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Announcer [00:00:05]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:19]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Justin Burton of Warcrown Forge. Justin is a bladesmith I've been following for a few years now, and I'd say what attracts me most about his work is its ties to the past. Justin's knives, swords and other implements of chaos harken back to the historical, the mythological, and even the fantasy realms. But they always look beautiful, practical, and deadly. It seems obvious from just looking at videos of Justin's work, which is the only exposure I've had thus far, that he is a very accomplished maker and skilled Smith. We'll find out what inspires Justin to make these impressive weapons, but first, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:03]:
Hit the notification bell and download the show to your favorite podcast app. That way you can listen on the go. And as always, if you want to help support the show, you can do so on Patreon. Quickest way to get there is to go to the knifejunkie.com/patreon. Again, that's the knifejunkie.com/patreon. Justin, welcome to the show, sir.

Justin Burton [00:01:35]:
Thanks for having me on.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:37]:
It's my pleasure. Pleasure is mine. You know, I was kind of, cramming on Warcrown Forge today, getting ready for the interview. And I saw on Instagram that post of Jason Statham sitting on the stoop of his trailer on the set of Expendables 4, pawn some of your knives. How did that happen?

Justin Burton [00:01:57]:
Dude, that was that was, that's actually a pretty funny story. That was, like, 16 months in the works. And, as awesome as that was, it kills me because, any maker, I don't care what you're doing or what you're making, you're you're constantly getting better. Always getting better, always evolving, always, you know, you know, advancing. And so I had made those blades, like I said, like, 60 months ago. And then the post comes out, and I was like, I'm looking at those blades, and they just look so terrible to me. And I'm like, oh, no.

Justin Burton [00:02:31]:
But I had managed, it was mostly thanks to my wife. She had gotten in touch with his, like, one of his, personal assistants. And while the talking, I ended up getting in touch with Jason. And I was like, hey, man. I'd love to make you and send you a knife. You know? Love your movies. And I sent him, like, 3 knives personally that he owns of mine. And then, yeah, he asked me.

Justin Burton [00:02:55]:
He's like, hey. You know, when we're gonna be shooting expendables 4, send me some knives. And it was, like, so and then it just, like, disappeared. Nothing happened. I didn't hear anything for months months months months. Next thing you know, they're like, hey. Can you ship some knives to Greece in a week? And and so I like it, you know, I I I dropped everything and knocked them out as fast as possible. And that's so to my knowledge, that's him on the set in Greece, checking out the knives after they've been received by the prop master.

Justin Burton [00:03:27]:
And, yeah, it was pretty incredible. I don't know. I watched the movie. I don't know if they actually made it into the movie. I they I they told me they received Dove. They said they loved Dove, yada yada yada. But I I don't know if they actually made it in the film. I couldn't I didn't see a bid there.

Justin Burton [00:03:44]:
But it was really cool that he had them and that he posted about me. It was super kind of him. He definitely didn't have to do that. So it was really fun. Just as a fan of, his stuff, that was cool for me, you know.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:55]:
Oh, no doubt. And and I think, it's a clever way to to have a really sweet knife collection. I know for a fact Sylvester Stallone is a knife collector, and I know Jason Statham's the knife guy in The Expendables.

Justin Burton [00:04:07]:
So Yep. That's true.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:08]:
No. I'm just kidding. But, I I was I was curious as to whether you actually made dull versions for it, like stage versions or

Justin Burton [00:04:16]:
just send them I asked him I asked I asked them about that, and I was like, hey. You know, you want me to put, you know, a blank edge on these, you know, like, dull them down and everything? They're like, no. Just send them how you normally would. We have a prop master here who will take care of them if we need to. So that was Wow. Yeah. And that that was pretty crazy. Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:04:37]:
And so, like, I I sent them out. They're razor sharp, but yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:41]:
Well, so, how did you get into this? You're you're you know, you you got that you got your knives in the hands of some of some, big knife collectors, some big stars, but, how'd you get started?

Justin Burton [00:04:54]:
Honestly, I, I'm I'm a really big nerd. So I, I I'm constantly, you know, just waist deep in, you know, comic books, fantasy fiction, and stuff of that ilk. And, I always wanted to forge and make my own knives and swords. I've been collecting them since I was a kid, and I just never really you know, buying store bought ones, I could never find things that I actually really liked. And, and so I was like, you know, once I finally was stationary long enough at one point in my life, I was like, alright. I'm I'm gonna try it out and see how it goes. And, I just never stopped. I've been doing it now.

Justin Burton [00:05:36]:
Pushing 8 years, I think. So, yeah, it's just, I absolutely love every bit about it. It's, it's been fantastic.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:45]:
So, I mean, we'll we'll find out about how you learned and everything. But first, the important questions, which movies, do you think had the best swords? And, what inspired you? I mean, I'll give you a for instance, when I was a kid, it was Conan the Barbarian. I mean, are the best swords?

Justin Burton [00:06:02]:
Conan the Barbarian is great. I I really liked so I've always been a massive fan of, rapier style, swords and swept tilts. And so, you know, basically, any 3 Musketeers movie or Legend of Zorro movie or, you know, all those where they had the basket basket tilts or the swept tilts or the small sword, all those different types, which most of those were all made by one dude out of Burbank, Tony Swatton, I believe. He made he made, like, almost every movie sword you've ever seen for, like, the last 20 years. But, yeah, the the I I I love all kinds. And then I I think but biggest best swords total, I it's hard to beat Lord of the Rings, man. It's just

Bob DeMarco [00:06:44]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:06:45]:
Because there's there's there's a dozen different epic swords made. Wetter Works did amazing jobs, making all the props. And, they did some really cool unique stuff, and there was just so many of them, you know, of all different designs and sets. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:07:02]:
Yeah. And and, you know, as I mentioned upfront, I was you are also, inspired by mythology, and you look at Lord of the Rings, and there are all these different races in Lord of the Rings with all their different mythologies and different, blade designs and stuff like that. That's what's so cool to me about that series. It's so, complex.

Justin Burton [00:07:22]:
Absolutely. I totally agree with you 100%. Yeah. You have wildly different structures and setups and lines and flows to, you know, between elves, the dwarves, and the humans and, you know, everything. It's yeah. It's it's hard to be it's hard to beat that movie for, like, it's just massive representation of, like, you know, anything you could possibly want.

Announcer [00:07:42]:
So

Bob DeMarco [00:07:43]:
So when you started, you just dived right in and went right for forging, I take it. How how did that how what was your learning like early on?

