Photos by Paul Bryant Sixty years in the knife business hasn't dulled Dan Harrison's passion for creating custom blades.

If anything, it's only sharpened it.

The self-taught knifesmith began honing his craft at the tender age of 12, when his neighbor, a master gunsmith, gave him a World War II German Luger.

Wanting to be a master gunsmith at that age, his neighbor threw him the pistol and said, "There you are, now go fix it."

Fix it, he did.

"I took it home, started taking it apart and I had to figure out how the parts went back together," Harrison said. " I found a part that was broken, so I bought myself a grinder and remade the part - then the gun worked.

"Next, I thought I'd build my mamma something as a gift, so I ground a kitchen knife out of an old file. Later, I ground a knife for myself and I've been doing it ever since. I have as much fun doing it today as I did then."

A love of the craft has taken Dan many places and provided him many opportunities over the years.

The knowledge gained during his journey was passed down to his son, Adam, a paramedic in Van.

Knife-making has also afforded the knifesmith much recognition during his tenure and many highprofile clients on his resume, including President Lyndon B. Johnson, Malaysia's royal family and famous country- music legends Ray Price and Sammy Kershaw.

Even actor Sylvester Stallone owns a Harrison original. And he explained that his knives have also shown up on the Silver Screen.

With so many customers still wanting to have a Harrison custom knife in their grip, today he can be found at his new shop, Harrison & Son Knifesmith in downtown Ben Wheeler, next to the Flying Fish Gallery and Wild Woods of Texas.

His arrival to downtown is possible because of the efforts of the Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Brooks Gremmels and his wife. Through the foundation, the Gremmels are committed to rebuilding, revitalizing and reestablishing a sense of community to the quaint town they've grown to know and love.

While Harrison is a new tenant in downtown, he's an old resident to these parts of Texas. Born on a farm between Prosper and Frisco, he has called East Texas home for quite some time.

In fact, over the last 33 years, he had been selling his custom works including knives, swords and axes from a workshop in Edom. His blades have also been attainable at museum and other juried art shows.

Taking great pride in his creations, Harrison set up his original Edom shop in the early 1970s - a place where he has mastered the technique of freehandgrinding blades from raw stock, then heat-treating the blades in his workshop to ensure more efficient and better control of the process.

To learn more about Van Zandt County and Ben Wheeler, visit benwheelertx.com.