From Stage to Forge: Exclusive Interview with Maker and Artist Collin Sage

Collin Sage owns and operates Hippo Head Forge in Louisville, Kentucky. After attending school for theater and getting into set construction, he became curious about making prop swords.

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While the first few attempts were rough, he pushed forward, purchased the needed equipment, and taught himself forging techniques.

Collin appeared in season five of Forged in Fire. Although the episode proved particularly tricky for all the smiths, Collin advanced to the final rounds, where his Kabyle Flyssa earned him the title Forged in Fire champion. Then, he returned for the Super Champion episode, where he competed against Judge David Baker and won.

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This week, Collin sat down to talk to us about where the name of his forge came from, how his first experience on the show affected him, and his earnest advice for anyone thinking about becoming a full-time smith.

Collin’s unexpected journey into bladesmithing

BRUTE de FORGE: How did you get into forging, Collin?

Collin Sage: So, I have a degree in theater arts. I'm a classically trained actor, and during college, I realized two things. One, I was not going to make any money unless I hit it big. Two, as an actor, you're everyone's puppet. That realization really rubbed me the wrong way. I was at the university level, and the theater department was not huge, but I was a rising star in that small space. After a while, I realized it wasn’t something I wanted to do anymore, and I got involved with the technical side. I became a carpenter and a welder for the sets.

Long story short, I had to take a welding class. I was already like the head welder of the shop, but I had to take it for a requirement. So, I spent all my time fooling around with the acetylene torch and metal. One day I decided that I should make some prop swords. I thought that would be interesting, so I welded up some pieces of scrap! At the time, I thought it was cool and fulfilling in a way I hadn’t thought about. I've always been into knights and history and those types of things, but I never thought about making any weapons.

As soon as I graduated, I scraped together what little money I could, went to Harbor Freight, bought a crappy little welder, an angle grinder, and a little bench sander, and just started making knives in the garage.

“I was making things for the love and the art of it.”

I approached it from a different perspective than many folks who get into it in that I was making things for the love and the art of it. I’m not really passionate about knives. I would watch a YouTube video, and instead of looking into how to do it properly, I would just run out to the garage and try to do it and fail, and be upset with myself. It took several years before I made a real blade. Looking back, after having taught classes, I wonder why I didn’t go to somebody for advice or seek out a class. I was hard-headed about it.

BDF: I’m sure you learned a lot during those failures.

CS: Yes, and I learned to do a lot with very little. But it was also frustrating because I had a lot of training as a carpenter and a welder during school, so, in my mind, I should have been a little bit better than most people starting. Because of that, when things didn't come together, I would get so frustrated.

BDF: I read another interview where you said you had never met another bladesmith until you were on Forged in Fire. Is that true?

CS: Yes. Forged in Fire was the first time I met another bladesmith. I can remember being there and feeling impostor syndrome. Not that anybody looked at me and thought I was great, but being there and being in the green room was overwhelming. I listened to those segments, the big names, like Steve Schwartz and all those OGs everyone should know if they're in this business, and I didn’t know anything about any of it. So, everyone is talking about different styles of grind and the philosophy between weight and balance, and I had nothing to contribute.

Forged in Fire comes calling

BDF: How did you get on the show?

CS: So, I started bladesmithing right around the time the show began airing, but I knew there was no way I would survive on it. People would tell me that I should go on the show, but I would say no and push the idea away.

Then, I was done doing it [bladesmithing]. I was living in a different city at the time, and one day I was just like, “Screw it, I'll sign up for this show since I’ve got nothing else going on. I'll probably lose horribly, but it'll be an experience!” So, I signed up and then just forgot about it.

Months later, they called and asked if I was ready. I panicked and was like, “Oh no, what did I do?” It didn't really set in until they took us on set to see everything and give us the rundown. At that point, it finally dawned on me what I had done. Suddenly my ‘it’ll be an experience’ philosophy wasn’t good enough. I wanted to vomit because it was real. It dawned on me that if I wanted to get back into bladesmithing in the future, if I did poorly, it could ruin my reputation.

BDF: What were you doing at the time? You mentioned you had graduated.

CS: Before I went on the show for the first time, I was driving around the country, living in my truck. I had been doing small contract work for theatres and finished a long contract. I didn’t know where I was going next. In theory, I was going to travel a lot, but instead, I was like, “I'm just going to live out of my old Chevy.”

After I made it to the finals, we didn’t film right away, so I actually finished filming and went back to work. I remember standing up on the truck to get a signal in some state park in Minnesota. I had been sleeping in the woods in my truck, trying to get a signal to respond to the Forged in Fire email. They asked where my home forge was, and I called my mom and said, “Hey, Mom and Dad, can I come use the garage?” At that point, I was annoyed I had made it to the finals.

