife, and I was kind of thinking, “I wonder if people make custom ones, like handmade stuff,” and they do.
Googling people just kind of took me down the rabbit hole of bladesmiths. Eventually, I was like, “You know what? I want to give this a shot.”
A buddy of mine gave me an old piece of railroad that I used as an anvil, and I bought an old forge from a guy. The first hammer blow on a hot piece of steel just was an amazing feeling.
I just kept at it and kept getting more equipment and making Damascus (steel) and went on “Forged in Fire” a couple years ago, and that was a fun experience. It’s a lot of fun, and I love to cook, and that’s kind of how I got into it.
Rice: How do you make a knife from start to finish?
Slaughter: There’s two ways to do it. You can go the stock removal route, where you take a bar of steel and grind out the profile of a knife, or you can forge it, where you heat up a piece of steel and you hammer it into whatever shape you want.
And then you can go into the Damascus approach, where you take two different types of steel, so you’ll have a nickel steel and a carbon steel, and you’ll layer them together to create what’s called a billet. Then you’ll take that billet and you’ll heat it up to 2,000-plus degrees, and you’ll press it together to create one homogeneous piece of steel. You’ll make your knife out of that, and then you dip it in different types of acids. The acids will eat at the different steels differently, because they’re different compositions, and it’ll reveal a beautiful pattern.
Stock removal and forge are the two different processes of making knives, then you can go into heat treatment and metallurgy, but those are two different rabbit holes.
Rice: How long does each knife typically take to make?
Slaughter: Depending on what type of knife it is, how big it is, if it’s Damascus or not, it can be anywhere from 15 to 40-plus hours of work time just for one.
A lot of what people know about bladesmithing is what they see. “Forged in Fire,” that show I was on, is hammer and steel and all this fun stuff. That’s maybe 10% of what I do, and then the rest is really monotonous hand sanding and heat treatment stuff that’s incredibly boring, and it’s really hot.
All my friends come over, and they’re like, “I want to make a knife.” I’m like, “Great!”
Two hours in, they’re like, “This sucks. How do you do this all day?” I’m just like, “I don’t know, I love it.”
Just got to work through the suck.
Rice: What are some of the challenges that come with operating a business like yours?
Slaughter: I work in my garage by myself, and it’s not air-conditioned and unventilated. It’s an art form, and I’m my own worst critic, so that can be kind of tough and challenging for me. Seeing all these little tiny things that no one would ever notice except for myself can be tough.
But finding people to buy your knives and getting your name out there and just trying to do the best you can by yourself can be tough. Owning and operating a small business by yourself is extremely difficult.
Rice: What is your favorite part about your business?
Slaughter: I like seeing the look on people’s faces when I get their knives delivered, or I’ll get a call from somebody or a text saying, “Hey, we used your knife to cut up Thanksgiving dinner and everybody was asking about it,” or “I had a cookout with friends and grilled a bunch of steaks and cut them up.”
It’s like a way to be a part of people’s lives and make memories with them.
That’s another thing I love about cooking, is it gets people together. It’s a special feeling for me when someone’s like, “Oh, I can’t wait for my son to see this” or something, and people say, “My grandkids are going to be using this long after I’m gone.”
Rice: How do your customers typically find you?
Slaughter: A lot of word of mouth, a lot of social media. I got a couple from “Forged in Fire,” but mostly word of mouth is the main thing because I don’t really have any sort of marketing or advertising budget. Later this year, I’m going to have my website up.
I’ve spent the last five, six years honing my craft, and now I’m ready to take a big step and go into that, so there’ll be a big Christmas market and stuff at the end of the year.
Rice: I also want to ask about the name of your business, The Trinity Forge. How did you choose that name?
Slaughter: I was born and raised in Fort Worth, and when I was coming up with a business name I wanted to have a tie to Fort Worth. I love being born here and being from here. I’m a big Texan and very proud of where I’m from. The Trinity River runs through Fort Worth, and I wanted to have something that tied into where I’m from.
Rice: Do you have a favorite knife that you’ve made?
Slaughter: The one I’m working on right now is pretty good looking. It’s a 10-inch Damascus chef knife. I mean, I love them all, and I try to make each knife better than my last one, but there’s not really one that’s my favorite. They’re like my kids. You can’t pick your favorite child.
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
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