Chad Caylor still can’t believe he saved a man’s life by showing him how to make his own knife.
It was around the middle of 2018 when Caylor, a retired Army doctor in San Antonio, got a call from an Army pal about a suicidal veteran. Caylor had told his friend that he hoped to one day open a knife-making studio for veterans with PTSD and other mental health issues as a kind of informal therapy. But he didn’t expect to do so for at least a decade as he was still honing his own knife-making skills.
When his friend called, however, he agreed to accommodate the struggling vet the next day.
“So this guy came over to the house and we just started making a knife,” Caylor said. “And it was really bad. But he really enjoyed the experience.
Knives in progress are lined up on a workstation at the Reforged workshop. Each Reforged participant makes two knives – one to keep and one to sell to help fund the nonprofit program.
Josie Norris / Staff PhotographerThis experience led to the creation of Reforged, a nonprofit support program that Caylor and his wife, Marilyn, started for first responders and ex-military personnel. They share war stories or just let off steam – usually by lighting a rusty steel bar and hammering it into a blade to make any royal or rustic knife they can imagine.
Since opening a small forge in their home nearly four years ago, the Caylors have guided more than 500 men and women through their three-day Reforged course, which Chad Caylor calls a therapy program disguised as knife making class.
The Caylors provide everything for free, from materials and accommodations for out-of-town participants to group and individual counseling sessions. Marilyn Caylor is a licensed professional counsellor.
Reforged has become so popular with blade enthusiasts and veterans that courses are now booked for the next two years. The program has also landed several high-profile blacksmiths for its partners, including Daniel Casey, star of the History Channel reality series “Iron & Fire,” and Tobin Nieto, a San Antonio blacksmith who won the competition series. from History Channel “Forged in Fire.”
Chad Caylor runs Reforged, a free knife-making program he co-founded to help veterans and first responders deal with PTSD and other mental health issues. Caylor runs the program from his home in San Antonio with a blacksmith shop in the backyard.
Josie Norris / Staff PhotographerThe Caylors hold their knife-making classes in a purpose-built back garage, a noisy workshop with ball hammers hanging from the walls and blacksmith’s anvils resting on cut tree stumps.
Most of the knives that come out of Reforged are either convex drop point blades, which are used for hunting, or upward drag point blades for kitchen detailing. There are also classic “tanto” knives, chisel-like blades first made centuries ago to pierce armor, but today are mainly used for breaking boxes.
A Reforged participant always begins by drawing the design of the knife they plan to make. More often than not, the finished product looks nothing like it. Chad Caylor compares the process to returning to civilian life for a veteran or first responder and how they can still get something out of it, however imperfect or unexpected.
“We intentionally use recycled steel because many vets and first responders feel left out after their service,” he said. “That’s one of our talking points. This (steel) was originally intended for one thing. We’re going to take it, put it in a fire and beat it, and we’re going to turn it into something else beautiful and useful.
Joseph Burks uses a hammer to stretch steel at the Reforged Workshop.
Josie Norris / Staff Photographer
The success of Caylor’s Reforged is due both to its hands-on approach to knife making and its hands-off approach to therapy. Along with an informal group chat session they call “the huddle,” Reforged simply and subtly guides attendees to open up using talking points such as the “thrown steel” comment in the class.
This may explain why many Reforged alumni return to the program to help with classes, or simply to hone their own knife-making skills and sharpen their outlook on life.
“It shows you that when you’re planning things, sometimes you have to make changes to your work because it didn’t quite work out. But you always change it and you always come out on top,” said Joseph Burks, a retired from the army who has a knife for each of the seven months he was part of the Reforged family.
Prior to Reforged, retired Army medical researcher Paul Leal volunteered in a similar therapy group for veterans who kayaked and fished. Leal had served with Caylor and was aware of his knife-making program, but he didn’t get involved until two years ago when he got hooked on “Forged in Fire.”
Leal said he loves making Damascus knives, known for the ornate designs on their blades. But he sees a deeper beauty in the intangibles Reforged has to offer.
“I see a lot of veterans leaving the military and they’re a bit lost,” Leal said. “You come out of a world where you are told where to go, what to do, when to be there and then you get out. And if you have nothing to do, your mind can sink into a kind of black spot, especially if you already have post-traumatic stress issues. So when they come here, they have meaning.
“And you know, for a guy, when you build something – it means something,” he added. “It’s a feeling of accomplishment. It’s a manly tool you make.
Caylor said most of the Reforged attendees are male post-9/11 veterans who just want to make a knife and don’t ask for advice. Even so, Marilyn Caylor accesses each participant to determine if they just need to chat or if they need additional professional help.
Paul Leal of La Vernia inspects his work on a knife blade at the Reforged workshop. The Army retiree has been involved with the non-profit knife-making program for two years.
Josie Norris / Staff PhotographerChad Caylor credits his youngest son, Chad Jr., now a sailor, with forging the family’s passion project. As a teenager, he expressed an interest in knife making, so Caylor drove him to Daniel Casey’s blacksmith shop in Arkansas to try his hand at crafting.
As Chad Jr. worked on a blade, his father saw more than just a millennial craft. He also saw a simple but methodical process that could be therapeutic for veterans.
Caylor thought the first veteran he helped would also be the last because he just didn’t consider himself a good enough cutler. But then the veteran shared his experience with others, and soon Chad was teaching other veterans how to make a knife – first one on one, then two at a time, until there was now 16 participants per course.
Reforged’s message of giving old hardware new life applies to the program itself. It relies mostly on donated and recycled materials, but in a pinch, Caylor will buy from blacksmith supply stores.
Reforged participants craft two knives – one to keep and one to sell at the Caylor Forge family store in Gruene. All proceeds from these sales go directly to Reforged. Unpaid volunteers free up these funds for supplies needed, such as sanding belts and propane, to keep the program running.
Caylor said he hopes to one day make Reforged a comprehensive three-day retreat for all participants, regardless of where they live. And as long as veterans and first responders need help navigating life outside of their callings, the Caylors will continue to arm them with support as well as steel.
[email protected] | Twitter: @reneguz
Comments are closed.