Jason Willis Duguay

Custom Designed Knives

And Blacksmithing

Born out of the necessity to keep my hands and more importantly my brain busy. I have created Whiskey Delta Metalworx as a means to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, aquired in the line of duty as a Paramedic in the province of Ontario. For 20+ years I served my community and its people with the utmost respect and dedication. Despite all my training and experience in early 2020, amid the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, my brain and my body had had enough. I was tired of all the stress, the grueling hours, and the constant feeling of needing to be at my best at all times, never taking a minute to decompress.

When I first went off work I had no idea what was next.   All I knew is that I was one of the last people that I or my coworkers expected to be sidelined with overwhelming anxiety and stress. I basically sat at home and lamented about my situation for almost 2 months. Then I decided that I need to do something, anything, to get my brain working on problems, and my hands busy again.  Having watched the popular tv show Forged In Fire for years, after almost every episode I said “I want to do that”!  Well, this was my chance. And from day one it’s been an amazing experience.  I don’t know if I have ever packed so much learning and pure ‘just get up and do it’ as I have in these few short months.  As an extension I have taken up blacksmithing, building as much of my own tooling as possible, and restoration of old tools.

I have to say though. The support from friends, family, coworkers and even strangers had been overwhelming. From day one people have expressed their interest in supporting me.  Even if they didn’t know my back story. And if someone did know of my mental health issues, they were extra supportive.   I can’t thank those people enough.  I will be forever grateful.