Filling the Void: An Interview with Bladesmith Priest Parrish

(Image credit: Priest Parrish)

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Priest Parrish is the owner and bladesmith behind Three Vikings Knife Works located in Havelock, North Carolina. He was a competitor on Last Blade Standing last season and recently decided to host a competition of his own.

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Priest took time from his vacation to discuss his background as a bladesmith and tell us about his upcoming competition, Ducksauce.

Priest’s bladesmithing origin story

BRUTE de FORGE: How did you get into forging and bladesmithing?

Priest Parrish: Honestly, I needed a good knife. The forging and the blacksmithing part of it was a little weird. We had an oyster party at my house and were using these cheap, little, junky oyster knives you get from Walmart. My wife had just bought me a new forge, and I had some square stock in the corner of my shop. I said, “Screw it, hang on.” I went and pounded out a little Western knife with a fancy twist. It took off from there.

BDF: What inspired your wife to get you a new forge? Had you been forging before the oyster knives?

PP: I had been doing it for a few years before. I used various torches and a forge made from a propane tank. It wasn't exactly the safest or the best.

BDF: So, how long have you been forging?

PP: I’ve been forging for about ten years.  It's a lot of fun. It's anger management.

BDF: I've heard it's an excellent way to take out your frustrations.

PP: It really is. It's calming. I mean, I have ADHD, so it is incredibly calming. Forging is an excellent way to center yourself after a s***y day.

A little about Priest’s forge

BDF: Tell me a little bit about your forge.

PP: My forge is Three Vikings Knife Works. It is named after me and my two brothers and ties into our lineage. My grandfather had looked up our family line and found that we're related to three famous Vikings. So, the name just fell into place. There are three of us and three famous Vikings that we descended from.

BDF: Do your brothers forge as well?

PP: No. My little brother is my apprentice. He is learning, and he's doing pretty good. He's finally got his own little forge and is using the old railroad track that I used to use as my first anvil.

He's a big help when I need help moving something around in the shop or getting me back on track. Sometimes, I'll have a project I'm working on, and I’ll accidentally start five more. He is good at helping me refocus.

BDF: Do you primarily make blades, or do you forge other things?

PP: Now, I primarily forge blades, knives, and axes. It was mostly oyster knives and decorative blacksmithing stuff before, though.

BDF: Do you have a particular type of blade that you enjoy forging more than others?

PP: I usually make utilitarian-style hunters and skinner knives. Something we use a lot in North Carolina for deer hunting, fishing, and all kinds of things we do where they can be used every day.

BDF: Do you have a favorite project that you've worked on?

PP: I am working on one right now that's been a fun project, and I'm pretty in love with it. It's a four hundred-and-eighty-two-layer Damascus fighter-style kukri. It is probably only the second time I've ever worked with mammoth ivory for handle material, so it's a little stressful, but it's fun to learn as you go. It’s actually for a customer who will be at the Ducksauce Competition. I told him to just donate the price of the knife to the charity. So, that is going to be pretty awesome.

Priest’s upcoming competition

BDF: Let's talk about this competition you have named Ducksauce. What inspired you to have this competition?

(Image credit: Priest Parrish)

PP: For one thing, it's inspired by the competition among bladesmiths. We lost the competition aspect recently with the end of Last Blade Standing. Secondly, I feel like we all made a promise to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, and this is just me trying to create another avenue to raise money for the kids. Maybe even more money! Jacob Underhill is doing the big hammer-in in March to help raise money—and I'm definitely going to try to be there for that—but there are other smiths making knives and selling them for donations or doing auctions or raffles all over the place trying to try to make up for that loss.

“We all made a promise to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, and this is just me trying to create another avenue to raise money for the kids.”

I just wanted to put a competition together because many of us enjoy the competition aspect. Most of us met each other through Last Blade Standing. I wouldn't know ninety percent of the bladesmiths I know if it weren’t for that competition and TikTok. When you lose something to look forward to, it sucks. I by no means want to replace it; I just wanted to give everyone an outlet to do it again and raise money. I want to stay transparent with it and donate as much as we possibly can.

RELATED: LAST BLADE STANDING IS CANCELLED PRIOR TO SEASON FOUR

BDF: How will the donations work?

PP: We will have a National Pediatric Cancer Foundation representative at the event. The bladesmiths and I have agreed that we will have a table at the event where the contestants' knives, donated materials, and everything will be for sale live at the event, with proceeds being donated to the NPCF. Anything that doesn't sell at the event will go through an auction site, and those proceeds will go directly to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

BDF: That's awesome. How many bladesmiths should we expect to see in this competition?

