Meet Jordan Kepler | Bladesmith

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jordan Kepler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jordan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have always wanted to start and run my own business. Through high school and college I tried starting a good handful of different businesses, screen printing, recyclable cardboard furniture and even custom skateboards. Though, knife making was the only venture so far that started out as a hobby and passion. Even when nothing was selling in the beginning I just loved to make the knives, so it didn’t really matter. Playing with fire and creating a work of art from raw materials took over my life. As my skills and knowledge of knife making grew I started to think I might be able to make this a business.

It wasn’t until I competed and won the TV show Forged In Fire that I truly thought I could do this full time. It was only a few months after that show that I stepped away from my computer job to pursue knife making full time.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I absolutely love the process of making Damascus steel. That is were you stack and fold alternating pieces of high carbon steel, forge welding them together. There are hundreds of way to fold, flip, stack or twist the layers together, over and over to create one off patterns. No 2 blades should ever be exactly the same.

It has been a huge challenge to make Damascus a large part of my business. There is such a large amount of labor that goes into each pattern and blade. Days hammering on the anvil and sanding out all the scratches. One wrong move and you can accidentally destroy 100 hours of work instantly. Some people think the patterns are etched or layered on but they dont understand it comes from the folding of 2 different steels over and over, working at about 2100*F. Blood, sweat and burns are a daily occurrence.

But it is all worth it when you deliver a custom piece to your client. One of my last really special pieces was for an Army vet friend of mine who had 2 amazing dogs. They passed away a few years ago but meant the world to him. So we wanted to commemorate them in a blade. He allowed me to use the collars from both dogs and the steel in the tags to create a traditional bowie knife that he now wears on his hip all the time. The definition of a priceless blade.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Its always fun to run up and down the Roaring Fork Valley, so a great day would be coffee and doughnuts at Sweet Coloradough, take the dogs and 4×4 truck out Thompson creek exploring. Then a Ruben sandwich from Plosky,s and maybe throw a few flies into the frying pan river. Then end up in aspen trying on some cowboy swag at Kemo Sabe. (where I have knifes for sale)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Deciding to quit a salaried job and chase a crazy knife making dream would not have been possible without tons of support all around me. There are probably 100 different people I could point out that have helped me a long the way. My wife, my parents, my in-laws, professors but one of my great friends Cameron Alarcio who is also a very accomplished knife maker took me under his wing in the beginning. He taught me Damascus and gladly entertained all the questions and ideas I had. He was a great teacher and allowed me to really sink my teeth into the industry. He would help me forge blades that I would then sell in order to purchase more knife making equipment. He helped in critiquing my work and pushing myself to improve on every blade.

Website: https://rancherblades.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rancherblades/

Image Credits
Dylan Gordon