Justin Burton [00:07:53]:
Oh, man. My learning nice. So this is why my number one piece of advice whenever I get asked now how to start is spend the money and take a class. Trust me. It'll save you years. Don't do it the way I did it. No. I had, like, you know, a 55 gallon drum filled with charcoal and powered by a mattress blower and was just out there just hammering around on, you know, leaf spring on a piece of railroad rail, which is like how most Smiths seem to start unless they go to class route.

Justin Burton [00:08:29]:
Every guy that took a class or paid to learn from some guy, they they bypassed me by 2 years, you know, because that that first 2 years, I was just like a Neanderthal just like playing around in the muck. I guess yeah. I mean, obviously, you know, it's not it's not self taught because if you're if you're look if you're reading books or you're watching videos, you you know, you're not teaching yourself. You're learning from other people. So, it's definitely, you know, like, I was scrounging, you know, reading anything I could and watching any videos I can. And, but even still, when you don't know what's right and what's wrong, as far as, you know, blacksmithing, bladesmithing goes, you'd all the information is just a information overload. You know? You don't know who's right and who's full of it. So, so that like I said, that slowed me down by easy 2 years compared to some of the guys I know, that or have been doing it half as long as I have been and are better than me because they spent, you know, a couple grand to take a class here and there in their 1st year.

Justin Burton [00:09:34]:
So worth it.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:35]:
I would imagine, especially with something like bladesmithing, a lot of a lot of the benefit of having a class and learning from a master smith or someone at least who's been doing it a long time Yeah. Is that, with bladesmithing, it seems like there is a certain amount of feel to it, something that you can't quite write down or quantify exactly. For instance, a couple of times I've observed, bladesmiths, you know, going in the dark and checking the color and things like that seem to me like a feel thing that you pick up from being around people who know what they're doing. Kinda like a musician, would pick up the feel of a song by playing with other musicians.

Justin Burton [00:10:16]:
Oh, absolutely. Every every I mean, you you can take a 100 Smiths and ask them all the same question, and you're gonna you're gonna get 80 different answers. Everyone's got their own little their own little twist on you know, you've got the approved method, and then everyone just like, well, I tried it I did it this way a little bit different. Well, I used this instead, and I or I had this or there was a solar eclipse when I did it. It's, it's yeah. There's, everyone's got their own twist on what they think is the best way. Yeah. Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:10:52]:
I I the the best the best advice is test everything and, and check your results.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:58]:
Yeah. Yeah. So do you have any examples of your work that you can hold up right now so that we know what we're talking about, as we continue the conversation?

Justin Burton [00:11:07]:
So I'm I'm working on a handful of things. So I have gotten I have gotten grief about this because I tend not to keep too many of my pieces. I've only kept, like, I've got 2 that I've kept, and then I've got some pieces of process. So I got a, this is one I, recently finished, which was a, integral bolster chef knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:29]:
Right there. Not typical for you, is it?

Justin Burton [00:11:31]:
That is not. So this one I went and took a class on because it was something I wanted to to learn more Wow. Because I don't do integral bolster knives that often. And it's as a matter of fact, I'm not that big of a fan of them. I appreciate the talent and skill it takes to make them, and I wanna get better at them, but it's not something that gets my creative juices flowing as it were. But, man, if it's like, it's definitely something you need to know how to make if you're gonna be, you know, bladesmithing. It it they're they're too they're too big. They're too popular to not at least know how to make them.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:06]:
Yeah. Well, it seems it's well, first of all, before I get to that, I can see the profile in that, sort of echoing some of the profiles of your, like, big bowies, that I've seen. But but, making a chef's knife, you know, when you held it up and you were kind of turning it in your hand, you could see how very thin it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:26]:
That that's gotta be, you know, especially for someone who's forging swords, and I I would imagine your swords are quite fine and everything. But but still, I would imagine the chef's knives are are thinner by, quite quite a lot. That must be a whole new skill.

Justin Burton [00:12:43]:
No. Do doing chef knives, and I I have the, a huge world of respect for the guys that do it, like, you know, full time, the chef knives, or that's their passion. It is definitely not mine, but, making chef knives is it it's it's a whole another ballgame because it it's, you know, that's why the s grind is now becoming so popular is because, you know, people have, you know, what they consider to be like an excellent cut is something that doesn't hold. You know? If you slice through a vegetable, it they don't want it to stick to the blade. They want it to fall away.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:13]:
Wait. Wait. Describe the s grind. What's the s

Justin Burton [00:13:15]:
grind? So that so that's, and I may be butchering this, but the s grind, essentially is where they take a big contact wheel and they hollow grind in a big swath in the middle of the blade, and then they come in and they grind a flat grind for the primary bevel. And so that you get this kind of this, so the idea behind that, I believe and I could be wrong. I'm often wrong. Is when you're cutting through some food, that it creates that air gap where the food falls away

Bob DeMarco [00:13:48]:
k.

Justin Burton [00:13:49]:
From what you're cutting. Like, it doesn't stick to the chef knife. So I believe that's the entire purpose of it. And that is another thing that's becoming wildly popular over the last year and a half, people making those s grinds. They as a matter of fact, now they specifically sell curved platens for grinders now to do those grinds. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:08]:
It looks cool too. I would imagine.

Justin Burton [00:14:10]:
I mean, I'm not sure if

Bob DeMarco [00:14:11]:
I've seen that exactly. But

Justin Burton [00:14:12]:
Especially if it's a mosaic or a pattern welded, you know, Damascus where it really augments the pattern, you know, the grinding of the pattern to reveal a look you don't normally see. So, yeah, ACAM looked quite fantastic. So

Bob DeMarco [00:14:29]:
before we leave, your chef's knife, you're talking about how it's an integral bolster knife. Just describe what that is and how that's, special.

Justin Burton [00:14:36]:
Yeah. So the, you have the integral bolster, meaning that the bolster area of the knife is forged from the same homogeneous steel, of the billet. As you can see that it is one continuing piece. This one was like a little special edition because the billets that we use for this in the class were made by the guys over at Baker Forage and Tool, and they had tip welded these copper Damascus billets. Oh, and you can go see a little bit

Bob DeMarco [00:15:04]:
of that copper on there,

Justin Burton [00:15:06]:
which is really awesome of them. So

Bob DeMarco [00:15:09]:
That's cool. Well, so this is not the kind of thing you make ordinarily. What what is the kind of thing you make ordinarily?

