Love of history inspires life-long passion RN-T.com
Chad Matthews makes handcrafted knives and weaponry from materials many would consider junk.
“To be able to go to a junkyard and take something that someone else considers trash and turn it into something useful, beautiful — why wouldn’t you do that?”
That’s the first thing Chad Matthews said when he was asked to describe the passion behind his hobby of making knives, pistols, cannons, tomahawks and many other types of weaponry, all with a historical theme.
Since he was 13, Matthews has loved making beautiful, useful things out of what most would deem junk.
“I was always trying to make something out of metal,” he laughed. “I’ve been doing this since before it was cool on TV. I guess blacksmithing, history, old guns, I just loved it all. I turn 41 in May and this keeps me young.”
As he stood in the shade of the trees that surround his workshop, he turned two of his recently finished knives over and over in his hands. He has gotten more focused on knives lately, crafting them for people who request one.
“I admit, I think I’d keep them all if I could,” he said. “But I need to support this hobby.”
All of his work is either done by hand or on one of two machines that date from the last century. The small lathe he uses to turn wood for handles was made in 1946, and a larger, 10foot lathe he uses for cannons was made in 1926.
“These old machines, they work just as well as the new ones and are a lot less expensive,” he said. “I found these in junkyards and repaired them. Everything is computerized now and programmed, but these give
you just as good results. With a little more time, you make it happen.”
His love of history — the time period between the mid-1700s and the 1830s, along with the Civil
Read this story online for a link to Chad Matthews’ Facebook page. War period especially captures his imagination — extends to the main building of his workshop.
A cabin built in 1834 on his family’s land in Silver Creek serves as part of his workshop. The cabin is where he started making things when he was 13. He added a shed onto the side to house his lathes and the forge for his knives.
His passion for history also encompasses the need to not just rebuild the old machines he does use, but to also find materials for his knives. He searches flea markets, scrap yards and friends’ backyards.
“I just found an old buggy spring which I cut this knife from,” he said. “I’ve gotten good at bartering with people to find old materials. I like putting what they call a forge finish on my knives, because I like the way it looks with those slight imperfections. I do them smooth, too. It really just depends on what you want.”
He makes knives to serve a wide range of customers, from those who want to use them for hunting to collectors and those who want to use them in their kitchens.
“That is why I quench them in vegetable or linseed oil,” he said. “I don’t want to risk anything being dangerous if someone wants to use them in the kitchen.”
First he cuts his material and forges the blade in a small forge he made. He tends to use color and magnets to figure out if the blade is ready to be hammered, he said.
“You think about the color ‘cherry red,’ which could mean different things to different people, but I also watch for it to lose its magnetic properties,” he said. “When a magnet won’t adhere to it, you know it’s ready.”
After hammering and shaping the blade, he quenches it in vegetable or linseed oil.
“This changes the structure of the metal,” he explained. “If you let it cool slow, you get soft metal, but the oil cools it fast and makes it work. I also follow the old wives’ tale of quenching it pointed north, which keeps it from warping.”
His work extends to bigger — and louder — items, however. He still owns a flintlock pistol and powder horn he made at age 18. A cannon he made in 2014 brought him some fame when news articles were written about it. Everything he makes works, he said.
“It will all fire,” he said. “I have a mortar I made that can launch a bowling ball about a mile, whistling all the way.”
His Confederate mountain rifle cannon is especially popular and in demand for history-themed events around Rome.
“I made that out of a raw piece of bronze. It cost about $600 a foot,” he said. “It took me about a year and I made the carriage and wheels out of oak and ash. I could have done it faster, but with a full-time job and a family, you just do what you can when you can.”
As a member of the Floyd County Police Department, Matthews stays busy, but he always makes time for his hobby. He
also finds inspiration wherever he goes.
“I go on vacation and I see stuff I want to make,” he said. “I’ll say, ‘Oh, I could make that,’ and I start taking pictures and measuring. My wife is convinced I’ll get arrested doing that one day. But I haven’t yet. Then I come back and build it.”
He plans to expand his workshop during his upcoming vacation and he’s hoping that more people
will ask for knives or other items so he can expand his hobby into a business.
“Through my determination and will, I’ve built things that are useful and that people enjoy,” he said. “And I love it.”
Matthews said if anyone wants to get in touch with him about requesting an item, they can contact him through his Facebook page or by texting him at 706-844-2791.