The Slacksmith: Jayden Simisky's Artful Craftsmanship

Working out of a well-equipped metal shop in Louisville, Colorado, Jayden Simisky (theslacksmith.com, @jaydensimisky) carefully crafts eye-catching culinary knives as well as hammers, axes, hunting knives, chopsticks and sculptural ironworks. His 1,000-layer mosaic Damascus knives, with handles crafted in exotic woods like Hawaiian koa and amboyna burl, are highly functional works of art. It’s a painstaking and creative process Simisky embraces. “The Damascus knives are sought after by extremely passionate home chefs who have a taste for art and value things that work well,” says Simisky, who earned a degree in environmental science and geology from CU Boulder in 2024.

Simisky became interested in metalwork at 10 when his father took him to a welding workshop in Denver. “I had an absolute blast,” he says. They bought an entry-level welding machine, and Simisky started helping neighbors with small welding and blacksmithing projects as his skills quickly improved.

At 16, he began tackling ornamental ironwork projects, crafting a wine rack for Pasta Jay’s in Boulder. In 2021, Simisky competed in the History Channel’s Forged in Fire series, winning the bladesmith competition by crafting an ornate elephant tusk sword. “I take raw materials like a chunk of steel and a block of wood and turn them into a beautiful finished piece,” he says.

An American Bladesmith Society Journeyman Smith, Simisky also teaches beginner and advanced classes at his Colorado shop, including how to make a chef’s knife, hammer, hatchet or a whimsical utility knife crafted from a railroad spike.

When he’s not creating high-end knives, Simisky leans into the quintessential Colorado outdoor pursuit of slacklining—walking on a two-inch strip of webbing suspended thousands of feet in the air. This daring adventurer and artisan isn’t just a bladesmith. He calls himself “The Slacksmith.”