Justin Burton [00:15:16]:
So the kind of thing I I really I make a lot of EDCs. I make a lot of little EDC blades.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:25]:
Out of full Tonto.

Justin Burton [00:15:27]:
Yep. Just a little Tonto EDC. And then the stuff that I love making is something I currently have in process. This one isn't finished yet, but I like making the big I like making the big ridiculous fantasy stuff or, you know, something that's got a little flair of, history mixed with a whole lot of, fantasy in there. So this this is a big piece I'm working on. I actually had the privilege recently to go up and forge with, the guys at Baker Forge and Tool and, and forge some of my own, copper Damascus Sanmai, and that is what I'm turning it into. I wanted to make something crazy, out of it. Something g something huge out of it.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:15]:
Man, that is gorgeous. I I mean, I am very much in love with that with that profile. Like, I love a clip point. I love a a Bowie blade. I love a recurve. That kind of horse hoof handle you're using there. So, I mean, you you describe that as sort of fantasy. To me, I saw that as, well, yeah, as exotic.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:36]:
I guess they're kinda similar. Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:16:39]:
Yeah. You got you got a little bit of a Persian flair to it mixed with some other you know, anytime you take something, historical and then make it you know, you blow certain parts out of proportion or you make it way bigger or longer than it was or fatter than it was, you know, it's you change up you you take away where it was in history and and you're adding, you know, make believe to it to a certain degree, you know, you know, something, you know, fancy oriented, I guess.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:08]:
Well, I mean, it's a little bit like, your interpretation of the tanto. You were just holding up your EDC. You know, it's a it's a broader scouter version of a of an historical, knife.

Justin Burton [00:17:20]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I would definitely agree. It's, let's see. A little bit.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:26]:
So how would you describe your your process? Is everything you make, pattern weld Damascus? Tell me about how you go about making a knife.

Justin Burton [00:17:36]:
So, it really depends. So I have, I you know, the EDC, a lot of it so I do this full time now. I've been doing it full time for, almost 2 years now. I've been making for almost 8 years now. So, you know, you have blades that sell quickly, that pay the bills, and that would be these kind of blades. Right? You know, your your EDC blades, your everyday carry items, your smaller, like, 4 inch blades or shorter tend to be your your quick sells, what pays the bills. And then you have, like, the larger pieces. So it it really depends on what it is.

Justin Burton [00:18:14]:
You know? So they'll be if if I'm doing a large batch of of small blades, you'll be doing there'll be, you know, batches of stock removed blades, which is where you're cutting out the shape of a, you know, a knife shape out of steel and then heat treating it and refining it and, and then turning it into a functional knife. And then you have the ones that I'm more passionate about, which is when I get, you know, either a large blade or a custom ordered blade, and I get to take it to the anvil and forge something out and shape something there and then bring it into, you know, life after the forging process. So

Bob DeMarco [00:18:52]:
Well, okay. Jim just had your website up there, and the last shot we saw was of you, holding a kopesh. And I've seen you, you make wakizashi's. You've made this beautiful Gladius not too long ago. That was just

Justin Burton [00:19:07]:
Oh, yeah. That yeah. The tactical Gladius. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:12]:
I mean, that, that is, you know, I'm I could justify that easily by saying I'm Italian, and I'm buying that as a There

Justin Burton [00:19:20]:
you go. There you go.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:21]:
Not to my, but but you were mentioning the the EDC's sell quicker. Those, the first thing that popped into my head, those are the easiest things to justify, especially if you're Of

Justin Burton [00:19:32]:
course.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:33]:
If you're, learning about a new maker, getting into a new maker, or you don't have maybe as much money to spend, on something larger. But also you got to justify it to the other people in your life. Say your wife, you know, well, I carry it every day, babe, you know. Or I take it to work, and then ease that person into the larger.

Justin Burton [00:19:53]:
There you go. So the crippling debt of life collecting. Yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:59]:
Yeah. It is a an an ever spiraling. So with the with the Gladius, with the Wakazashi's, I've seen you make a lot of those, and the large Kukri, that kind of thing. Are those knives that are short swords and knives that you decide to make on your own? Because that's just, you know, what you're burning to make? Or are these the kind of things that are more commission based?

Justin Burton [00:20:26]:
Okay. Well, so the the the the modern wakizashi that I make, the battle wok, it it's it's it's actually kinda funny. I did not expect those to be as popular as they were. It it kinda surprised me. I was I I wanted to make some, and I thought and and how that evolved was I I was in my shop, and this was years ago. And I was in there, and I wanted to make a, you know, a, katana styled smaller blade of wakizashi. And but I at that point in time, I I wasn't very I wasn't very good at doing hidden tangs. I wasn't very good at doing guards, and I I I'm just, you know, I'm a I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my stuff within the realm of what I'm capable of.

Justin Burton [00:21:13]:
So, like, doing guards that don't have, like, perfectly clean fit ups make me wanna slam my head against the wall. You know? So, like, so I I hold myself to such a high standard when it comes to certain things that I'm like, okay. Well, I'm not gonna do that yet because I'm not good enough to do that yet. I'm gonna hold off and build those skills. So what can I make? And so the modern wakizashi, the tactical battle walk was born because I wanted something really bad that kind of fit that criteria as far as shape, design, functionality, and comfortability, but without having, you know, a 12 piece handle setup, something that someone could easily have one tactical style handle material and still be have their hand protected, still utilize it, and enjoy it. And I made the first couple ones, and and they were a hit. Like, I, like, I've made so many of those. I I could make those I could make those blindfolded into my sleep now.

Justin Burton [00:22:11]:
Yeah. I I never would have expected them to be as popular as they became. And so now I throw in, you know, like the and so that kind of spiraled me into, like, you know, like, what other classics that I love can I make a modern tactical version of? And I've always cook kukris are my favorite blade shape.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:33]:
Oh, yeah.

Justin Burton [00:22:34]:
Kookris are by far my favorite blade shape, and, and so I'm always trying to find a way to make, you know, either an EDC version or a functional smaller version or something just, you know, crazy big and yeah. Yeah. Hey.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:51]:
These are really cool. Jim is scrolling through your page, and I'm just, drooling, I guess I'd say. But, oh, do you you're you're talking about, kookeries and making small pocketable versions that Saxx is unreal. I love that. That's amazing. Thank you. Do you find a, a a certain special challenge in shrinking down a cookery?

