Here is a sample of questions I get from time to time with rambling, long winded and often ambiguous answers.
Q. Why tomahawks? A. I was interested in weapons at an early age. My parents met through an interest in American Indian culture and amateur archaeology. You do the math.
Q. How many tomahawks do you make each year? A. I make anywhere from 10 - 20 historical tomahawks each year. A lot more tactical tomahawks.
Q. Why do you not take custom orders? A. It takes a tremendous amount of self discipline and a willingness to compromise what you make when you accept orders. I do not have this self discipline and I don't like finishing a historical tomahawk prematurely to meet a deadline. Hugh Bartrug once told me to quit taking orders the minute I could get away with it. He told me "Taking orders is always a compromise - you aren't really making what you want and the customer doesn't really know what he wants...no one ends up completely satisfied." Since I don't get a chance to make many hawks these days I figure I better stick to making exactly what I want to make.
Q. Are your tomahawks meant to be used? A. All of my tomahawks are built to be used. The tactical tomahawks are obviously built for extreme use. My historical tomahawks are always forged with a steel cutting edge that is heat treated. The historical hawks can be used but the handles will only take so much abuse. Of course that was true of tomahawks 200 years ago as well. My advice? Get the historical tomahawk for play, use the tactical stuff for real abusive situations. (Or where your life depends on it)
Q. Do you ever teach classes on tomahawk making? A. Occasionally I teach classes or will demonstrate for blacksmithing/knifemaking groups. The next scheduled classes I will be teaching are in August 2008 and February 2009 at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. The Folk School is a wonderful place and if you are into making things I cannot recommend the experience enough. www.folkschool.org
Q. Why was RMJ Tactical, LLC formed? A. Because I am good at two things: making/designing tomahawks and making my daughter laugh. No, really - that is pretty much the extent of the "what Ryan is good at list". Business, paperwork, correspondence, answering the phone...these things are best left to people who actually excel at doing such things. RMJ Tactical makes that happen. More tomahawks into the hands of the people who use them. I like that.
Q. Why do you sell most of your historical tomahawks through BladeArt? A. Larry and his crew have always taken care of me over the years - and they always take care of their customers. The knife making and collecting community is lucky to Larry so involved in the industry.
Q. Are your tomahawks historically accurate? A. Yes. I find it funny when I read or hear comments where someone is commenting on the historical accuracy of my work. Most people take a very narrow view of what is "historically accurate" without taking into consideration the wide range of work that was made over a 200 year period. If a blacksmith sticks to traditional techniques and materials, traditional finishes and lines they would be hard pressed to make something that hasn't already been done. Thousands of different smiths over the years turned out thousands of tomahawks made by hand producing a plethora of designs to draw from and gain inspiration from. I get most of my general ideas from books and museums. I rarely copy a historical tomahawk entirely, rather I take elements that I like and put them together. Later this year I am planning to start a series of historical copies - stay tuned!
Q. Do you have a catalog of your historical tomahawks? A. It is difficult to keep a catalog as my work changes on a regular basis. Besides, if you are reading this you have access to the best and most up to date of what I do. If you need a hard copy for bathroom reading just print it off! (I'm a shameless cutlery bathroom reader...)
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Copyright ©2008 RMJ Forge This page was last updated 03/01/2008 Ryan Johnson - RMJ Forge & RMJ Tactical, LLC 7620 Foster Hixson Cemetery Road - Hixson, Tennessee 37343 ryan@rmjforge.com - when emailing please include the word "tomahawk" in the subject line for Spam filtering purposes |