ROMANCE, Ark. (KTHV) -- In the hills of Arkansas, a young blacksmith is keeping the fire burning for an ancient craft.
He's a contemporary gunsmith who specializes in making long rifles and knives, and his talent recently got him national attention.
At 28-years old, Daniel Casey's line of work isn't typical for someone his age.
"It was a long journey for sure to get to this point and to earn a reputation of a craftsman."
Casey's spark was ignited after watching instructional blacksmith videos as a teen. The videos featured a blacksmith from Kentucky, Hershel House.
“I loved what he did, the way he did it and kind of just the character and aura that went with him."
He spent several summers in Kentucky studying the craft of knife making and gunsmithing from House.
“I was always determined that this is what I was going to do."
Now, he's one of the country's few full-time blacksmiths specializing in building rifles and knives through traditional methods.
"Every piece that I make, I want it to be absolutely unique to the customer. I try to get something personal on every gun or every knife that I build to make it where it's a one of a kind type of piece.”
Casey wants every customer to feel like they're walking away with an heirloom piece.
"All my guns from the simplest to the most complicated take from 300 to 1,000 hours to complete from start to finish."
He uses a variety of materials in his projects, from iron to wood.
"My favorite part of building the gun besides forging the iron work is definitely shaping the stock, because you get to go from a massive chunk of wood like this to a finished, polished, nice, smooth graceful gun stock.”
Casey's work recently caught the attention of History Channel producers. He is now part of a new series, Iron & Fire.
The show is introducing America to the craft of knife-making and gunsmithing in the modern age.
"Business has just exploded, we can't even keep up. We've actually stopped taking orders at this time in order to catch up with our back order."
"There's nothing better than working for yourself and getting to do what you love every day and if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life, so really I just get to play all the time."
You can catch Iron & Fire at 9 p.m. Mondays on the History Channel. You can find out more about Casey Arms by clicking here.
