Beyond Bladesmithing: How Josh Navarrete is Forging a Better Future for Veterans
(Image credit: Josh Navarette)
Josh Navarette is the artist and bladesmith behind NK Forge and Metalworks, LLC, in Salem, Oregon. He competed on Forged in Fire (Season 6 Episode 19), where he walked away a champion after overcoming the freezing cold temperature and his first time using a coal forge! He returned to compete on Beat the Judges where his attention to detail ultimately allowed him to take home the victory.
RELATED: FILMING FOR FORGED IN FIRE SEASON 10 IS UNDERWAY
While his experience on the show was great, Josh talked to us about how it gave him the platform to get into his passion for helping others. He runs a non-profit called I.A.C.T of Oregon, dedicated to helping at-risk youth, veterans, and others with mental health and providing a safe place to learn metalworking.
BRUTE de FORGE: Hi Josh! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. How are you today?
JOSH NAVARETTE: Hi! All is well here. Busy day today because we have the blacksmithing club meeting. I’m headed there now!
BDF: That sounds fun! Tell me all about the blacksmithing club.
JN: So, I have been a woodturner for over twenty years, and I used to belong to a local woodturning club. I liked the group, but the problem was that most of the members were significantly older. Basically, you would just go to the meeting, sit down, and watch someone turn something. We found that half of the audience was sleeping halfway through it! It was also contagious; I would leave the meeting, be tired, and complain that I was sore (laughing).
When I opened my shop, I thought, “Man, I want to have a club.” But I wanted it to be a hands-on club. I have a twenty-five hundred square foot shop our club meets on the first Wednesday of every month. We average about twenty people, so it gets busy. When you visit, you will see that everybody's forging something. Three or four forges are going simultaneously, and we have eight anvils that everyone shares. Everybody's hammering stuff, and some people just show up and hang out! It's like a barbershop.
“We encourage people to show up, and if they want to hit some metal, they can, or they can hang out and just ask questions.”
Many of our members are veterans, and it is a way for them to get a little preview of what forging is all about. We encourage people to show up, and if they want to hit some metal, they can, or they can hang out and just ask questions. We try to provide a very comfortable way of exploring this hobby.
BDF: Does your club have an official name?
JN: I just named it the Willamette Valley Blacksmithing Club. I didn't stress too much about the name.
Making a difference
BDF: The club sounds amazing. After looking over your website, it seems to fit into your slogan: “A place to learn, create, and connect.”
JN: I'm not an expert, and I’m not a therapist. I'm just a guy who knows how to move steel and has a big place to provide to others. It’s not even about what we're making. We could be making spoons, or we could be making toilets; I don't care. In my opinion, the important thing is that we have created a very organic way of teaching. Blacksmithing and knife-making are fun for every age group. My youngest student was eight years old. So, people come, and they learn!
Something about having a piece of steel heat up to over two thousand degrees and having the ability to hit it really hard with a hammer and make it move is addictive. It’s like therapy. I've never seen somebody smiling while running—everyone running always looks miserable. But I’ve seen a lot of smiles while forging. I found that blacksmithing is a stress reliever, but it also allows you to be creative. Once you learn the very basic way of how to move steel, the options just multiply, and the potential is limitless. So, that is where the creative comes into play. Everybody can create something.
“The important thing is that we have created a very organic way of teaching. Blacksmithing and knife-making are fun for every age group.”
The connection part is the connections that you make with people. One of the most beautiful things about blacksmithing is that you can take it as far as you want. You can be the lone wolf off in your own corner, working and not talking to anyone, or you can be the social butterfly like me, hopping from anvil to anvil and talking to everybody. So, you can get both extremes, and the cool thing is that everybody in the blacksmithing and knife-making community is very supportive. When you join the community, everybody's always ready to talk about knives and blacksmithing, and we're always looking for opportunities to help each other. That's what has been happening here, locally. The word has spread out. It goes beyond just knifemaking, and it goes beyond blacksmithing. What matters is the human element.
(Image credit: Josh Navarrete)
For example, we have events for vets and first responders so that they are provided a safe way for them to integrate themselves back into their communities. I've had vets come to the meetings, and they're quiet at the very beginning; they come, do their own thing, and then leave. And that is okay! Then little by little, they come out and start talking. Most of our vets, especially those who have PTSD, are not going to sit down and talk to somebody about their problems. So, we give them a safe place where there are no expectations at all and provide them with the opportunity to start getting more skills and learning how to make knives, different tools, or ornamental stuff.
