blacksmithing & metal
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Beginner Courses |
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Blacksmithing 101
An ancient craft that is experiencing a modern artistic revival, blacksmithing is a fun and productive hobby that can allow you to create many tools and products for use around the home. In this introductory workshop, students will learn the basic tolls of the smith, how to set up a portable forge using coal or charcoal, and then practice basic blacksmithing skills including drawing and bending metal. Each student will make his or her own classic blacksmith product: a forged s-hook. This is the perfect class for the beginning blacksmith.
You may also add to your Intro class experience a Blacksmithing Open Studio session the day after or another day in the future. Click here for the Form.
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Blacksmithing for Kids
Beginner Blacksmith shops were as common and as important as gas stations are today. Every village, town, and city once employed a blacksmith. They were responsible for fixing or creating a variety of useful items such as knives & swords, hammers & chisels, and hinges & hardware, just to name just a few. The sounds of the iconic hammer pounding on an anvil and smell of the coal harkens back to a time when things moved a little slower, more deliberate. This beginning blacksmithing course for children slows down the modern world and operates to the cadence of the hammer striking the anvil. In this course your child will learn about this staple trade and ancient craft. Students will learn about lighting and maintaining a coal forge, reading the flame, striking and simple bending, and tools and hardware. Students use this knowledge to take home a projects that they heated, pounded and manipulated, leaving them with both an appreciation of the trade and a sense of wonderful for the world of folk craft.
While this is a child's course, it is intensive and demanding. We strongly encourage children to enter the Smith Shop with a high level of maturity. Kids aged 12-17 years are welcome to join this class. No prior prior experience is required. A parent or guardian is required to sign a wavier at the start of class for the child to participate. You may also add to your Intro class experience a Blacksmithing Open Studio session the day after or another day in the future. Click here for the Form. |
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Parent/Child Blacksmithing Workshop
Due to the popularity of our blacksmithing program, we have decided to add a special experience for parents and children to smith together. In this class, we invite you to join your aspiring-blacksmith kiddo for bonding, fun, and unforgettable memories. Parent and child will use teamwork at their own forge a craft a simple project that they take home at the end fo the experience.
For everyone’s safety, children must be at least nine years of age. Besides the precautions that we have put in place with regards to COVID-19, everyone must wear long pants, sturdy footwear, safety goggles, and, for some, cotton gloves.
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Hand Forged Knives: Intro to Bladesmithing
With blacksmithing making an popular reemergence throughout the country, many people have sought out the experience of making a blade. We heard your comments and spent considerable efforts to lay the foundation for serious bladesmithing courses designed for the professional and the folk-minded. While this 2-day intense class serves as a introduction to bladesmithing, it was designed to also introduce students to the basic, hands-on craft of blacksmithing. This is a foundational course and will serve as a prerequisite for many future intermediate and advanced bladesmithing courses including adding knife handles, finishing, advanced heat treating, and forging Damascus blades.
Your experience begins with instruction on tools and equipment, material selection, body mechanics, design considerations, forging techniques, basic heat treating principles and finishing methods. This will be a very active class, with strong emphasis on hands-on. It will also feel similar to an intense 2-day cardio workout including heat, noise, sweat, and physical exertion. Each student will work from a steel blank and, through forging, profiling, beveling, heat treating, and finishing, create their own personal hand-forged blade. Please make sure to keep your quality expectations in-check, as this is a beginners course. It takes many hours at the forge developing the skill to make a high-quality knives and this course is designed to get you started on that path. No experience necessary. This class is for 18 years and older. You may use this course to satisfy the prerequisite for Blacksmithing Open Studio. Course Fee: $375 - Supply Fee: $25 Location: Folk School
Instructor(s): Wade Buck or Atticus Keesling |
