Meleski, Timothy (Ouroboros Forge)

Alright, so this is the page that most people won’t read, but I will still inevitably spend hours editing and deciding how much “about me” that I want to reveal. Unlike most people who find themselves typing something like this out, I have plenty to write, actually too much to write and even more that I don’t want to share. I’ve had an extremely interesting life, most of it bad, sprinkled with some good, which developed a strong sense of purpose (some would call obsession) in most things that I do. Knife making would be one of those things. I’ve always had a fascination with tool and weapon making since a young age, but never had the means to pursue it outside of carving sharps sticks and impaling unfortunate creatures that I came across. After having served in the Marines for quite some time I found myself in an instructor role. This position in my career aloud me to explore ways to deal with past traumas. Unbeknownst to me, the main activity that would provide a means for me to become human in the most normal sense of the term would be bladesmithing. Sounds a little dramatic right? Those of you that know me well (to which there are few) will know that to be true. All of you who know only what I have typed thus far, will just have to take my word for it. I guess what I’m trying to say is bladesmithing is not a hobby to me. This is not something I do on the weekends for extra money, and this is not something I do to have something to talk about in awkward social interactions (although I’d be lying if I didn’t say that people find it interesting). Bladesmithing is my connection to a healthy psychological and physical life style that in turn allows me to be a good husband, a good father, and more importantly, a good person. I want you to understand that when you get a piece from me it isn’t just a piece FROM me, but a piece OF me. And going deeper, I’m also getting a piece of myself back, from a place I didn’t think that any sort of light, especially the fires of a forge could reach. With this new found flame, I aim to define and express my humanity through this craft and hopefully inspire others to take up the hammer and stoke the embers of revival to this renaissance. But, for now I’ll leave you with this. "Handmade things we revere. They're in our museums, our art galleries. Those are the objects that define our humanity. You see an object, and it attracts you to it. You hold an object and it changes you. It's palpable... the change is within you, but it occurs because you vibrate with that spirit, that energy, that the artist or craftsman put into the work. Sometimes it's not even beautiful, sometimes it's just right." - Don Fogg