Meet Brendan “Weimy” Weimholt of Weimy Cutlery in Colleyville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan “Weimy” Weimholt.

Brendan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I come from a navy family. My father, brother, and sister were all in the navy prior to me. My brother was ten years older than me and I remember him saying, “If you’re going to join the navy, either become a pilot or SEAL.” He was a boatswain mate on a cruiser and knew ship life and he didn’t want that for me. Since my interests also didn’t include more studying after my short stint in community college, I decided to try and become a SEAL.

I enlisted in the military in December of 1997 and screened for BUDs, (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) the SEAL training pipeline. After being rolled for stress fractures in both legs after hell week, I finally graduated and was assigned to SEAL Team Five in San Diego, CA. Over the span of 20 years, I’ve completed many combat deployments as well as instructing and overseeing training throughout the SEAL pipeline.

My interest in forging steel was sparked during a particularly rough combat deployment in 2012 while I served overseas in Afghanistan. I started heating and hammering on scrap metal to relieve stress and take my mind off our increasingly difficult job. When I returned home, I researched a blacksmith guild near our San Diego home and started to attend every Saturday. There I learned the basics of forging tools such as tongs and chisels, however, I wanted to craft knives. I began to reach out to master bladesmiths around the country to further my knowledge and because of this, my learning period was greatly reduced.

In 2017, we moved to Colleyville, TX and now call it home. Our bladesmithing shop is located on our property so all knives are crafted right here in the DFW area.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey has not been smooth. As reported, the amount of explosions and violent experiences bear a toll on our military personnel. Many combat veterans sustain visible and invisible injuries and I was no different. These challenges tested my family, job and life. I turned to forging steel in lue of other more hazardous vises and in that way, bladesmithing saved my life.

Transitioning from military to civilian life is a challenge also. My beautiful wife Shannon and I have three children, daughter 23, son 19 and son 10. Between training trips and deployments, I wasn’t present for much of my older kids’ lives but am now blessed to be active in our younger sons activities. Our little guy loves soccer, hanging out in the shop with dad and has even started crafting his own knives and sharpening them on whetstones.

Please tell us about Weimy Cutlery.
Weimy Cutlery specializes in forging high-performance, hand made cutlery. Our knives stand the test of time and will last a lifetime when properly cared for. We stand behind our products and hope they will be passed down to your children as heirlooms. We are proud of the fact we’re a veteran owned and operated company. We’re also proud of the craftsmanship standard we hold ourselves to. We try very hard to offer our customers the service they deserve.

Because I come from a tactical background, I have used knives in many different areas of life and understand what makes a great blade. I particularly like making kitchen knives and have dedicated many hours perfecting the geometry and cutting performance of my blades.

We use only the best materials in our knives from steel to handle scales. We like to use stabilized exotic woods for our handles; however, we take custom orders and will use Micarta, G10, carbon fiber or any other handle material the customer may want. Our steel of choice is Hitachi white paper steel due to its pure content. This particular steel is many times referred to as the gold standard for kitchen cutlery and offers superb sharpness and easy re-sharpening. We also make our own damascus and will soon be embarking down the path of forge welding mosaic damascus patterns. Our high-performance blades are always sharpened on whetstones.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I grew up in the Mojave Desert in Southern California and loved rock climbing and mountain biking. I have many great memories from growing up. One nice one to remember is the summer cross-country trips our family made towing our trailer and stopping at KOAs along the way. I’d always check to see if there was a pool first. I loved cruising around the campgrounds, messing with the wildlife and working up an appetite for dinner. I also remember warm summer evenings in Sedalia, MO at my grandparents’ house. I loved catching fireflies and getting doughnuts with my Uncle John.

Pricing:

• We craft knives from $185 and up depending on size and complexity. The majority of our sales are from our products which are sold on our website, Weimycutlery.com. Knives can also be commissioned for those users that know exactly what they need and these knives will typically be more expensive than those on the website. Since so many aspects of our blades can be customized, every change can affect the cost of it. A rough starting price would be as follows.

 

• Keychain knife-$185
• Neck knife-$400
• Tactical knife-$545
• Chef knife-$550
• Sushi knife-$700
• Prep knife-$400
• Pitmaster BBQ knife-$700

 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weimycutlery.com
• Phone: 619-709-1781
• Email: mrs.weimy@weimycutlery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weimycutlery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Weimycutlery/

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