My name is Kyle Royer, I am nineteen years old.  I am an ABS Journeyman Smith.   The first knife I made was a folder, I made the frame out of a solid piece of steel and took the blade out of another knife on which the frame was broke but the blade was still good, then I pinned the blade into the frame that I had made, and I had my first knife. 

Shortly after my Dear Mom told me that I should make a knife for a 4-H project, so I went to the library and got a book on how to make knives and learned how to heat-treat a blade,  pin handles etc… thus my first fixed blade was born.  I made the blade out of an old file and the ferrule out of a small piece of mild steel, the handle I made out of an old piece of deer antler that I found on our property, I epoxied it all together with J B weld, pinned it with a brass pin, and I had my first fixed blade knife.  After the 4-H knife I made a couple knives a year and learned how to make Cable Damascus, for my handles I used stag (deer antler). 

In March of 2007, I went to the W.F.  Moran School of Bladesmithing in Old Washington, Arkansas where I took a two week class on Intro to Bladesmithing under ABS Mastersmiths Bert Gaston and Greg Neely.  This is where I learned how to make a blade that would pass the ABS Journeyman Smith Performance Test, after that I took a class on Handles and Guards under ABS Mastersmith Jim Walker where I learned how to make handles out of stag, exotic woods and many other interesting materials.  I also learned how to make beautiful guards and ferrules and how to do some filework.  

Just after the school I learned how to make leather sheaths.  My favorite handle materials are Desert Ironwood, Mammoth Ivory, Sambar Stag and and Tiger Stripe Maple.   My favorite steels are 1084 and 15N20 for my Damascus, and for my plain carbon blades I like 5160.  I make all of my own Damascus with a forge and a sixty ton hydraulic press that my Dad and I made, I forge my blades to shape by hand on my 400 pound anvil that my Dad and I made.   I only use carbon steels because it is very flexible and it holds an edge very well and is easy to sharpen. 

I have recently passed my ABS Journeyman Smith Test and plan to go for Mastersmith in 2011 .   God willing it to be, I have a dream of becoming one of the best Bladesmiths of my time.