In April of 2013 I began messaging the owner of Hellfire Forge, Earl Blackmore, about comissioning a custom sword for my friend Alec who was suffering from a heroin addiction at the time. A facination of video games and fantasy literature was what our childhood friendship was built upon, and I thought that gifting him a custom sword would help him through this incredibly difficult time. At first Earl gave me a reasonable timetable for 4-5 months for completion of the sword, which I was fine with. We agreed on a price of 1550.00 however the sword was not completed within this timetable. I would send him emails after the 5 month period had expired to check on the progress of the sword, where I would be given any number of reasons why he failed to complete it, such as moving his shop or having a "shoulder injury" This carried on for a year.
In early April of 2014, Alec died of a heroin overdose. Any attempt to adress how long the blade was taking to complete, or whether it was being worked on at all, were either ignored at best, or at worst met with insults. It has been 3 years and I still do not have the sword. My experience was that Earl was highly unprofessional and rude. I am a very patient and empathetic person, but I cannot reccomend hellfire forge to anyone seeking leather or metalworking goods.
