Dave Wenger grew up fascinated by medieval weapons and armour. One day, the boy decided to try his hand at making his own weapons. He flattened metal pipes that his father had lying around, cut a tip onto them with a hacksaw and used a few rolls of adhesive tape for the handle – and voilà, he had a feudal Japanese samurai sword. His grandfather worked as a blacksmith, which gave the young Dave Wenger an insight into professional knife making. Eighteen years later, in June 2012, Dave Wenger got serious and earned his Journeyman Smith rating from the American Bladesmith Society (ABS). Wenger Blades was founded in January 2013.