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Interview with Bladesmith Todd Gdula

Todd has been writing our Real Steel column for a month or two, and we figured it was time to let explain how it is he spends time hammering metal into blades.


How did you get your start as a bladesmith? What pulled you to it?
It was a long road with a lot of turns and forks. I started martial arts training when I was 12, and like most martial artists I have an interest in weapons. And I began reading J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Fast forward a few decades to 2003 and I'm looking to take my martial arts training in a different direction and make a few bucks on the side. I opened wholesale accounts with assorted weapons manufacturers and began selling knives and swords on eBay. Sales were good, but I was very disappointed with the quality, and one day I realized I could make higher-quality products than the imported garbage.

In 2006 I did some research and found the American Bladesmith Society. Through the ABS I found a Master Bladesmith, took an apprenticeship and began training. I was hooked the instant I clumsily whacked some red hot steel with a hammer.

How did it feel to finish your first piece? And what was it?
I can't draw at all, can't sculpt very well, can't sing or play an instrument. I can write a little and I can craft a decent tale, but not good enough to stand out.

What I can do well is whisper to hot steel, caress it with my hammer, and make it into something it would not have been without my gentle sway. I had found the creative outlet I had been looking for my whole life.

You asked how it felt... It was awesome! My first piece was a full tang clip point utility knife forged from 1084 steel with cocobolo handle slabs and bronze pins. I made a leather sheath for it and gave it to my Dad. How cool is that?

Do you see weapons in gaming differently, now that you know what it takes to forge a weapon?
You bet I do! I was introduced to gaming by my little middle brother, David. He played D&D every chance he got. When he couldn't find a game he would DM for me and my littlest brother, Steven. We took weapons completely for granted. You beat an enemy, you got a new weapon, loot for the taking.

I know now that a decent sword takes a full week of full time work to make. If it's an art piece, it can take a month. Now add some game element; it's a +1, +2, or +3. That could be many months of work plus a lot of gold and a Mage, Cleric, Druid, or Sartan. As player characters, the gear you carry would be very hard won.

We hear forges can be somewhat magical places. What's your favorite forge story?
In one of my very early classes I was forging a blade when a lightning hot piece of forge scale (iron oxide produced on the steel, in the forge) jumped from betwixt the work and the hammer and into my right nostril. Understandably I snorted violently in the attempt to get that hot hurting thing from my nose... and blew out from within mine own snot locker a geyser of superheated booger steam that was seen by several other students... Good times, good times...

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