Justin Burton [00:23:14]:
I do. So, like, I made the EDC cookery, and I, you know, I still make those quite a bit. I really enjoy them. I yeah. But I that that's something else. So, like, when it comes to an EDC and I always tell customers this too. I I always tell them. I said, if you're gonna if you're gonna spend the money on buying a custom knife, and I I don't care if it's for me or, any other maker out there.

Justin Burton [00:23:36]:
If you're gonna drop custom knife money, get something crazy.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:39]:
You

Justin Burton [00:23:40]:
know? Get something get something that you're gonna want because what are we all gonna do? Any knife you have, any firearm, anything that you collect your as soon as someone that you meds you, look at this. Let me show you. Yeah. Let me cut get you gotta see what I just got. You gotta see this. We wanna show our friends. We wanna show people. So get something get something gnarly.

Justin Burton [00:23:56]:
You know? Get something you know? You know? So that's that's another reason. So I wanna bring these blade shapes that a lot of people only buy if they're, like, you know, a large version, and I wanna make something, like I said, if the EDC is gonna sell on a more regular basis or more people can afford it, I'd love to make something, you know, for everyone that is at least in an affordable size for them as well, you know, if they if they can't necessarily buy a big, you know, 10 inch blade cookery.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:24]:
Yeah. Yeah. I've seen you do, sort of the well, your small EDC cookery has the ring. Right?

Justin Burton [00:24:31]:
Oh, yes. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:32]:
And then also I saw a dagger, a ringed dagger you make or it could have been a custom or I mean, just a one off. But, doing the ringed things, that's a that's a real challenge. Do you drift every one of those rings? How does

Justin Burton [00:24:48]:
No. God, no. God, no. No. So, yeah, my rule of thumb when it comes to making something is is listen. If I can forge the original, if I know how to forge it, if I can competently forge what I'm making, then I've got no problem doing a stock to move, piece. The ringed piece has actually became and this actually came from some advice from Jason Knight. I was actually, he actually you know, he took me off my pedestal a little bit, and I thank him for it.

Justin Burton [00:25:20]:
It it was a it was a prideful thing I kinda had in my mind. So I was I was in his shop talking with him, and he, you know, he's just wildly successful at what he does. He's an amazing maker, and, he's inspired me for years. But I was in there talking. He's like, man, it looks like you're making a bunch of your ring back knives. And I'm like, oh, yeah. You know, I'm I'm I'm working on them nonstop. And he's like, oh, have you gotten any of the blanks water jetted out? And I was like, you know, I made a face like, no.

Justin Burton [00:25:51]:
No. I'm I'm doing it. And he's like, why? Don't you have a family to feed, or don't you don't you? He's like, are you growing that big? Could you benefit from having some? And I was like, well, yeah. I really could benefit from having some because I I am boring you know, I am whole saw cutting out every ringed knife. I am, you know, doing all those just to keep up with just to keep up with orders, just to keep up with production. And, you know, I'm just 1 guy in my garage. And, and so and so about a year ago, I started, you know, water jetting out, in just my ring my ring blanks. And that oh, gosh.

Justin Burton [00:26:29]:
That that made it so I had more time to work on, you know, like, passion projects or bigger pieces. Because now, you know, anything with a ring on the back, I could just, you know, fulfill that order a lot quicker.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:42]:
So did Jason Knight give you the idea, or did he give you the permission, so

Speaker D [00:26:48]:
to speak? Honestly, I knew other people

Justin Burton [00:26:51]:
were doing it. It was it like I said, it was like a prideful thing, you

Bob DeMarco [00:26:55]:
know, because

Justin Burton [00:26:56]:
once again yeah. It it where I was, so I'm currently out in I live in East Tennessee now. And where I was before that for, like, the first 6 years that I was doing this, I was living in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. And I knew, like, one other smith, and we chatted occasionally, but there were no other bladesmiths around anywhere near me. You know, I had no one to bounce ideas off of, see what other smiths are doing, see what other makers are doing. And out here, I'm drowning in them. They're everywhere. I I could I could throw a stone and hit 4.

Justin Burton [00:27:28]:
And and like I said so and, Jason is lives real close to me. And so it was kind of like having someone that I looked up to be like, wow. You're being an idiot. You know? Something's so stupid and prideful. And I was like, well, you know, maybe I will. You know? Maybe I am being. And so I just kinda took a second look at my process of what what I was making and what I needed to do, and and I was like, yep. I'm being stupid.

Justin Burton [00:27:50]:
And yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:53]:
Or or being smarter. Yeah. I mean, I I think that that is, that is that is the typical business model, I would say, at this point from the people that I've spoken with who are primarily bladesmiths. You know, you have a couple of really in demand models, usually the smaller ones that you can kind of make in a more I don't want to say automated because it's not automated. You're just having them cut out and then you're doing. But but you can you can have them done quicker, more efficiently.

Justin Burton [00:28:25]:
In a more production like setup. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:29]:
So, when you do, say, a a run of, kukris with the rings, for instance, what do you call those, by the way?

Justin Burton [00:28:38]:
So the ones with the rings that are kind of a crew, those that's my Hermes model.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:42]:
Oh, nice. Oh, okay. So your Hermes model, for instance, if you're gonna do a run of those, do you wait for orders to build up and then you do a bunch of them? Or do you say, hey. I'm gonna do a a run if you want in, you have until October

Justin Burton [00:28:57]:
or something? So I I'm just now starting to try kinda transition into making batches of blades and then dropping them for people to purchase, which is which is kinda new and kinda scary for me because I I normally operated in about a 5050 market as, 50% custom orders that are on my custom order books that I'm constantly working on to clear. And the other 50%, making a blade and posting it for sale. You know, making one blade and putting it up for sale. And then when it sells, you know, making something else. And so I'd make blades in batches. So I'd have, like, 3 or 4 custom orders on my books, and I'd make those simultaneously as, like, 2 other blades that I was gonna put up for sale. And so I'll just be working, you know, back and forth on all 5 blades until the orders are finished and then post, you know, post the other 2 for sale. But just now in the last, you know, couple weeks, I'm transitioning into trying to clear as many custom orders as I can and get to dropping custom batches of blades for people to purchase.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:02]:
What are you expecting that to change for you in terms of, being an artist?

