Forging a new hobby with metal
News | Published on January 7, 2025 at 2:13pm EST | Author: henningmaster
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BJ Oseien stands next to a number of the custom knives he has created in the corner of his garage in Henning. Oseien became interested in creating knives earlier this year when he got hooked on the TV show Forged in Fire.
By Chad Koenen
Publisher
In a small corner of his garage, BJ Oseien carefully shapes a piece of scrap metal with the precision of a seasoned veteran. Just outside of the side door of his garage, and with temperatures below zero, a large contained fire heats up another piece of metal that will soon become a new knife for a friend.
There is a certain precision that is needed to work with hot metal and creating a custom piece of art that is still functional. After all, not everyone has the patience to spend several hours to days carefully forging a piece of metal from a piece of scrap into a custom knife.
BJ Oseien heats up a piece of metal that he will mold into a new knife in his yard in Henning.
The Henning native began his new hobby of creating custom knives in May after getting hooked on the hit TV show Forged in Fire.
“I loved the show Forged in Fire,” he said. “I watched it and I thought I bet can could do that.”
He created his first knife out of a scrap lawn mower blade and since that time has slowly perfected his craft to create knives out of just about any kind of metal he can get his hands on. While metal designed for knives can be purchased online, several local residents have donated scrap metal to Oseien, or asked him to create a knife out of a piece of metal that has an added significance to them.
One of the more special knives Oseien has made was for a coworker whose father was a Korean War vet. He made the knife out of scrap metal to commemorate his retirement from his position as a city worker. The vet was a member of the Seventh Calvary. His wife Jill also created a custom sheath for the knife to honor the veteran.
“If you get stuff that means something to you can make memories with a knife and create something that means something to you,” he said.
Not only does Oseien make the knives he also creates custom sheaths to go along with each custom job. After all, what good is a unique knife without an equally impressive holder for the knife itself. The process, from start to finish, is a hobby that the Henning native has found can not only give him some pride, but share with others as well.