“I’ve never seen somebody smiling while running—everyone running always looks miserable. But I’ve seen a lot of smiles while forging.”
From all of this, I got the idea for a non-profit, which I started, called I.A.C.T. It stands for industrial, artistic, and creative therapy.
BDF: Can you tell me a little more about I.A.C.T.?
JN: Absolutely! Our participants undergo about eighty hours of training in knife making and blacksmithing, and soon, I hope to offer leather work. They also have the option of becoming a mentor for at-risk youth. The mentor training is done by Valor Mentoring, a local organization that does amazing things. So, we partnered up with them, and once our vets get trained on mentoring at-risk youth, we partner them up with young adults, and they start working on projects together. Those projects are then going to be commissioned pieces by the public. Someone tells us they want a chef’s knife, they get a quote, and the mentor and their youth make it, and it comes with a certificate. That's one way that we're looking to bring funds.
RELATED: A CONVERSATION WITH FORGED IN FIRE JUDGE DAVID BAKER
In my opinion, our veterans are the best mentoring because they have the structure and the discipline. If you give them the correct support, resources, and training, they will keep going. These kids need people who do not give up on them and give them an opportunity. Blacksmithing and knifemaking have been proven to get the kid's attention because what is cooler than making knives?
“It goes beyond just knifemaking, and it goes beyond blacksmithing. What matters is the human element. ”
Again, it’s about more than making knives. I believe it will inspire kids to become welders, electricians, or plumbers because they won’t be afraid to get their hands dirty. We need more of that these days.
I worked for the Marion County Juvenile Department. They have the FUEL and MATRIX programs. These alternative programs provide a comprehensive opportunity for youth to give back to the community through community service, participate in work to pay restitution to crime victims, develop work habits, and learn higher-level technical work skills for future employability. The program has four components: Community Service (YCSP), Matrix, Focused Utilization of Employment and Labor IV (FUEL), and the Fresh Start Market and Coffee Shop.
From wood turning to bladesmithing
BDF: How did you get into forging?
JN: As I mentioned, I've been a wood-turner for many years. So, one day I was at a store in Portland—a wood store that I go to to find pieces to turn—and a gentleman was there looking for wood for his handles. We started talking, and he showed me a knife that he made. I looked at it and thought, “How hard is this to make?” I started researching knifemaking— about 11 years ago, 12 years ago—and I sold all my woodturning tools and started buying knife-making tools.
So, that's how I got started in knifemaking. I started in the basement of my house. I did not have a forge. I started as a stock removal. Then I started showing the knives I made, and people started saying, “Can you make me one?” After that, I was lucky enough to gain a following. That took me to Blade Show Atlanta, my first show.
(Image credit: Josh Navarrete
I realized quickly that you don’t go there to make money. You go there to network with other people! You go there to shake hands with customers, material providers, and people who know the industry.
Now, I have my own company called NK Forge and Metalworks, LLC., and I give classes to civilians. I make knives and different things.
How Josh got on Forged in Fire
BDF: How did you get to be on Forged in Fire?
JN: Blade Show Atlanta. That's when Forged in Fire approached me. They came to my table and asked me if I had ever been interested in maybe participating in the show. At that point, they were working on season six. I haven't had cable in many years, so I only watched the show once or twice. But I thought, why not? Let's see what happens.
“I’m going into this like a wedding crasher. I’m going to dance, I’m going to eat shrimp, I’m going to dance with the bride, and if I get caught and kicked out, I was not supposed to be there anyway.”
A little bit after that, unfortunately, my wife and I had a miscarriage, and that took us out of the picture. It was devastating. We took a trip to Mexico to regroup, and it took us a couple of months to get back up and get on our feet again. Finally, my wife was like, “You know what? You should send them an email again. I think it's a good opportunity, and it will be good for you.” So, I sent an email, and the next day, I got a response from one of the producers.
I was fortunate enough to win my episode, which was funny because I was the only one who didn't know how to use a coal forge. When I saw it was a coal forge outside in the freezing cold, I thought, “I'm going into this like a wedding crasher. I'm going to dance, I'm going to eat shrimp, I'm going to dance with the bride, and if I get caught and kicked out, I was not supposed to be there anyway.” I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. That is one of the biggest reasons I was never nervous during the show.