Justin Burton [00:30:07]:
Well, I mean, knock on wood. I, the my biggest complaint I get is, hate your website sold out. There's nothing on your website. You're and and the reason for that is is I'm I'm I'm caught in, like, a custom order loop. You know? I'm booked about 4 months out currently, and I've been booked 4 months out for the last year, which, I mean, that's not a bad thing. That's a blessing. But I've you know, it's just like I I'm just constantly catching up on orders and never having time. And and, you know, a lot of people, you know, they it makes them nervous to custom order a blade and wait 4 months.

Justin Burton [00:30:42]:
I get it. I understand. You know? Especially if you're new to buying custom knives. Yeah. You know? That that might seem sketchy as heck. You know? Might see sound like I'm trying to scam someone. If I'm like, yes, please give me, you know, 100 of dollars and, and then wait 4 months to hear from me. You know? Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:30:58]:
So I I want that to be an option for people that if they want to pop on to the website and buy something right then, right now for a reasonable price and not have to wait, then, you know, all the power to it.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:12]:
Yeah. Yeah. And it also makes you a more, varied company. You know, it makes you a a a wider ranging, you know, offering. And, if you don't get them with the Wakazashi, you can get them with a with an EDC. You know? I think that's Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:31:28]:
There you go.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:29]:
It seems to be a smart way to go about it. So the, you were in the Navy. I know. Thank you for your service. What how did that affect your love of knives? Did did that have anything to do with where you are today in terms of knife making?

Justin Burton [00:31:52]:
You know, when I was when I was in the military, I I bounced all around. And so, like, I didn't I didn't start making knives until I had already been out of the military for several years. So I got out in 2010 and I made my first knife in 2,000 and 2016, I think.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:15]:
Oh, okay.

Justin Burton [00:32:16]:
Yeah. So it was quite a span, and that was because I just I moved around so much. I was like a nomad. I I didn't live anywhere long enough where I could build up tool. I I yeah. All everything I owned fit in the bed of, you know, a a truck. And so, like, I didn't have any tools or anything that I could build up to actually start, you know, making a forge to, you know, try this out on. And, it wasn't until I had moved to Arizona where I was finally stationary long enough where, you know, the wife was like, why don't you finally give it a go? When I was like, alright.

Justin Burton [00:32:47]:
We'll we'll go for it. We'll see what happens. So

Bob DeMarco [00:32:50]:
God. Running a forge in Arizona.

Justin Burton [00:32:53]:
Oh, man. Yeah. I'm golden now out here. This is, like, this is this is easy weather down out here. People are always like, oh, the humidity here. But I'm like, have you

Speaker D [00:33:01]:
ran a forge at a 125 degree heat? Oh, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:05]:
So, you you said that when you started forging, you were with a 55 gallon drum full of charcoal.

Justin Burton [00:33:11]:
Oh, man. Yeah, it was so bad.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:13]:
So so seeing seeing progress or works and works in process videos from your Instagram feed. Obviously, you have seriously outfitted your your shop. What what what has changed since becoming besides like that kind of thing? But what has changed since becoming a full time knifemaker, just in in for you in the process?

Justin Burton [00:33:41]:
Oh, man. It's like it's like getting to be, like, Willy Wonka, man. I I I every day, I get to wake up and I and I and don't get me wrong. I expect it to all come crashing down at any moment. It's, it's the novelty and blessing of what I have going on right now is not lost on me. It's it's unbelievable. I get to wake up. I get to be with my wife and kid and hang out, and then I walk downstairs into the garage and and start doing something I'm absolutely passionate about and you know it's always varied because I mean you've got the job or hobby or passion of bladesmithing.

Justin Burton [00:34:24]:
There's so much varied and involved into it. You're not just doing the same you know, you've got handle making and woodworking involved with it. You've got metallurgy involved with it. You got forging involved, with stock removal, design, geometry, grinding. There's a there's a million little things, and I am so far away from where I wanna be skill wise. Like there's there there's guys that just make me look like a child they're so skilled and talented at doing this and, you know, I'm constantly, you know, you know, I've got a laundry list of things I want to learn and I've been ticking away at it for the last 8 years. You know it's just and, you know, in, you know, 20 more years, I might get there. But it's no.

Justin Burton [00:35:07]:
It's amazing. Getting to getting to, you know, drop what I'm doing to push my kid on the swing and then go back into the shop and continue grinding a blade, that's a huge blessing. You know, I'm

Bob DeMarco [00:35:19]:
spoiled. Yeah. No doubt. I mean, so I wanna take exception to one thing you said. You said you realized that this is a novelty and it could all come crashing down. I I totally understand what you mean. But it's not too many people who get to live their passion, And it's, always good to be, cautiously optimistic about about anything. But I I look at it differently.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:43]:
I see, what you have and what you've built, your skills that is in your shop as an eternal skill. That's like something that doesn't go away. The need for that, you know, things everything we have right now in modern society could could, become null and void. But but making blades and knowing how to manipulate metal and harden metal for whether it's knives, swords or plows or whatever it is, always a necessary, skill needed by everyone all around.

Justin Burton [00:36:17]:
Yeah. No. I I 100% agree with you. And, like, you know, I always say this is even if this all went belly up tomorrow and I never was able to sell another blade, I'd still be in there making blades in my free time. I'd I'd just be selling them, you know, or I'd just be giving them away then. I'd I'd I'd still be I'd still be making it because I absolutely love doing it. I I'd I'd be selling them for the cost of materials just so I could keep making them then. You know, it's, it it's, I I've tried my hand at a lot of hobbies, and, I was bad at all of them.

Justin Burton [00:36:50]:
This this is what that I've not only, I've taken to, but I I thoroughly I thoroughly love it. So

Bob DeMarco [00:36:57]:
Well, I was gonna ask you that. Like, have you always been someone who's, handy or capable, creative with his hands? No?

Justin Burton [00:37:05]:
That that well Nope. Not even a little bit. It's no.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:10]:
Well, then how is it you must have just locked into your one No. It's it's

Justin Burton [00:37:16]:
listen. I I've I I've definitely, I know how to do a little bit of a lot of stuff. I've I have worked and had a lot of different Bob, awesome ones and nightmare ones. And so but I'm I've never been, like, mechanically inclined. You know, I, you know, I can't you know, I'm not good at woodworking except for doing a handle on a knife. You know? Like, I'm not good. You know? I I don't play instruments well. I've got butterfingers.

