At Assets School, the most popular mentorship program for over 10 years has been a metal arts class, where students learn how to make their own knives and hone life-shaping skills.
In the process, they learn to transform an idea in their minds into something they can hold in their hands. “It’s kind of like magic in a way,” says their teacher Christopher Greywolf. He said it can be a remarkable experience for the students. It used to be called a blacksmithing class, but the techniques can be used for metals other than iron, and the kids will also be working with leather to make knife cases, he said.
He’s been a blade maker and knife sharpener in Hawaii for about 30 years, but his experience with weapons goes way back. “As a kid, I made tomahawks and bows and arrows,” and his favorite sport was throwing knives and axes, said Greywolf, who is half Native American (Blackfoot).
Raised by his grandparents in Kansas, he absorbed the traditional crafts, skills and customs of his heritage. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian history and minored in art at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His professional repertoire extends to making medieval suits of armor and weapons and other props for movies, the most recent, Roland Emmerich’s “Midway” in 2019.
Greywolf, who tells his students to call him “Wolf,” started the mentoring program for Assets high school with only one student at his McCully shop 14 years ago. Every year he added a couple more until he started holding the weekly class on the school’s Alewa Heights campus in 2015.
Now the class has nine, and there’s always a waiting list for grades 10 through 12, said Jason Wagner, director of the school’s mentorship program. The class also teaches about art, history and warfare in the process.
“It’s so popular with the hands-on aspect and creativity,” Wagner said. “Kids love making cool stuff.”
Niki Zarella, a senior taking the class for the third year, is also Greywolf’s teaching assistant.
“We actually make tools here. We learn about the culture and stuff behind the knives we’re working on, what they were used for historically,” Zarella said. “We learn about techniques that are hundreds of thousands of years old. We get to bring that out every day. It’s pretty cool.”
He is in the final stage of heat treating or tempering a traditional “wakizashi,” or short Japanese samurai sword, he designed. Zarella, who said he’s dyslexic, plans to major in mechanical engineering at the University of Hawaii.
He began to design the sword in his first year, creating graphic sketches of the dimensions from different angles after doing research. It was a far cry from the zombie apocalypse sword he first imagined. Before starting the class, he wouldn’t have described himself as someone who liked working with his hands; now, he said he really loves doing this stuff. (Students also have the option to make decorative items or wrought-iron furniture.)
Zarella said Greywolf told the class the knives they made would probably be higher in quality than those purchased in a store, which mostly are machine milled and factory assembled.
“What you’re working on is very personalized because your end product is as good as how much work you put into it,” he said. “I like seeing how far I can go with that.”
Sophomore Kayla Crawford, who loves art, especially drawing and painting, said she’s never tried anything like the metal arts class before this year. “I was nervous at first,” she said. But she learned how to wield a heavy sledgehammer and other blacksmithing tools, and has gained confidence using the fire. Being the only girl in the class is not a problem, she said.
Greywolf said she is the only third female to enroll in his class over the years, but he encourages more girls to enroll.
“Gender doesn’t matter; women smiths are very, very capable,” he said. “It’s all about mindset.” Kayla is focused and committed to learning, he added.
Assets enrolls students who are gifted academically or have learning challenges such as dyslexia, but Greywolf doesn’t think the distinction is important in his teaching methods.
“I don’t see disabilities,” he said. “I just see situations that need to be worked with. I’ve never seen an issue.”
At the beginning of the session, he shows everyone how to make chain mail (flexible armor used for protective garments) by linking hundreds of metal circles together. It’s a way for him to determine each student’s hand-eye coordination, ability to focus, commitment to the task and patience level.
“They all have very unique personalities. When they’re in class they have to learn how to adjust to each other, how to show respect and how to work together as a team,” Greywolf said.
“They’re learning more than just how to make a knife, they’re learning how to be a good person, how to live — about commitment, dedication, hard work. They’re also learning a lot of history, a bit of teamwork, how to believe in themselves. I encourage them to overcome any situation and see outside the box to fix or solve a problem.
He compared hammering and polishing a blade to people being “roughed up” by failure, criticism and other adversities; they have to be allowed to make mistakes and develop the resilience to try again.
He also drew a parallel in tempering a blade — by plunging it into a fire, and dousing it in cool water until it gains optimum strength and flexibility, depending on its function — to teaching people how to be strong but not too rigid or too yielding, Greywolf said.
“It’s a balance; everything is yin and yang,” he said, referring to the Tao philosophy.
“It doesn’t really matter if they go on to be a knife maker or not. They’re going to have memories that will shape the rest of their lives, and the memories will be fundamental in how they approach other aspects of life in the future. Being able to say, ‘I can do that, or I can fix that,’ that really does make a difference in how a person sees their journey.”
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FOR MORE
Christopher Greywolf
Cutting Edge Sharpening
2023 Republican St. (temporary location), inside Sako Electric Motor Rewinding Corp.
Info: 277-2738
Assets School
High school (grades 9-12)
913 Alewa Drive
Info: 423-1356
