Let's Get Cooking with Champion Bladesmith Micah Dunn
(Image credit: Micah Dunn)
Today’s bladesmith interview is presented by our friends at Brodbeck Ironworks. As bladesmiths themselves, Brodbeck Ironworks has designed their industry-leading grinder with more features and functionality than any other grinder on the market today at an affordable price. Click here to check out their Black Friday deals.
Micah Dunn is the bladesmith and artist behind MD Edgeworks out of Stephenville, Texas. He competed in all three seasons of Last Blade Standing and even won the season two competition. When he is not forging blades in his shop or at work as a welder, he can be found hanging out with his wife and three boys.
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Micah talked to us about his favorite aspects of forging, why he enjoys making cutlery the most, and how the Texas Knifemakers Guild helped him become the bladesmith he is today.
Micah’s Bladesmithing Origins
BRUTE de FORGE: Tell me about how you got into bladesmithing and forging.
(Image credit: Micah Dunn)
Micah Dunn: I've always done metalwork and always had a creative mind. Whenever I got into high school, I got active in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) because that was all my school had besides sports, and I wasn't a sports kid. Metal shop always called to me, and when it was time to go into the workforce, I knew college wasn't for me. I figured I might as well start welding. I had always wanted to weld and enjoyed it, and that's what I do now for my day job.
From there, I decided I wanted to get into artistic blacksmithing. So, around 2019, I started building a forge and finished it at the beginning of 2020. I made my first knife right when COVID was beginning, and things were shutting down. Work got slow, and I made two knives. I thought it was fun and cool. Then, I got three orders for knives and figured since work was slow, I’d make a few and see how it went. I made those three, got three or four more orders, and said, “Well, I guess this is going to be our supplemental income.”
BDF: So, you are a welder by day. I assume those skills translate easily into bladesmithing.
(Image credit: Micah Dunn)
MD: Oh, yeah. For one thing, I could make my own tools. I’m guessing ninety percent of the tools I'm using are tools I made. Being able to do all that meant I had very low startup costs. Even being able to modify machines and make them do what I wanted by building a fixture or doing some minor modifications was a skill set that helped me tremendously.
BDF: Are you self-taught?
MD: Yes, I am. I haven't taken any classes. The wonderful world of YouTube has helped me tremendously. One of the things that benefitted me the most was when I got into the Texas Knifemakers Guild. Being able to communicate with those smiths and go to hammer-ins taught me a lot. The Texas Knifemakers Guild feeds back into their members tremendously, and I'll always be thankful to those guys. Attending those events took my skills far beyond what they would’ve been by just watching somebody do something and trying to replicate it. It was better than almost any class.
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Beyond that, if there were guys that I looked up to on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, I always felt I could reach out to them. Almost everybody I contacted was willing to unload knowledge on me because they understood I was hungry for it. It was great.
BDF: As you were teaching yourself to forge and smith, was there a part of the process that you found more challenging than others?
MD: Probably the forging and figuring out how to move the steel. Welders always say that you have to be a grinder before you're a welder. So, the grinding aspect was a lot easier than learning how to move the steel and do what it needed to do. I was used to the grinding. Figuring out the heat treatment was also a challenge. It was a lot of complicated stuff to learn.
BDF: Looking over your website, I noticed you do various Damascus patterns. Teaching yourself how to do all of that must have been a learning experience.
(Image credit: Micah Dunn)
MD: I was talking to a buddy of mine the other day, a younger guy who goes to college, and he asked me to teach him how to make a feather Damascus. I did, but it was probably both the worst and best decision I ever made. Feather Damascus is what I cut my teeth on because I liked it the most. I now understand the artistic side of blacksmithing better. Being able to forge a knife out to almost perfection and put an edge on it is an accomplishment, but being able to manipulate the steel and change the way it flows, changing the pattern within it, and then drawing it out to see your final pattern blew my mind the first time I did it.
BDF: It blows my mind! It’s like magic to me. I'm amazed every time I see a smith post their Damascus patterns.
MD: It still doesn't make sense to me either. There are still a lot of times when I still don’t understand it even as I’m doing it.
BDF: What would you say you enjoy most about forging?
MD: The forging process. The part where I get to move the steel and get it to do what you want. To me, that’s the most challenging part, but it's the most rewarding and fun part. It’s cool to watch it. Sometimes it doesn't go where you want it to, and sometimes it goes perfectly.
“ I now understand the artistic side of blacksmithing better.”
I also enjoy the pattern development, like we were talking about earlier. Stretching Damascus patterns in different ways can give the same steel a totally different look. You would think it was two completely different pieces from the start. It’s crazy, but it’s so rewarding to get right.
Micah’s Signature Style
BDF: Do you have a signature style or a particular type of knife that you like forging best?