Justin Burton [00:37:46]:
It's it's you know, I've tried a lot of different stuff. It's this just I think this clicks for me because, I'm such a nerd about it because I I'm I'm passionate about the end result. And so, my passion for the end result, it just fuels you know, pushes me past all the other things that would normally make me stumble and, you know, makes me, look at them. It's it's like selective learning. You know? It's hard it's hard if you're not into math, it's hard to pay attention

Bob DeMarco [00:38:13]:
to

Justin Burton [00:38:13]:
math class. You know? But if you're into history, you'll remember all the dates and times and everything, you know. It's it's that. This this is my passion.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:22]:
How do you test your work?

Justin Burton [00:38:25]:
Oh, so, man, that is never ending and always evolving. But I've done so, you know, the standard, I guess you would say by the book. So you have the American Bladesmith Society, of course. And, the American Bladesmith Society has their, I think it's, I'm not a member of, the ABS, but I I like what they do for the bladesmithing community. But they have the journeyman bladesmithing, strength integrity test, I believe it's called. I might be butchering that. But that's basically where they they you know, someone who is trying to go for their journeyman, certificate, portion of it, they have to bring in a blade in front of a master's myth, and they have to, like, chop through a 2 by 4, then cut through a 1 inch thick hemp rope, then have it shave hair, then chop through another 2 by 4, then they have to put it in a vise and bend it to 90 degrees without it crack without it breaking. And, and that is their strength integrity test.

Justin Burton [00:39:26]:
So I've done that numerous times, pass you know, making sure I pass that. And, also too, you have the you know, depending on what steels you're using, you have all the parameters you have to hit for a professional grade heat treat and tempering process. And so for that, you know, a big a big change for that for me was once I got kilns in my shop, I was able to change my and this is this is how most smiths start up. Most smiths do their heat treat using a forge when they start out before they can buy a kiln or afford a kiln or before they bite the bullet and and buy 1. And for most of those people, they can get a relative good relatively good heat treat, but it'll be nowhere near as good as what they can accomplish with a digitally controlled kill for doing their thermal cycling and their heat treating and getting all their soak times for a quench and whatnot. It it makes a world of difference. And so for there, you know, you can do snap and break tests. What are destructive tests to crack open a blade you've heat treated and checked the grain structure in there.

Justin Burton [00:40:34]:
And, Yeah. I mean, it's it's huge. That's that's a that's a that is a deep pool.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:40]:
You know, I was wondering, I saw the even was it even heat kilns that you have?

Justin Burton [00:40:45]:
Yes, sir.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:47]:
And and I was wondering, I I just from Forged in Fire and from seeing live demos and stuff, That's where I see the heat treat just coming out of the forge and going into the oil. So I wasn't sure if I was seeing you, heat treating, a a stainless stock removal blade. I couldn't tell what I was looking at.

Justin Burton [00:41:07]:
No. So, that that the recent one I gave, that is just, that is, my thermal cycling or so the vast majority of, blades that I make, or that you see, I make them out of 80 CRV 2. That is a high carpet steel. And, so what I am doing is I am thermal cycling them to make sure that all of the the crystalline grain structure is all nice and aligned and as it should be and that it shrinks the grain structure of the steel, because every time you heat it up, it swells. And the more it swells, the more brittle it gets. So if you were to snap the blade open, you know, quench it right there and snap it open, it would look like, granules of sugar or sand inside. Mhmm. And you don't want it that's way too blown out.

Justin Burton [00:41:49]:
You want it nice and tight and very smooth and satin like wet cement in there. And so thermal cycling helps shrink that grain structure down, and that's what that was what I was using the kiln for in that post.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:01]:
Okay. So that's the, the sort of the tempering process, but a little bit more complex. Have did you ever have you ever gotten to the end of a a complicated build or just you got to the end of something you're very proud of and then it just somehow broke.

Justin Burton [00:42:20]:
Never happened. So, I've wholly cracked, like, I think, 3 blades in in and every single time I did it, it was with 1095 steel, which is it's which is, which is a finicky steel. Lots of people love it. And, honestly, my heat treating skills are so much better now that I could probably use it no problem. But I, like, I I hate it just because, you know, I cracked 3 blades once upon a time with 8 years ago. So, but, yes, I I you know, I've done, you know, I've done I've forged out, you know, complicated bars of Mosaic Damascus and started cutting into it and, and saw that I had, like, welds that hadn't set, you know, at at certain parts up there. And so I was cutting, like, one bar. I was cutting slices off of it, and I kept taking them and throwing them on the ground and watching them break apart into 4 pieces perfectly.

Justin Burton [00:43:19]:
And I was just I ended up cutting, like, 4 inches off this one bar until I got to perfectly forge welded material, which made it you know, the blade I was going to make was gonna be this big, ended up being this big.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:33]:
A little slip joint blade there. Oh, yeah. Time you're done.

Justin Burton [00:43:36]:
Yeah. I've no. I any any smith that's putting out a good amount of material has a bucket or in my case, like, the bed of a truck full of, you know, rejects or failures or whatnot.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:50]:
Well, that picture of the Khopesh, that's that curved Egyptian ancient Egyptian sword. If you're not boned up on your historical swords, but that that very dramatic curved shape made me wonder what's the most complicated or difficult, sword or build you've ever done?

Justin Burton [00:44:13]:
Honestly, the Khopesh, that thing was a pain in the in the rear, man. That sucker was hard because not only that, some customer I made that for, for, he he wanted because there's there's many different historical shapes to the Khopesh. You've got the big crescent moon. You've got the, you know, the and then it gets a little bit more subtle depending on, like, the different kingdoms and eras they had. And that curvature on there, man, grinding that was was a bear. So this is what I this picture cracks me up. This is one of my buddies. He does this is what he does professionally.

Justin Burton [00:44:49]:
He makes, like, you know, you know, custom posters and things like that. And so he he did that to a picture of of mine. Gosh. But, no, grinding that thing because it was, like, so rad, and so I was just grinding it like I was driving a, you know, a an Edsel.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:08]:
Yeah. Maybe maybe something better than an Edsel.

Justin Burton [00:45:10]:
No. That is that big and Bodie.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:13]:
Oh, I got you. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And so was that all forged out, or did you cut that out?

Justin Burton [00:45:18]:
No. That was forged out. And, keeping keeping all that in line for me, it it was yeah. Yeah. Keeping that in line for me was, you know, keeping everything straight because pulling that bar down and then wrapping it back around and trying to get that in there, yeah, it was it was not fun.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:38]:
So so if I if I'm a, a bladesmith and I'm new to it and I'm starting to spend the money, what is the machine that or the the tool that the in your equipment that made the biggest difference in your productivity or in your knife making in general?

