What We Do
At Big River Forge, our mission is to create custom, one of a kind, knives and other hand crafted items that will be used long into the future as well as be passed down for generations to come.
Our Mission
To create timeless works of art in the realm of knives and traditional blacksmithing.
“My hope is that my knife will become a part of your family’s story. That someday, long into the future your descendants are admiring a beautiful old knife and retelling the old family story of how their Great, Great Grandfather had this knife custom made for himself way back in the year 2017”
— Charles Carpenter - J.S.
The Journey
With a long family history in the craft Charles Carpenter officially Began his blacksmithing journey in 2010.
In approximately 2013 Charles began make a few knives and that was the beginning of his knife making journey.
In 2015 Charles learned about the American Bladesmith Society and joined immediately.
After joining the organization Charles began to focus his efforts solely in the realm of bladesmithing and in an effort to learn and grow as rapidly as possible he attended every learning opportunity he could find.
In 2019 Charles Appeared on History Channel’s Forged In Fire. Season 5 Episode 32
In 2019 Charles achieved the ranking of Journeyman Smith (JS) with the American Bladesmith Society.
Today Charles’ focus is on continuing to perfect his craft and work toward the ranking of Master Smith.
Here is the set of knives that earned Charles his journeyman Smith ranking with the American Bladesmith Society. Including the larger (right center) performance test blade.