{"id":316681,"date":"2025-10-19T19:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T19:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/316681\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T19:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T19:09:11","slug":"made-in-tarrant-fort-worth-native-crafts-knives-for-small-business-in-his-garage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/316681\/","title":{"rendered":"Made in Tarrant: Fort Worth native crafts knives for small business in his garage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fort Worth native Andrew Slaughter\u2019s love of cooking sent him down a bladesmithing rabbit hole, leading him to take a stab at knifemaking for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a way to be a part of people\u2019s lives and make memories with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He is aware of the irony of being a knifemaker named Slaughter, but don\u2019t bother trying to crack a sharp joke: He\u2019s heard them all before.<\/p>\n

Slaughter shared a slice of life as a bladesmith with reporter McKinnon Rice.<\/p>\n

The interview has been edited for length, grammar and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact information:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instagram<\/strong>: @thetrinityforge<\/p>\n

McKinnon Rice:<\/strong> Can you tell me a little bit about your business and how it got started?<\/p>\n

Andrew Slaughter:<\/strong> I\u2019m a bladesmith. I forge custom knives for people. I got into it because I\u2019ve always loved to cook.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Years ago, my parents bought me a nice store-bought chef knife, and I was kind of thinking, \u201cI wonder if people make custom ones, like handmade stuff,\u201d and they do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Googling people just kind of took me down the rabbit hole of bladesmiths. Eventually, I was like, \u201cYou know what? I want to give this a shot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I just kept at it and kept getting more equipment and making Damascus (steel) and went on \u201cForged in Fire\u201d<\/a> a couple years ago, and that was a fun experience. It\u2019s a lot of fun, and I love to cook, and that\u2019s kind of how I got into it.<\/p>\n

Rice: <\/strong>How do you make a knife from start to finish?<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>There\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then you can go into the Damascus approach, where you take two different types of steel, so you\u2019ll have a nickel steel and a carbon steel, and you\u2019ll layer them together to create what\u2019s called a billet. Then you\u2019ll take that billet and you\u2019ll heat it up to 2,000-plus degrees, and you\u2019ll press it together to create one homogeneous piece of steel. You\u2019ll 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\u2019re different compositions, and it\u2019ll reveal a beautiful pattern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Rice: <\/strong>How long does each knife typically take to make?<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>Depending on what type of knife it is, how big it is, if it\u2019s Damascus or not, it can be anywhere from 15 to 40-plus hours of work time just for one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A lot of what people know about bladesmithing is what they see. \u201cForged in Fire,\u201d that show I was on, is hammer and steel and all this fun stuff. That\u2019s maybe 10% of what I do, and then the rest is really monotonous hand sanding and heat treatment stuff that\u2019s incredibly boring, and it\u2019s really hot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All my friends come over, and they\u2019re like, \u201cI want to make a knife.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cGreat!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two hours in, they\u2019re like, \u201cThis sucks. How do you do this all day?\u201d I\u2019m just like, \u201cI don\u2019t know, I love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just got to work through the suck.<\/p>\n

Rice: <\/strong>What are some of the challenges that come with operating a business like yours?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>I work in my garage by myself, and it\u2019s not air-conditioned and unventilated. It\u2019s an art form, and I\u2019m 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Rice: <\/strong>What is your favorite part about your business?<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>I like seeing the look on people\u2019s faces when I get their knives delivered, or I\u2019ll get a call from somebody or a text saying, \u201cHey, we used your knife to cut up Thanksgiving dinner and everybody was asking about it,\u201d or \u201cI had a cookout with friends and grilled a bunch of steaks and cut them up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a way to be a part of people\u2019s lives and make memories with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s another thing I love about cooking, is it gets people together. It\u2019s a special feeling for me when someone\u2019s like, \u201cOh, I can\u2019t wait for my son to see this\u201d or something, and people say, \u201cMy grandkids are going to be using this long after I\u2019m gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice: <\/strong>How do your customers typically find you?<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>A lot of word of mouth, a lot of social media. I got a couple from \u201cForged in Fire,\u201d but mostly word of mouth is the main thing because I don\u2019t really have any sort of marketing or advertising budget. Later this year, I\u2019m going to have my website up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent the last five, six years honing my craft, and now I\u2019m ready to take a big step and go into that, so there\u2019ll be a big Christmas market and stuff at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Rice: <\/strong>I also want to ask about the name of your business, The Trinity Forge. How did you choose that name?<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>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\u2019m a big Texan and very proud of where I\u2019m from. The Trinity River runs through Fort Worth, and I wanted to have something that tied into where I\u2019m from.<\/p>\n

Rice:<\/strong> Do you have a favorite knife that you\u2019ve made?<\/p>\n

Slaughter: <\/strong>The one I\u2019m working on right now is pretty good looking. It\u2019s 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\u2019s not really one that\u2019s my favorite. They\u2019re like my kids. You can\u2019t pick your favorite child.<\/p>\n

McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n

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