What happens when you try to make a razor-sharp knife from 350 razor blades? Or forge a battle-ready blade from old drill ...

Watching YouTube videos helped him progress quickly from wood carving to knife making. "I set up a makeshift charcoal forge in the backyard and used my mother's hairdryer as a forge blower," he said.

Two years ago I asked Sergio Menchaca, of Texas Sage Forge, to make me an eight-inch chef’s knife. For the blade’s raw material, I sent him the mid-century steel hoof testers that my father, who is ...