Justin Burton [00:45:56]:
Honestly and this is you know, that's a great question. And I I answer it the same way every time I get asked. It's it's buy that nice tool the first time around. Don't do like I did. I bought all the cheap stuff the first time around, so I had to buy twice.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:12]:
Yeah. Yeah. That's not good.

Justin Burton [00:46:15]:
But buy buy a nice, good, expensive 2 by 72 belt grinder, because it doesn't matter if you are the best forger in the world. If you're if you're the best bladesmith in the world and you forge your blades to 99 percent complete, if you can't grind well, no one's gonna look at what you made. No one's gonna wanna buy it. It's not gonna look good. So, I mean so, honestly, grinding is one of the most important skills because that that's going on everything you make. And if you don't have a good grinder, so having a a a crummy grinder and a good grinder makes a world of their you can ask anyone. Anyone. Like, hey.

Justin Burton [00:46:55]:
Hey. What was it like once you got your first nice 2 by 72 belt grind? And they're like, oh my gosh. It changed everything. You know? It made everything so much better. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:04]:
Well, what about for, a forger, a bladesmith? What about the power hammer?

Justin Burton [00:47:11]:
You know, honestly, I I think and and once again, I was one of those guys. I I thought I gotta get a power hammer. I gotta get a power hammer ASAP. I gotta have a power hammer. And I've used them. I love them. If you've got the shop space for it and if you have the money for it, go for it. All the power to you.

Justin Burton [00:47:29]:
You'll love it, and it'll be a wonderful tool in your shop. But Coal Iron Works changed that for so many people. So Coal Iron Works makes the hydraulic forging presses, and they cornered the market on those. They have a beautiful design, and they make them in all these different, strengths, like 3 different 3 or 4 different models now, and they're pretty affordable. You can move them around on casters around your shop. They don't take up a big footprint, and they're pretty darn quiet. And that's all I use. I I I I I don't you know, I have a small little 2 car garage I do everything out of.

Justin Burton [00:48:04]:
I I don't have the room, for a power hammer.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:07]:
Okay. Great. So this press is, you're talking about I'm gonna refer to Forged in Fire again because that's my that's my most detailed contact.

Justin Burton [00:48:17]:
Yeah, I gotcha.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:18]:
Forging. You know, how they they pull out that that stick of butter, all those different layers, and they put it in and they press it slowly Yeah. Before they start pounding it out. Is that what you're talking about, that kind of machine?

Justin Burton [00:48:31]:
Yeah. That that's a hydraulic forging press. And like I said, the the cup the company hammer. Yeah. Different from a hammer. And that and the company's called Cole Iron Works. And if you pull them up, you'll look like the every single blade smith in the United States knows exactly who they are, because they're like they're the Kellogg's of that brand. You know? Every everyone knows who they are and they're super nice people.

Justin Burton [00:48:55]:
And they make every every every guy's got one that has a Smith. Every master Smith has got one in their shop. Every no. They're they're, like, the first big expensive tool that most people buy nowadays.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:09]:
Okay. Okay. Because that really eliminates, the time of, like, trying to set the welds Oh, yeah. Of all those different

Justin Burton [00:49:17]:
Oh, yeah. So forging Damascus steel, it's it's wonderful. Especially, like you said, especially if you can't afford a power hammer or you don't have the room for it or even if you have the room for it, if you're in a residential area and and you can't be, like, you know, causing a big ruckus, you know, it's oh, yeah. They're wonderful. They're they're worth every penny.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:36]:
Wow. Well, okay. So as you, you know, you continue, full time well, actually, I wanted to ask you before I even get to that. What is War Crown? How did you get the name, and what does that mean? What's the significance?

Justin Burton [00:49:50]:
So that is a, so I I'm a, I am as I said, I'm a big fantasy fiction nerd. And my one of my all time favorite authors is R. A. Salvatore. And R. A. Salvatore wrote a book series called the legend of Dritz. The legend of Dritz has about 40 plus novels involved in it now.

Justin Burton [00:50:10]:
And a very small literary character is a dwarven king in one of those books. He's in there for about a paragraph. And his last name is his last name is Warcrown. And I remember reading that, and I read those books all the time, reread them all the time, and I was like, that's the coolest name ever. And so when I was first coming up with my names, you know you know, he's hearken back seven and a half years ago, I was going through every realm of mythology trying to come up with a good name because my name is Justin Burton. I've got the the only name more generic than mine is John Smith. So I couldn't you know, there's there's there's Burton Knives, Burton Cutlery, J Ball Blades, JB Blades. They're

Bob DeMarco [00:50:52]:
Mhmm.

Justin Burton [00:50:53]:
My name's useless for, you know, brand recognition. And, and I didn't wanna put a big JB on my blades either. And and so I'm like, okay. What am I gonna call my business? And so I went through all of Greek mythology. I went through all of Norse mythology. I I went through them all, and and then I'd researched them. And I I Google and I I mean, there's there's a dozen Valhalla Forges, and there's there's a

Bob DeMarco [00:51:20]:
Yeah. Yeah. There's a forged.

Justin Burton [00:51:23]:
The Norse mythology is tapped out a 1000 times over. Greek mythology close to it. And and then, you know, Roman, so on and so forth. Like I said, I delved into darn near everything. I even went into, like you know, I was going into, like, you know, Pacific Islander mythology and everything. And I was like, alright. None of this is gonna work. And so I was like I was reading that book, and I came across it again.

Justin Burton [00:51:44]:
And so I emailed Ari Salvatore, and I'd never expected to hear from him, but I was like, hey. My name's Justin Burton. This is what I'm doing. I'd love to name my shop after this small character in your book. And about a week later, he emailed me back. And he's like, I'm honored. Go for it. And I was like, I was like, alright.

Justin Burton [00:52:02]:
Let's do this.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:04]:
Wow. Yeah. I was gonna say, what a what an honor, especially for someone, for whom swords are, you know, probably play big in those in those books. I would have

Justin Burton [00:52:13]:
to say that. Oh, yeah. Huge. Huge.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:15]:
You know, that's that's gotta be really

Justin Burton [00:52:18]:
cool. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They're all based in the Dungeons and Dragons realm. And, yeah, so him emailing me back and giving me the go ahead was, was a was awesome. And that's also too a big thing. So every once every once in a blue moon, I'll have a customer that's like, oh, hey. You're an RA Salvatore fan, and they and they know it.

