Bladesmith program helps veterans cut through the pain

Chad Caylor still can’t believe he may have saved a man’s life by showing him how to make his own knife.

It was around the middle of 2018 when Caylor, a retired Army medic in San Antonio, got a call from an Army buddy about a combat veteran who was suicidal. Caylor had told his friend he hoped to one day open a knifemaking studio for veterans with PTSD and other mental health issues as a sort of informal therapy. But he didn’t expect to do it for at least a decade because he was still honing his own knifemaking skills.

When his friend called, though, he agreed to host the troubled vet the next day.

“So that guy came to the house and we just started making a knife,” Caylor said. “And it was really bad. But he really liked the experience.”

That experience led to the creation of Reforged, a nonprofit support program Caylor and his wife, Marilyn, started for first responders and former military personnel. They share war stories or just let off steam — usually by firing up a rusty bar of steel and hammering it into a blade to make whatever regal or rustic knife they can imagine.

Since they started a small blacksmith shop in their home almost four years ago, the Caylors have guided more than 500 men and women through their threeday Reforged course, which Chad Caylor calls a therapy program disguised as a knife-making class.

The Caylors provide everything for free, from materials and lodging for out-of-town attendees to group and individual counseling sessions. Marilyn Caylor is a licensed professional counselor.

Reforged has become so popular with blade buffs and veter

ans that classes are now booked for the next two years. The program also landed several high-profile blacksmiths for partners, including Daniel Casey, star of the History Channel reality series “Iron & Fire,” and Tobin Nieto, a San Antonio bladesmith who was a winner on the History Channel’s competition series “Forged in Fire.”

The Caylors host their knife-making classes in a backyard garage built just for the program, a noisy workshop with ball-peen hammers hanging on the walls and blacksmith anvils sitting on tree stumps.

Most of the knives that come out of Reforged are either convex drop-point blades, which are used for hunting, or upward trailing-point blades for kitchen detail. There also are classic “tanto” knives, chisellike blades first made centuries ago to pierce armor but these days mostly used to break down boxes.

A Reforged participant always starts by drawing the knife design they plan to make. More times than not, the finished product looks nothing like it. Chad Caylor likens the process to a veteran or first responder’s journey back to civilian life and how they can still make something of it no matter how imperfect or unexpected.

“We use recycled steel intentionally because so many vets and first responders feel discarded after their service,” he said. “It’s one of our talking points. This (steel) was originally intended for one thing. We’re going to take it, put it through a fire and beat on it, and we’re going to turn it into something else that’s beautiful and useful.”

The Caylor’s credit Reforged’s success both to its hands-on approach to knife-making and its handsoff approach to therapy. Aside from an informal group talking session they call “the huddle,” Reforged simply and subtly guides participants to open up by using talking points, such as the comment about “discarded steel” in the class.

That may explain why many Reforged alumni come back to the program to help with classes, or just to hone their knife-making skills and sharpen their outlook on life.

“It shows you when you plan out stuff, sometimes you have to make changes to your work because it didn’t quite work out. But you always change it and still come out on top,” said Joseph Burks, an Army retiree who has a knife for each of the seven months he’s been a part of the Reforged family.

Before Reforged, retired Army medical researcher Paul Leal volunteered with a similar therapy group for veterans that went kayaking and fishing. Leal had served with Caylor and knew about his knife-making program, but he didn’t get involved until two years ago when he got hooked on “Forged in Fire.”

Leal said he loves making Damascus knives, which are known for the ornate patterns on their blades. But he sees a deeper beauty in the intangibles that Reforged has to offer.

“I see a lot of vets who leave the military and they’re kind of lost,” Leal said. “You go from a world where you’re told where to go, what to do, when to be there and then you get out. And if you don’t have something to do, your mind can kind of go into a dark spot, especially if you already have PTSD issues. So when they come out here they’re getting a sense of purpose.

“And you know, for a guy, when you build something — that means something,” he added. “It’s a sense of accomplishment. It’s a manly tool that you’re making.”

Caylor said most Reforged participants are male post-9/11 veterans who just want to make a knife and don’t seek counseling. Even so, Marilyn Caylor accesses every participant to determine if they just need to chat or require further professional help.

Chad Caylor credits his youngest son, Chad Jr., now a Marine, for forging the family’s passion project. As a teen, he expressed an interest in knife-making, so Caylor drove him up to Daniel Casey’s blacksmith studio in Arkansas to try his hand at the craft.

As Chad Jr. worked on a blade, his dad saw more than just a millennia-old

trade. He also saw a simple yet methodical process that could be therapeutic for veterans.

Caylor thought that first veteran he helped also would be his last because he just didn’t see himself as a good enough knife-maker. But then the veteran told others about his experience, and soon Chad was teaching other veterans how to craft a knife — at first one-on-one, then two at a time, up to the current 16 participants per course.

Reforged’s message of giving new life to old material applies to the program itself. It relies mostly on donated and recycled materials, though in a pinch Caylor will buy from blacksmith supply stores.

Reforged participants make two knives — one to keep and one to sell at the family’s Caylor Forge store in Gruene. All proceeds from those sales go right back into Reforged. Unpaid volunteers free up those funds for supplies, such as grinding belts and propane, to keep the program running.

Caylor said he hopes one day to make Reforged a full three-day retreat for all participants regardless of where they live. And as long as veterans and first responders need help navigating life outside their vocations, the Caylors will continue to arm them with support as well as steel.

Josie Norris / Staff photographer Retired Army medic Chad Caylor directs Reforged, a free knife-making program he co-founded with his wife, Marilyn. At Reforged, veterans and first responders work through issues.

Photos by Josie Norris / Staff photographer Paul Leal of La Vernia inspects his work at the Reforged workshop. The Army retiree has been involved in the nonprofit knife-making program for two years.

Sparks fly as Leal grinds a knife blade. “For a guy, when you build something — that means something,” he says. “It’s a sense of accomplishment.”

Each participant designs his knife and then makes two — one to keep and one to sell to fund the program

Army retiree Joseph Burks stretches steel at the workshop in San Antonio. He has made seven knives.