Tony Swatton is the most famous blacksmith in Los Angeles. But he's not forging horseshoes. Rather, Swatton has banged out a place in Tinseltown as the go-to guy when a big-budget movie or hit TV show needs custom metalwork. The swords in Pirates of the Caribbean? Those creepy-cool murder weapons from CSI and Criminal Minds? The Infinity Gauntlet from Thor? All were Swatton creations.

The 49-year-old got started in heavy metal at the tender age of 17. “I saw a guy making armor at a Renaissance fair,” Swatton recalls. “I watched him work for about two hours, went home, replicated some equipment, shaped a section of railroad track into an anvil, and made a helmet. I went back to the same fair two weeks later and showed [it to] him. He thought it was one of his own.”

As a young fan of fantasy and science fiction books from authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, Swatton had often visualized the armor and weaponry from his favorite sword and sorcery titles. "I wanted to have them, to hold them tangibly," he said. The trouble was, he didn't have the money to buy replicas. He decided to make his own and became very good at it.

His business, The Sword and the Stone, has been going strong for 25 years, and his services range from knife sharpening, which costs four bucks, to massive armor projects that top $100,000. He's got no end of work to do, and some years he'll create more than 1,200 swords alone.

“No one is doing that kind of production,” he says. “And each one is handcrafted, one at a time.”

His skill, not to mention his eye for detail, have made him the go-to guy for anyone who needs the most realistic, and awesome, weapons. He's got a knack for coming through with just the right thing.

"When you look at actual historical weapons, they often don't live up to your expectations," says Shawn Strider, the organizer of the Labyrinth of Jareth masquerade in Los Angeles, who has used Swatton's swords and armor in several of his events. "But when you look at Tony's work, it's exactly what you wanted it to be like."

Demand for Swatton’s creations is huge, and the odds are you're familiar with his work. The hook from Hook, the blade from Blade, creepy weapons from the Hellboy movies, Batarangs from Batman Returns and even custom crucifixes from Sons of Anarchy all came from the forge at The Sword and the Stone. All the vikings in Capital One's “What’s in your wallet?” commercials carried Swatton's gear, and Rihanna, Katy Perry and Britney Spears have worn his armor in videos. It's an odd occasion when Swatton’s fingerprints aren’t on something seen in a big-budget flick.

“Game of Thrones is shot in Ireland, so I don’t do any of the production for that,” he says. “But I have done pieces they’ve used stateside for promotional appearances such as Comic-Con [International] in San Diego.”

Tony Swatton. Photo: Mike Ruocco/WIRED

Born in Hammersmith (really), England, Swatton admits to having a “tool fetish.” He has a 200-year old anvil and a 1,000-pound anvil, as well as 400 hammers, some of which weigh as much as 100 pounds and many of which he created himself. His library of metalworking tomes has more than 3,000 volumes, some dating to the early 1800s. He uses two forges, including one that reaches 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, to make blades out of materials ranging from low-carbon steel to Damascus steel. He's also trained as a gemcutter and jeweler, and his pieces often incorporate precious stones, gold and silver.

The work is tough, but satisfying. Workdays can run 14 to 18 hours, and Swatton can drink as many as four gallons of water a day without ever hitting the bathroom. He simply sweats it out. The occupational hazards are numerous. Burns are common, a flying chunk of metal once ripped off half his nose (since sewn back on), and Swatton more recently sunk a small knife in his left forearm while creating horse armor for Spike TV's Guys’ Choice Awards show.

“Luckily, I have room there,” Swatton says, showing off the scar. “Hundred-pound hammers give you some massive arms.”

Swatton often runs a one-man shop, but when the workload demands extra help, he'll bring in specialists like grinders, machinists, jewelers, leather workers, even others armorers. “I think six or eight people worked on The Infinity Gauntlet," he says. "It’s an intricate piece. The horse armors? That was eight days of work, pretty much around the clock.”

There are perks to the job, aside from having all that cool weaponry around. Swatton created all the swords for the main characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and became such an integral part of the production that he was invited to filming. “I got to chat with Johnny Depp for a while,” he says. “That was cool, but seeing the blacksmith sets and all the items we created for it was the real treat for me.”

Swatton is busy on production five days a week, and opens his showroom to the public each Saturday. “People come in to get their knives sharpened or their jewelry repaired, but they have no idea what they’re walking into when the come here for the first time,” he says. Swatton tries to get new people hooked as well. The store sells a make-your-own chainmail kit for $35, and metal for $5 a pound.

After 25 years in the business, Swatton feels he’s already been to the mountaintop – and he's happy to stay there. “The daily job is already the dream job,” he says. “It’s what I want to do. I may not make a masterpiece every day, but I’m doing what I love.”

Of all the pieces he's made over the years, Swatton admits to having one favorite project. Karen Cope is a notable L.A. sculptress, and his fiancee.

“On our third date, she came back to the shop and forged a sword with me,” he says. “So that’s a keeper.”