BDF: I was curious when I saw your home forge was a fire pit, and then you hand-dug a trench. I wondered if you were doing all your blades that way!

CS: No, that was my parent’s backyard! I wasn't living anywhere at the time, so I didn’t have a “home forge.” My heat treatment probably wasn’t great, but it got done, and at the end of it, I was just happy to have a sword. There were a couple of moments where I wasn’t sure it would come together and work out. It’s proof that you can make a lot with a little. Today, I have all the tools in the world, and I definitely take it for granted at times, which is a shame because the me starting out would be screaming.

BDF: In the Super Champion episode, you said that breaking the knife during testing in the first episode haunted your dreams. Did beating Dave Baker stop those nightmares?

CS: You'd be surprised. When people say, “Ah, you’re the super champion! That’s so great!” I tend not to agree right off the bat. I say thank you, but in the back of my mind, I’m like, “I barely weaseled my way out of that one. I could have done better. I should have done this or that.”

I definitely don't live on my laurels. I don't have an Uncle Rico moment where I look back on it and think I was the best ever, but I do look back on it fondly.

The nice part is, as far as the broken knife goes, looking back with a more critical eye, I think I made a really good knife.

BDF: Did you get the tattoo? You said if you won, you were getting a tattoo.

CS: I did! It's my maker's mark. I didn't know what it was going to be at the time. Honestly, I was just talking. The secret to performing better is a lot of smack talk (laughing). You tell people you're going to win to their face, even if you don't believe it, because if you do that, then you're on the hook to look stupid if you don't win. I didn't believe anything I said, but I knew it would stack the weights on my back. So, the pressure was on!

BDF: Do you still operate Hippo Head Forge? That is your forge, correct?

CS: Yes, my forge is Hippo Head Forge. Here's an interesting anecdote. Everyone asks, “Why is your forge called Hippo Head Forge?” It’s an interesting story.

When I was on Forged in Fire the first time, our final blade had to have an animal head pommel. So, I was going for a lion head, but I messed it up, and I was freaking out. Then I said, “Oh, my gosh, it looks like a hippopotamus!” One of the producer's assistants was with me and said, “Oh, my gosh, it does look like a hippopotamus!” And for the rest of the filming, there were a bunch of jokes and references to the hippo head. We had a good time with it.

Then when we went to set, I said to the judges, “You're going to have to guess the animal.” It was a joke because they knew, and it had been a fun bit for everyone.

So, at that point, I didn't have my own company. I didn't have a website or anything like that, but I thought when the episode aired, the hippo head would get a lot of play. So, I named my business Hippo Head Forge, thinking I could say it was from the show and everyone would understand.

When the show aired, they had cut all mention of it to the point where it didn't make any sense, and everyone watching was like, “Did he even meet parameters?” It was so frustrating. People were messaging me, asking what it was supposed to be.

BDF: That must have been so frustrating! I never even considered the parameters part of it, either. Although, to be fair, I knew the name of your forge before I watched the episode, so I suppose it was easier for me to put two and two together.

CS: Yes, because of the edit, a lot of people were mad. They said that I shouldn’t have won because I carved something random when it was supposed to be an animal head. A lot of people were already mad that I made it through to the finals with a broken blade, so the edit didn’t help me.

BDF: Really?

CS: There are a lot of internet haters out there. I caught a lot of flak between the broken knife and the animal head.

It's one of those things where it didn't really bother me, but when you are met with so much visceral hate, you're taken aback. It was just so weird. In the Facebook groups, when the next episode started airing, people still said, “No, we need to go back and talk about that other episode because that guy sucks!” Eventually, the admins sent out a note that said they had never seen this much hate around an episode and banned any discussion of it in the future.

So, there was way more pressure the second time because of all the hate.

BDF: Social media is a double-edged sword.

CS: It was such an intense experience. It triggered a lot of self-doubt. After every round of the Super Champ episode, the adrenaline would be so high that I would go back into the green room and lie down because of the stress. I was trying to keep it from everybody and play cool.

Looking back, I feel a little sheepish about it. It was basically the pilot for Beat the Judges, so everyone was nervous—even the producers. At one point, Dave and I were having a nice moment on the floor, and he was building me up, telling me it would be fun and that I would do great. I had to stop, and I said, “Dave, I don't want to be weird. I understand what you're doing. But if I beat you, it will be the greatest thing to ever happen on the show. This is a lot of pressure, Dave.” He looked at me and said, “It will be fine.”

BDF: Do you have any advice for others looking to go on the show?