PP: It's still growing. I get messages every day, but I'm going to stop taking competitors in on October 1st. That gives everyone at least a month to make something. I don't want to pressure anybody to make something fast. We used to get ninety days, so this is a little shorter because it's been thrown together quickly.

“This is being shot from the hip, but it’s been coming together so awesome.”

Anyway, we're doing eight to ten-inch chef's knives. All other parameters are entirely up to the bladesmith. The blades are due by October 31st, and we will start testing on November 3rd and November 4th. We will do the testing at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in New Bern, North Carolina. They've graciously let us use the property and do our thing. They have a bar there that supports the VFW, which will help another awesome organization.

BDF: How did you get the word out to competitors?

PP: I made some videos telling everyone my ideas and what I wanted to do and thought, “Let's see what happens.” And all of a sudden, I got all of these reactions off of a couple of videos.

Like I said before, this is being shot from the hip, but it's been coming together so awesome. The people coming together for this are great people and great artists, and they are so kind-hearted to be a part of this and help the kids.  It's just the best thing in the world.

BDF: Do you know how you're going to test the knives?

PP: We have three tests. First, there's an apple slice. Five or six apples will be placed on a board, and then we will try to slice through them. This tests how sharp the edge is, the edge geometry, and the way the bevels are placed. You can tell a lot from a simple test like an apple slice.

Then, there will be a free hanging rope cut, similar to what you see on Blade Sports. It shows how sharp a knife can get and still be functional.

Lastly, we're doing a tip test where we will stab the tip into a wooden cutting board. We are trying to do this one with the minimal amount of damage possible because we want to donate as many as we can. We don’t want to break anything, but these tests will show if there's a problem of any kind.

BDF: Will there be prizes for the winner, or just bragging rights?

PP: There’s a lot of pride in winning because you're helping the NPCF. That’s the best thing. But we have a few prizes. Monkey Made Customs, who is a bladesmith on TikTok and an awesome guy, reached out to another maker, and he got us a thirteen-ton hydraulic forge press donated for first prize.

There are several other prizes. Lasering by Jeff is donating a tumbler laser engraved with the Ducksauce logo and the “F Cancer” on the back. I believe he's making some coins for all the competitors to have as a token of the event. Jake [Phillips] from Sixth Gen Forge is donating handle materials. He makes some beautiful handle material. There are a few other things as well.

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BDF: Are you starting to feel more pressure as this event gets bigger?

PP: I wouldn't call it pressure. Honestly, I'm having the best time with it. There's so much help coming in from every different direction, helping me figure all this out.  People helped me find a place to do this and get dates together. They’ve helped with how to test and score. We are in the process of building a website. It's all coming together with a lot of help from a lot of people. It's been so awesome.

The meaning behind Ducksauce

BDF: Why is it called Ducksauce?

PP: Ducksauce is just something I've always put as a hashtag on posts. It's always meant something different. This time, it just means cancer sucks, honestly. Ducksauce is really a word for a state of mind. Hopefully, we can get a good turnout and have a great time. I hope we make as much money to donate to these children as possible. That's just the biggest goal.

The structure of the competition

BDF: Is it going to be a bracket competition?

PP: Yes, it'll be a bracket-style competition. I wish I knew a better way to do it other than that, but I don’t, so it's going to be a bracket. I don't have anybody ranked or scored in any way right now, so it's going to be a new kind of system. Competitors going against each other in the first round will be randomly chosen. That way, I don't upset anybody by putting a one-year smith up against somebody who has already won Forged in Fire. Several Forged in Fire alumni are coming to play, which is really cool.

“Hopefully, we can get a good turnout and have a great time. I hope we make as much money to donate to these children as possible. That’s just the biggest goal.”

I’m not personally competing in the competition, but I will make a knife to sell at the auction. But it's going to be a good time. There are some great bladesmiths competing!

BDF: That’s fantastic! We will be watching as the competition unfolds. Before you go, do you have any advice for aspiring bladesmiths?

PP: Have fun, and get a good fire extinguisher. Get a good fire extinguisher, and make sure you're not forging next to your wife's Christmas decorations. She will get mad!

Seriously, though, the best thing to do is have fun. Don't get angry at what you're making. If you made and love it, that's all that counts. Just keep getting after it.

To see more from Priest and to follow the Ducksauce Competition, follow him on Facebook at Priest Parrish and TikTok @threevikingsknifeworks.

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