AMANDA, OH (WCMH) – Using scrap metal and fallen trees, a local artist is re-creating history, one piece at a time.

From a modest workshop in Amanda, Todd Bitler turns discarded junk into works of art.

“This is a 1650’s Dutch fowler, all hand inlet, hand carving, carving on the tang” said Bitler. “I made the barrel, I made everything on this gun except the lock, I buy the locks.”

For more than a decade, Todd Bitler has been re-creating history.

“I guess you could you can call me a weapons re-creator,” he said.

Bitler said it all started when he was a kid. He played ‘Cowboys and Indians,’ and always insisted on being the Indian. That passion led him to historical reenacting.

“I said well I want to reenact so I started researching the culture and nobody made the items. Nobody made the guns,” Bitler said. “Well they made them, but they didn’t make them accurate and didn’t look real. They were too real too shiny.”

He spends hours every day making his weapons look old. All of his pieces are fully functional, too.

Bitler’s work has appeared in several PBS productions and magazines. Most recently, he was featured on the History Channel’s program ‘Forged in Fire.’