Mission Statement: We hope to inspire passion and creative thought through the medium of metal, functional art, storytelling and personalized instruction.
Vision Statement: We want to make blacksmithing and metal art synonymous with passion and family by creating a safe and inclusive environment to purchase or make handcrafted knives, swords, axes, and other works of art.
Philosophy: At 3 Arrows Forge it’s all about the story! Life is nothing more than a collection of stories. Coming from the Southern United States where story telling and folktales are a way of life and a primary means of expression for many, we are attempting to expand upon those traditions by telling a story with metal. Each project is inspired by a customer’s specifications or unique need. That ties the project to a person and that’s person’s story. It is our mission to respect and honor the individual and their collection of experiences by listening and translating needs into completed projects. No story, or need, is too great or small! We welcome the curious and questioning as well as the expert level enthusiast. It is our goal to use the medium of metal to create friends and happy customers!
Our Story
I have always had a wanderlust and sense of restlessness to experience life and try new things. Establishing a life, family, education, and career satisfied those urges through my 20’s and early 30’s but as things stabilized and slowed my curiosities again began to flare. After traveling the world for 5-6 years for work, in 2014 we made the decision for me to get off the road and focus more on family. This decision required us to move from North Georgia to Charlotte. Once we got settled in Charlotte, I started getting board and needed an outlet. We became very active in a local church, which helped build community. Then, as a family, we started training in Martial Arts. After tons of training and several competitions, work stress and long hours pulled us away from that as well. I found myself, again, bored and antsy.At the encouragement of my employer, I began exploring Universities so I could return and complete my Doctorate degree. After several interviews and papers justifying my candidacy, it became clear that more higher education was NOT the answer. As I explained my position to my wife, she encouraged me to “dream big” and do something I have always wanted to do (but be smart and set a budget!) I told her then that I had always wanted to work metal but I had no idea how to get started. I made myself a fire pit out of a beer keg then started doing some research, pricing tools and buying DIY kits for luminaries and hobby knives. This was in December of 2016 and the seed was planted!
In the Spring of 2017 I was training for a marathon (which I never ran) and decided to run the Charlotte Half-Marathon for practice. After the race, I had a rush of endorphins that was fairly intense. I had a hard time coming down. A friend of mine suggested that I get out the buzz by coming to his house and doing some forging. He had built a humble forge from an old grill, some fire brick, homemade charcoal and a hair dryer. We heated up some rebar and the first time I struck hot metal with a hammer, I was hooked! I made a prison-shank shaped object that I called my first “knife.” I still have it hanging above my grinders and I show it to students at the conclusion of most of the classes I teach. It’s a great way to show them how awesome their first knife is!
I immediately started to build up tools, tables, and equipment and involve the family more and more.
My three sons, 12, 9, and 5 at the time, thought I was the coolest Dad ever! I didn’t start making knives immediately but they started to be a focus soon enough.
In just a few short months I had cast a fairly clear vision for what I wanted to learn and began to really dream about what it could mean for me and my family to build a family hobby/business. During a Bible study one evening, I came across and old scripture my Dad used to quote to me when I was young, Psalms 127:4 “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.” I immediately shared it with my wife and at that moment the name “3 Arrows Forge” was born!
As I built my skills, invested more in equipment and resources, my oldest son became more and more involved. He seemed to have a natural gift moving metal with a hammer. With the name locked in and the vision clear, I hired 3 different graphic designers to design a logo that captured my vision. This was the first time I realized how difficult it was to express an artistic idea to another artist without the context of a story. I would explain… “I need a logo for my blacksmithing forge, 3 Arrows Forge. I want an archer (me) shooting a drawn bow with 3 arrows (my sons). I want the Bible verse Psalms 127:4 and the year we started, 2016.” I got back some really odd designs. I even had one designer refuse the work because he couldn’t envision the bottom arrows shooting downward. After a good bit of frustration and wasted money, my oldest son came home all aglow from scoring a 100% on his 7th grade art project. The next day him and his Mom presented me his framed art project… the 3 Arrows Forge logo that we use today!
The rest, as they say, is history! We had a name, a logo, interest of the entire family so off we went! My wife got involved in the marketing and merchandising and rapidly became my #1 advertiser. My oldest son apprenticed with a Master Smith and brought his new skills home to teach me. He later worked for the blacksmith until he graduated High School in 2022. My middle son made his first knife on his 13th birthday and now teaches the smithing portion many of the classes we offer as well as selling his products at markets and shows. My youngest son has always been around and interested and will soon see what he can do behind the hammer!
Today I have a strong vision and resolve to build a successful and prosperous business but never at the cost of the core family values and involvement the idea was originally founded on. I want to build the story and create a legacy but most of all connect with my wife and sons and share that passion with others. The passion for family, story, history, and creativity; that’s the true and lasting value of 3 Arrows Forge!