BDF: The people who approach it with humor and don't get too stressed about it seem to be the ones that have gone the farthest.
JN: Here's the thing: the show does not demonstrate how good of a knife maker you are but shows how good you are with your time management and stress. What usually takes you two weeks to make, you’re making in three hours. Plus, using the tools that aren’t yours and all the machines you have never used.
(Image credit: History)
After the first round, I thought, “Ok, I can pull this off.” I'm very detail-oriented. That was one of the biggest things that helped me to win the show. I focused a lot on the details and did not miss anything. I had a blast. Ultimately, they gave me a platform because that was when I was marinating in the idea of starting I.A.C.T.
Josh is helping our veterans
BDF: What is your connection to veterans?
JN: I'm not a veteran myself. I've been a supportive employment specialist since 1989. I've helped people with disabilities and other disadvantages for employment find jobs in the community. During that time, I’ve worked with many vets who were dealing with or have dealt with PTSD. I quickly learned what worked for many of them and what didn't, and I realized there was a big gap in services. They can go to school to get business classes, and that’s great, but there aren’t many places where they could go and blow off some steam. Somewhere they could take out their frustration, anger, sadness, or happiness if they wanted to. There was no place they could do that. So, that is how the idea started getting serious. I started thinking about how I could provide that for them.
“ They can go to school to get business classes, and that’s great, but there aren’t many places where they could go and blow off some steam. Somewhere they could take out their frustration, anger, sadness, or happiness if they wanted to.”
I started giving classes to vets out of my house, and a couple of them came, but I could only do one at a time since I had a tiny little shop. I realized the benefits of blacksmithing for vets and knew I could go bigger. I knew that I would find a lot of support from the community because this is a good thing. I started doing more research on recreational therapy, and I began to learn more about what it is all about. Today, I have several vets who have come to the club and who have taken classes, and they are flourishing!
(Image credit: Josh Navarrete)
I'm very blessed and honored to be able to do this. Not everybody has the chance. We all want to help in some way, but most people do not know how or don't have the means, so I'm very fortunate. We are changing many people's emotional, psychological, and even physical situations.
So, my whole goal is to find ways to help people. I think that it is very unfair of us to expect our vets and former first responders to just sit down and talk to somebody and “get better.” I want to provide them with a safe space and let them take it as far as they want. The door will always be open for them if they want to leave and come back. I have five instructors, three of whom are Forged in Fire Champions!
One of the biggest partnerships that we have created is with the Wounded Warrior Project.
BDF: That is amazing, Josh. I'm glad we can help get your word out a little more.
JN: I appreciate this because it’s really word of mouth that has allowed us to grow. I haven't spent that much time or effort on advertising. Everything is through Facebook or Instagram. Suddenly we had a wave of people wanting to help assist. Later this month, we're going to have a small fundraising event. I still don't have don't know exactly the dates because we're still putting it together.
I'm trying to organize the board of directors. At the end of the day, it comes down to funding. It’s like any nonprofit organization.
Thank God my wife loves me so much because if I were her, I would have said, “Dude, you’re nuts!”
BDF: The support of a partner is a reoccurring theme I hear from many bladesmiths!
JN: I genuinely believe that I wouldn't be doing this without the support of my wife. I would probably be in an office job, wondering what could have been. I have met a lot of my fellow knife makers and business owners whose key ingredient in their success is their partner.
Josh’s advice to would-be smiths
BDF: Do you have any advice for aspiring bladesmiths?
JN: The best advice I can give to aspiring bladesmiths is to keep it simple. I know that is easier said than done because when you start, your mind and ideas are all over the place, but it is important to keep your designs and projects as simple as possible at the beginning. This will allow you to focus on learning basic ergonomics and design. Once you learn how to shape and design a comfortable, simple knife, then you can start pushing your designs and start to discover your own style.
Also, don’t stress about equipment. You will see shops with power hammers and presses, but keep in mind that most people don’t have these tools, and they still make amazing pieces of art.
To see more of Josh’s work, follow him on Facebook, Instagram @navarreteknives and visit his website navarreteknives.com. To learn more about I.A.C.T or to get involved, visit iactoregon.com.
NEWS
About The Author
More Interviews
