After years spent guiding a congregation, a former pastor decided to forge a new path as a blade smith.

Kevin Perito started his knife making business, Shepherd's Forge, in Winchester, shortly after the Covid 19 pandemic and quickly carved out a niche for himself with a distinctive style of craftsmanship.

More on his journey from ministry to metal work in today's Tapestry our Arts and Culture segment.

My uncle made knives for about 40 years and he gave one to all the boys in the family when they turned 18.

But the fact that my uncle made them with his hands, like, was just next level for me.

And I think there was something in me that said a knife has legacy to it.

It took me till I was in my mid 40s forever, you know, got into any of this.

So one day he came downstairs and said, I think I can forge knives.

And I said, okay, I think you can give that a shot.

I never set out to have a knife making business.

I was already committed to ministry by the middle of my freshman year.

And if you can rewind to any freshman in high school, you know, making a life decision like that just doesn't happen very often.

But my life decision then lasted about 25 years.

I spent in the ministry in 21, in the midst of Covid.

I got my first anvil, first forge, and everybody was in that restless stage.

But I was just like, I want to do this.

And it had been a. It been a long time since I had felt that, like Paul.

Yes.

I was very surprised.

It was the first kind of artistic expression in our marriage that he had tried to take on.

I wasn't surprised that he wanted to try something new and try a new hobby.

He's.

He likes to try things.

And it was going to be a small venture, which just kept growing exponentially.

Jumped into this.

Sold a few knives, then it just kept on evolving from there.

A little bit bigger equipment, more equipment.

Teaching classes, more shows, bigger shows.

Getting into the shows that you actually had to apply for and they had to let you in versus the show that they just wanted warm bodies to show up.

And every step of the way, it's just it's been it's kind of opened up.

So since I had a little bit of a base, by the time I stepped away from the church, it made it a little bit easier to go ahead and step away, because I knew there was something I could fall back on.

And this is what is in front of me now.

He's stayed very consistently the same and actually, I think finds more expression of his face now.

Even though it's much more of a private faith, he's expresses himself so much more now because of this, and he's found other avenues to still share, his heart with people and to share, his imagination with people.

And that reflects very deeply into who we are.

It was strange at first seeing him want to do this.

I never really thought about people making knives until he started doing that.

My third boyfriend, Landon, he's helped me more than anybody else.

He knows the whole process from beginning to end.

He's handled all the knives.

Only thing he has not done is forge the knives.

He does most of the blade work on the knives like he does most of the actual knife making.

I think I really step up and help with the, the handle work.

I focus primarily on kind of two big categories.

One, I have kind of everyday carry knives.

And then, I've really been focusing a lot in the last year or two on my kitchen knives.

Between cleavers, kind of a Japanese style knife that I call the beloved after my wife.

And then I just released some paring knives this year.

I don't clean my knives up completely.

I don't grind and make them clean and shiny.

I leave that texture and that color across the top.

So that kind of has its I think that's that seems to be my style that I've fallen into.

People have bought those knives because they can go, oh, I, I can tell you made this just by looking at it.

Any knife that I make, unless somebody intentionally destroys it, will outlive me.

The honor I get to have in making knives in this leaving legacy is the statement that that good work is salvation our joy.

I get to make a living mostly out of doing this.

And that is, this is a great privilege and joy.

Kevin says he loved the teaching aspect of ministry, and has found other avenues to continue that through his work as a life coach and teaching knife making classes there at his shop.