Fontaine, Aric

Aric Fontaine is a skilled blacksmith and bladesmith who operates Fontaine Forge. His journey into blacksmithing began when he visited the Old Sturbridge Village 1800’s museum in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. He was so fascinated by the blacksmith shop that he ended up spending hours there, watching and asking questions. Eventually, he joined the junior intern program and became an apprentice blacksmith, learning the techniques of an 1800’s shop. Aric’s passion for blacksmithing grew, and he knew he wanted his own shop. Together with his father, Kevin, they built a brake drum forge with an old fan blower and a cheap anvil and got started in the backyard. Later, he took over the shed and started slowly building a real shop. Someone gifted him his first real anvil, and he set out making traditional blacksmith items. Growing up around martial arts, one of which was Kali (Philipino stick and knife art), and learning primitive skills and bushcraft, Aric realized his true passion was knife making. This proved to be hard to do being self-taught. Thankfully a friend introduced him to Brian Evelich who was a Forged in Fire finalist. Brian began mentoring Aric in blade smithing and the passion grew. He now makes custom knives of all kinds along with any blade items anyone would want from kitchen knives to swords. Although his passion for knife making has grown, he never forgets his roots and still continues to work on and make historical blacksmith items.