MD: I like doing culinary stuff. That's mainly because my wife and I, like most young couples who get married, don't have much time to do things together, so we cook together! Being able to make good quality knives and see what they can do in the kitchen and not be worried is worth it. But then, beyond that, knowing that the knives that I'm making are going to people and feeding their families daily is such a rewarding thought. It makes me happy.
I also make hunting knives, and I live in cattle country, so I make a lot of farm knives, but if I could do one thing, it would probably be chef knives—anything from pairing knives to brisket slicers and everything in between.
BDF: Do you still dabble in the blacksmithing side of things?
MD: I like to when I can. I still have my day job, kids, and wife to set aside time for. I still want to feed into my life. I love bladesmithing, but I need time for my family, too. So blacksmithing is something that, if this ever does become a full-time gig, it would be great to do more of.
“Knowing that the knives that I’m making are going to people and feeding their families daily is such a rewarding thought. It makes me happy. ”
I am looking forward to getting into some projects that are more artistic based, sculptures and things like that. I made a couple of hammers and enjoyed doing those, so I would like to do more.
Full-time vs. Part-time
BDF: Is your end goal to do this full-time?
MD: A lot of people that I've talked to who have gone full-time tell me not to do it, but I don't know. It goes back to that saying about finding what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. Through thirty-six years, I've enjoyed welding and know I'm good at it. I also know there are other things in life I'm good at, like playing music. But I think it would be great to have something almost always on your mind and get paid to think about it and make it all the time, something the majority of your day is focused around. I think it would take your mentality to another level and put you in a better place altogether.
An artist in more ways than one
BDF: What kind of music do you play?
MD: I play a little bit of everything. My dad is a preacher, and I grew up in church, so when I was learning, there were songs I had to play. For the longest time, I played mostly country music and church music. Then, I learned about rock and R&B and learned about mixing hip-hop into different genres. Now, I play almost all of it.
BDF: You're very artistically minded, then. Where do you draw inspiration from when you create a new knife or a new design?
MD: A lot of inspiration comes from people and places. I love artistic knives. I want to make more of them, but in my mind, a knife is a tool meant to be used for a specific purpose, and an art piece is an art piece. A knife can certainly be an art piece, and it can look amazing and beautiful, but if it can’t perform the tasks that it's supposed to perform, what's the point of it?
“I want that knife to be handed down through the generations of that family.”
At the end of the day, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. There are a lot of other designs that people have made that I liked, but ultimately, I want people to use my knives for what they're meant to be used for. That's why I like doing culinary stuff. Whether somebody pays two thousand dollars for a super artistic fancy kitchen knife or pays four hundred dollars for a steel kitchen knife that I make, I want them both to perform, and I want them both to be used in the same way. Then, if my customers send it back to me and need it refurbished or sharpened, I can do that and send it back to them with complete confidence in the product. I want that knife to be handed down through the generations of that family. I want them to say, “My parents paid this much for this knife because it was awesome, and it is still the greatest knife I've ever used.”
Micah’s Legacy
BDF: What do you hope to be known for when people think of MD Edgeworks?
MD: If we want to look at the big picture, I'd like to be known as a good man who was good for my family and customers. I know that if I'm good to the people around me, they will be good to me. That's shown true in my life, family, friends, and community—whether that's bladesmithing or where I live. No matter what you do in your life, all that reflects on what you have going on around you. I want people to think of me as more than MD Edgeworks—think of me as the person. If MD Edgeworks turns into something bigger, that's fine. But more than that, to hear, “You know what, Micah is a great dude, and he took care of me at one point in time with whatever was going on in life.” That’s more important to me than becoming a famous knifemaker.
BDF: Do you have a favorite project that you've completed?
MD: There have been a couple, and most are just Damascus pieces. It’s hard to say yes because my brain goes from one project to the next. I always enjoy what I’m working on, but I think about how to make it bigger or better when finished. How can I manipulate it to do this instead of this? So, I couldn't put my finger on one exactly, but I could probably go through my Instagram reel and pick out one or two that stand apart.
BDF: Last year, you were a part of a competition that required you to make a sword. Did you enjoy that process?
(Image credit: Micah Dunn)
MD: It was a fun project, and I enjoyed it. I want to make more, but it's one of those things where I would like to create intricate, crazy stuff, but I don't have the orders for it. I'm not known as a sword guy, but I will probably make some more soon. It was fun to make. I've made a few random ones in a day or two, but I would like to do something more intricate.
Micah’s advice for would-be bladesmiths
BDF: Do you have any advice for aspiring bladesmiths?
MD: Ask all the questions whether you think it's a stupid question or not. My philosophy has always been and will always be there's no such thing as a stupid question if you don't know the answer. So, ask all the questions and ask everybody you can think of because if one person doesn't answer, I know five others who will and would be happy to help.
To see more from Micah, follow his Instagram @md_edgeworks, Facebook at MD Edgeworks and visit his website MD Edgeworks.
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