Larrin's father is a famous custom knife maker who worked with making his own Damascus-style steel. Larrin, though his father, is well-known among the knife community.
My poorly worded response was more to Crucible taking a chance on somebody off the street. Larrin is not some unknown quantity. He has connections in the knife industry, including Crucible. He's also a metallurgist with accomplishments in his own right. Crucible still took a risk, but it wasn't a huge one.