CS: When people ask about the show if they're thinking about going on, I always tell them that, first and foremost, it's a TV show. It might be a serious thing to you as a competitor, but to everyone else, it's entertainment. So, if you want to get on, you have got to put yourself out there. You can't be afraid of looking stupid.

“It might be a serious thing to you as a competitor, but to everyone else, it’s entertainment.”

Personality goes a long way in life. Mine was the reason I was invited back. It wasn't my skill. I flat-out asked them, and they said, “You're a likable person.”

Collin’s life as a Maker

BDF: Do you still forge? You inkled earlier that you don't do it much anymore?

CS: I don't do it as much anymore. Honestly, when they called me for the super champ episode, I was working full-time and going back to school to get a nursing degree. I wasn’t forging at the time. I was working on home restorations. The smithing thing was going okay, but it was not making me any money.

After the episode, I returned to forging because I was a super champ and thought my stuff would get popular. I went back into it pretty hard while still working full-time. I ended up getting connected with this place in Louisville. We are a startup for GE Appliances. It's called First Build. We develop new inventions and see if there's a market for them. We do it all here, but it's also a maker space. This one's unique because they have income, so it costs makers nothing to be a community member here.

BDF: That sounds interesting! How did you get connected with them?

CS: I got invited to do an event with them as a local maker, and I developed a relationship with them. Some engineers had built a forge in the back, they had an old press and were interested in smithing. They asked if I wanted to hang out and help them. Eventually, they said, “Hey, we have our own YouTube channel and need content. Will you let us film your projects, and in return, you can work out of here for free and run a business.” So, I basically became an artist in residence. I got corporate sponsors and started paying for materials, but I didn't have to rent the shop.

They bought a big blue power hammer, and I got free access to all the equipment. In return, I let them film me. That relationship continued for a while, and I took the plunge and became a full-time smith.

Then in late 2021, a job opened up as a content producer. I had done it in college, and I did a bunch of freelancing as a videographer, so I had just enough experience and a relationship with them that I was able to get the job. So now I'm a corporate boy!

I lived the dream as a full-time smith for a few years, but I experienced what it means to make your hobby your day job. I was stuck making things I didn't care about. There was no time to experiment or take risks. My overhead was so low, and I was still making barely above minimum wage. I started to get burned out, so I was happy to get this job.

“I experienced what it means to make your hobby your day job. I was stuck making things I didn’t care about.”

So, I go in and out of forging. I ran into an impasse when I was a full-time smith that I still struggle with now.

BDF: What is the impasse?

CS: This is going to be a tangent. It’s kind of the question of where does it end? How far do I want to take this? What is mastery, and do I want that? What does mastery even mean?

Also, I struggle with the reality of technology. I work in a place where millions of dollars of equipment and machines would allow me to forge up a block of Damascus and forge out the perfect sword with perfect fittings, but it would basically be a robot doing the work. If I can use machines to make the perfect blade, is that my work?

I ran into this existential crisis. I still don't know the answer to these questions. They just beat around in my head.

BDF: Maybe other smiths can help you with this ongoing turmoil.

CS: Personally, I don't think there's an answer. I think it's an individual answer for everybody.

“If I can use machines to make the perfect blade, is that my work?”

Everyone wants to be the best, but someone will always be better. The idea of what is a ‘good’ blade turns subjective once you've nailed all the basics.

Collin’s advice for would be bladesmiths

BDF: Do you have any advice for aspiring bladesmiths out there?

CS: Please try to find somebody to show you different techniques and learn the “how’s and why’s” of smithing. That is one of my biggest regrets; not seeking out somebody to pick their brain for a little bit. You can learn a lot more than you think by watching YouTube but don’t only watch YouTube.

I tell people to figure out why people are doing things. When you see someone make a sword or something, you can understand how they made it and why they made it the way they did. Why is it that long? Why did they grind that fuller in? Why did they set it up that way? I did not ask a lot of those questions when I was starting, and the end process got lost. I had a rough time.

Also, I recommend not making this a full-time job. It can be a fulfilling hobby. I won a national television show twice, had a corporate sponsor, and was still only making around $25,000 a year and barely scraping by.

Lastly, do something different. Don't try to be like everybody else. I think it's good to copy people’s work initially. It helps you understand why things are done a certain way and the process. But, once you get better, you need to find your style and flavor. You won't come out of the gates making something original. That’s not going to happen. But be yourself and be unique. Lean into that and don't give a crap about what anyone says or thinks. But, again, keep it as a hobby—I can’t stress that enough!

To see more of Collin’s work, follow him on Instagram or Facebook and check out his website at www.hippoheadforge.com.