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Bladesmith enjoys creativity, therapy of knife making
HAMLET, Neb. – Cole Stapleton of Hamlet feels he is in his element when the fire is crackling, and the gleam of a freshly-hammered blade catches his eye. The bladesmith and knifemaker finds designing and crafting knives to be stressful, but also therapeutic.
“It’s both,” he explained. “I’m one of those people who gets relieved when it gets finished, so it’s stressful and soothing at the same time. I guess I like going out to the garage and working on things, but it has to be perfect. So, if something goes wrong, I get pretty hard on myself about that.”
For three years, Stapleton has been perfecting his craft. Knifemaking had been an interest for years, and after he moved to the area from Colorado, he met Greg Parde. Parde was selling a forge, and Stapleton couldn’t resist the purchase.
“I don’t know how the conversation started, but he mentioned he had a forge for sale, and then I went and bought that,” Stapleton said. “He kind of guided me through the beginning stages of all of it.”
Parde taught him what he needed to know on and off over the first year, but even after time has passed, he still feels like there is a lot more learning to do.
“It’s just a bunch of trial and error. I have a lot of scrap metal now from things I messed up. I still don’t have the hang of things. I’m still working on it,” he joked. “I still ask him questions occasionally.”
For someone who’s only just begun the journey into forging, bladesmanship and knifemaking, he’s already created some beautiful pieces that end up purchased almost as soon as they’re cooled down. Stapleton took a chance on putting himself out there in October 2024 and opened his Facebook shop at Myrmidon Blade Co.
“I never wanted to at first, because I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just selling someone a piece of crap,” he said, adding that if the blade he’s working on isn’t perfect, it gets pitched into the scrap pile. “I don’t want something to be OK. I want it to be great. I want you to look at one of my knives and not be able to tell that a man made it versus a machine. I want it to be perfect.”
Conversation pieces, gift pieces or functional pieces – Stapleton is the one to create a one-of-a-kind blade to suit the need. He’s crafted 50 knives so far. He uses all his own designs, sketching them out in a notebook or on the computer using a CAD program. The artist prefers using a pen to a pad, and currently has around 50 notebooks full of designs.
“It’s just a thing for me. So, everything I do is all mine. I’ve never made the same knife, which might change soon,” he said. “Like, I might start making 10 of each with different handles and stuff like that. Everything I’ve made so far is a completely different design from the one I made last.”
Stapleton utilizes both the forge and the cutting method to shape his knives, the forging adding an extra day or two to the process. Each knife takes around a month to complete.
After the piece is sketched out, he decides whether he will forge or cut the primitive metal to its desired shape. After that, he works the blade on a bench grinder for the bevels and detail work. He then heat treats the metal with a kiln that controls the temperature. Heat tempering is the next step, which is a process used to increase the toughness and durability of the steel. More grinding and sanding is necessary, then the handle goes and every detail is carefully polished.
His handles are made of composites: G10, a high-pressure fiberglass laminate and Micarta, a high-pressure laminate composite.
Stapleton is a jeweler’s apprentice for Longnecker Jewelry in McCook. He mentioned that he and his employer, Bill Longnecker, have discussed putting some of his knives in the store. One is already featured on a wall for display.
“He makes really cool and interesting knives. He brought that other talent to us that we don’t normally have. We work with gold and silver, which are nonferrous metals, and he works with ferrous metals, which is steel,” Longnecker said. “I like to focus on the things that they do outside the business.”
Many of Stapleton’s designs are inspired by mythology from around the globe, and he creates many reproductions with a modern twist. His shop name, Myrmidon, is from “The Iliad,” a story he grew up reading, and is named after Achilles’ army of foot soldiers.
The masterpiece he’s working on now is a recreation of a Scottish dirk, a long, narrow, thrusting dagger. It will be 20 inches long with a guide box under the grill handle.
He doesn’t plan to open a storefront yet, with this only being a part-time adventure, but continues to display and sell his work on the Myrmidon Blade Co. Facebook page.
“Once I get more time to really make stuff, it’s going to be more in-depth on there,” he said, noting that while all of his pieces are unique, he balks at making custom order items. “I thought about doing custom orders. I’ve done a couple of those, and it turns out I really don’t like that. I like doing my own, having complete control of it.”
Future knives in the works include pocket knives. Eventually, he would like to make enough of his works of art to haul to craft and vendor fairs, and he hopes to sell some of his knife designs to other companies for production in the future.