Noah Legel was originally from a small town in Central Illinois, and began making knives in his grandfather’s machine shed near Effingham as a teenager, grinding scrap steel into everything from small throwing knives to chunky choppers. At the age of 16, he began researching traditional bladesmithing techniques in earnest, connecting with smiths all over the world and learning from them online. In 2009, he took a class with neo-tribal master smith, Tai Goo, in Tucson, Arizona, which was truly the start of his bladesmithing career. Since then, he has visited and learned from many other experienced smiths, continued extensive research, and set up shop near Salem, Illinois, to put it all to practical use forging blades from both modern and reclaimed materials.

Stephanie Legel grew up as an Army brat, living the first 10 years of her life in Germany before moving back to the US, and eventually joined the United States Navy, where she was assigned Presidential Honor Guard duty, and eventually became the assistant to the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. Throughout her entire life, Stephanie has studied the spiritual and medicinal cultures of a wide assortment of peoples, learning everything from herbalism, to tarot, to animism, and beyond. She now lives as a disabled veteran, providing guidance on medicinal herbs and spiritual practices, and helping Noah incorporate those aspects into his craft when necessary.