Grant Sarver passed away yesterday from an aortic aneurysm. He owned and operated Off Center Forge in Graham WA. He was a long time pillar in the black smithing industry and made top of the line tooling. Many blade smiths used his tools. He was also the national sales rep for the induction forges most of us use.
He only lived about 20 mins from me and this is how I will remember him. Quietly but efficiently building his rugged high quality tooling. He was a great guy always willing to help any way he could. It took a couple phone calls to him to get my induction forge up and running. He was very patient and insisted that I call him any time in the future if I run into any problems.
He will be deeply missed in the black smith and blade smithing community.
Many blade smiths are using his tongs, he made them with alloy steel and they are some of the best out there. I hope there is someone out there that will continue on his tradition of high quality tooling.