Justin Burton [00:52:40]:
Right? From the top there. That's that that always cracks me up too.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:44]:
Well, who who is your customer? Who do you find, buys your work the most?

Justin Burton [00:52:51]:
Man. Well, I'd say the battle walk tends to be like I said, as of as of the last year, the battle walk's probably been my most popular blade. And I had made those for a lot of veterans and active duty military. So they're they I I get a fair amount of veterans in active duty military, more than I have any right to. And, and so I you know, I I, you know, I've done I've done them good. I treated them well, and they, you know, word-of-mouth, spread, and I get a lot of friends and family from those interactions as well. And so that's that's huge. You know? I you know, that's once what's once again, with there being so many options out there, it's a it's a huge blessing to to be chosen or to be picked or to have the customer base I do.

Justin Burton [00:53:40]:
I I'm I'm very blessed.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:42]:
Do you ever hear, from, you know, from your customers about reports from the field? Not, you know, I use my wakazashi in battle, but, like, do you ever, hear of people using your knives out, on duty or in the field?

Justin Burton [00:53:56]:
So I have gotten several pictures, you know, lots of hunters. You know, I've got lots of pictures of hunters using them, especially in Arizona for elk. And, and then I've got received several pictures of, some of my blades in country in places like, Afghanistan and, places of that nature, which is pretty awesome. And, I I mean, I think that's about it. Everything else is just more run-in the mill, like, you know, camping photos or whatnot. And that's actually something I've done that in the past, but I'm planning on doing that again, which is, another knife giveaway, and the only way to enter it is to post a picture of your warcraft forge blade, you know, which which I think is fun. Just kinda Wait. Wait.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:42]:
Wait. Your what? Your workaround forge? What's that mean?

Justin Burton [00:54:45]:
Oh, no. No. No. My wallet. Your warcraft forge.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:48]:
Oh, your war crown forge blade. I'm sorry. Yeah.

Justin Burton [00:54:51]:
No. No.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:51]:
No. You're fine. I misheard you. Man. Well, that means I couldn't enter it because I don't have one yet. Yet. Yeah. So in terms of war, Crown Forge, the company, how would you like to see it grow? What are you ever do you ever plan on bringing other people in on this, or is this a sole authorship, project

Justin Burton [00:55:13]:
business? So I actually have so a batch of blades I'm currently working on right now. I am working on them with a friend of mine. So I've had numerous people want to be interest you know, interested in coming into the shop and working with me. But, you know, the either the chemistry is not always there or some people don't realize how hard of a you know, how much work it actually is, which I I totally understand. You know, it's not for everyone. You know? And, but I have a guy in the shop with me currently, and we've been working on this new batch of blades that's getting ready to drop here in the next few days. And everything's been going really well, working really harmoniously, and so I beg I've got high hopes for that because if that works out, then I can I can knock out my custom orders list, and then I could get on to what is kinda my dream for workaround forge, which is blades available, you know, on the website all the time, drops, you know, special edition drops, you know, going, like, once a month or once every 2 months, and me just getting to make, like, crazy swords and and, and all kinds of stuff? Because I've got in my brain now after doing the tactical the the battle walk and the tactical Gladius, I really wanna make the, like tactical you know ranger sword from Lord Lord. Like what if Eragon was an army ranger?

Bob DeMarco [00:56:37]:
Right. Right. Right.

Justin Burton [00:56:38]:
It's I got so I got so many more things I wanna make that I just don't have time for, so I need the time.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:44]:
Oh, man. Well, okay. Before I let you go, the, something that you made was I mean, it was so impressive. That big giant double bit battle axe. Tell me about that. And and it it almost when you did a, you put it posted a video rope testing. Holy mackerel. It looks like it was spun you almost all the way around.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:04]:
Tell us about this thing.

Justin Burton [00:57:05]:
So this sucker is crazy and ridiculous, and it was I had a customer reach out to me, and, they wanted a giant battle axe for, to hang up in their podcast studio. And I told them, and I was like I was like they were like, it doesn't have to be functional. It doesn't have to be functional. It doesn't have to work. It's gonna hang on the wall. And I was like, I can't send something out that's not functional. You know? I was like I was like, I I'll tell you what. Like, here's the difference.

Justin Burton [00:57:34]:
I was like, first of all, these these are not historically accurate unless you were, like, you know, a headsman in Europe, you know, a headsman in Europe in, like, the 1400. You know? That's the only time you would see an axe like this.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:45]:
Right.

Justin Burton [00:57:45]:
And I was like, alright. These axes are not meant to split wood all day. They'll take limbs off all day, but they're not meant for splitting wood all day. And so that's what I ended up making, that individual. And, you know, as the rope cut test, I did the rope cut test and it would, you know, slice. It's razor sharp. It's dangerous. It's a ton of fun, though.

Justin Burton [00:58:05]:
It for being giant, oversized, and ridiculous, it's pretty balanced and fun to, fun fun to wield around.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:17]:
It's like straight out of a Boris Vallejo, illustration. So, as as, as we wrap here, leave us with your knife making philosophy encapsulated in one small tidbit.

Justin Burton [00:58:34]:
Oh, well, that's real easy. Better with every blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:38]:
Better with every blade. Yeah. I love it. Justin, thank you so much. Justin Burton of War Crown Forge. Thank you so much for coming in. And well, you didn't come in anywhere for for talking with me here. It's been really, cool getting to know you.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:53]:
I've I've been loving your work. I like your videos too. I just like the way you present them. You're always, you know, you come up to the camera, you show your work off, you can see what you're selling. And, man, it looks so good. So I look forward to getting behind the wheel of a warcraft forge knife sometime in the future. Thank you so much for coming on.

Justin Burton [00:59:13]:
Thank you so much for having me. Honestly, it's been a pleasure.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:16]:
Take care.

Announcer [00:59:18]:
Do you like the sound of the alphanumeric combinations, m 390, 204p, and 20cv, with bristle@hcr13movandausdash8? You are a knife junkie, probably worse.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:32]:
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen. Justin Burton of Warcrown Forge. Do yourself a favor and check him out on Instagram at warcrown forge. You can see these things we're talking about, the tactical Gladius, the the wakizashi and all the other cool stuff he makes. Really, really beautiful stuff. Be sure to join us on Wednesday for the midweek supplemental and Thursday for Thursday night knives at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time. Don't take dull for an answer.

Announcer [01:00:07]:
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