Withstanding the heat: Sarasota man forges love for knife-making

A switch is flipped, and a noise like an aircraft preparing for takeoff fills the tiny quarters of the makeshift workshop.

Sarasota’s Rick Johnson flits around from bench to bench, in his would-be garage collecting his tools. He lays them out — hammer, tongs, baseball bat — in a neat row, as if he were a surgeon prepping for an operation.

“Once you get started, you don’t want to stop because the metal cools very quickly,” he said.

He crouches down and peers into his forge, checking if the metal is the right shade of amber. Beads of sweat drip from his brow.

At last, he pulls the blade out. He quickly moves to the anvil and strikes the softened metal in rhythm before it hardens back into a slate grey.

He is working on a piece he calls “Baby Bruce.” The blade is shaped to look like the head of a shark, an homage to “Jaws,” though his wife prefers to say it’s a nod to “Finding Nemo.”

He finishes the piece in one afternoon, a feat that would have stretched over several days just three years before.

Although never a collector, the 42-year-old bladesmith has always had an interest in knives.

“As a young kid, knives are always important to you,” Johnson said. “You can’t really convince people to buy you guns, so knives are what’s important.”

Although some people collect knives for display, for Johnson, it’s all about functionality.

His career in knife-making began in 2015 when his friend asked if he would be able to attach a handle to an old knife of his. It was then that Johnson’s one-word knife-making philosophy was born. “Sure,” he said.

“When somebody calls or emails and says, ‘Hey can you make this?’ I say sure, no matter what it is,” he said.

After researching and watching YouTube videos, Johnson converted his garage into his knife-making playground. 

He spent hours hammering out old railroad spikes and pieces of rebar. Eventually, he honed his craft and transformed his makeshift shop into a full forge.

Now Johnson works with clients to bring their ideas to life, first in sketches and then in metal. He sells his work under his company, Sheepdog Smithing, a nod to his time spent in the Marines.

Johnson has crafted everything from standard pocket knifes to gladius knives to batarangs. 

“The best part about making knives is that you’re only limited by your imagination,” he said. “Anything at all that you come up with, you can make. If you can draw it, if you can think about it, you can make it.”

It is this attitude that landed Johnson a role on the History Channel’s show “Forged in Fire.” 

The show pits four bladesmiths against one another in difficult situations, like creating a blade from salvaged farm tools. A panel of judges whittle away competitors until one is crowned a “Forged in Fire” champion and awarded $10,000. 

Johnson competed on a special Marines episode, and although he did not win, he said the experience was life-changing. 

“To complete the challenge knowing I hadn’t done that particular technique before, I was really proud of myself,” he said. “It was a great accomplishment knowing you actually completed the challenge — you didn’t fall on your face, you didn’t fail, and you have a knife actually sitting in front of you.”

Since the show, Johnson’s products have been selling quickly.

Now that he knows the techniques, Johnson said his biggest struggle with knife-making is finding the time. With a
11/₂-year-old daughter, Johnson said it’s a balancing act but one he’s happy to perform. 

“There are some people you see on TV that say, ‘If I had to choose between my wife and the knives, I’d always pick the knives,’” Johnson said. “Not me. You have to balance everything — work, life — with the knife-making.”