The smith.
Born, raised and built in Northwest Arkansas. Wayne Johnson, The American Viking, founder and owner of Valhalla Forging in Gentry.
It started under horses.
Wayne Johnson is Northwest Arkansas born and raised, and so is everything that comes off his anvil. He started out as a farrier, shoeing and showing horses and working hot steel every day. His love of metal and blades moved him naturally from horseshoes to hand axes.
Today he specializes in period accurate 7th century spears, axes, swords and knives, alongside modern blades from everyday carry to a full line of combat knives and tomahawks.
And the Bash Brother Series, the blade that built the business.
Wayne has committed his life to breathing life back into bladesmithing in Northwest Arkansas. Next up: classes in ornamental iron and bladesmithing, so the craft keeps going.
Bladesmithing belongs in Northwest Arkansas. Wayne is bringing it back.
Wayne JohnsonThe American Viking. Founder and owner, Valhalla Forging. Gentry, Arkansas
- NWA bornRaised and built here
- Since 2018Forging blade by blade
- Farrier firstHorseshoes to hand axes
As featured in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Made here. Not imported. Not outsourced.
Every blade is forged in Gentry, in the corner of the Ozarks that spent eight straight years in U.S. News' top 10 places to live in America. Valhalla Forging is part of what gets built here, one hammer strike at a time.
Forged, not stamped.
Forged at Valhalla
- ShapingDrawn out hot under the hammer, grain follows the blade
- SteelPicked per blade from six grades on the rack
- Heat treatOne blade at a time, judged by eye
- RepairsGoes back to the man who made it, free
Factory stamped
- ShapingPunched out of flat sheet by a machine
- SteelOne alloy for the whole product line
- Heat treatBatch run on a timer
- RepairsThrown away and replaced
Forged for life.
A blade made by hand can be fixed by hand. That does not stop when the money changes hands.
Dull it, chip it, ruin it on a stone. Send it back and it comes home sharp.
If scales crack or a pin walks, that is a shop problem, not yours.
Not abuse, not prying. Honest work that breaks a blade means the blade was wrong.
You pay to send it in. It comes back to you on the shop's dime.