Materials Included
This workshop is designed to give the students a firm grasp on the safe and efficient use of power hammers with special focus placed on tools and techniques that apply to bladesmithing. In this workshop we will forge exercises that get you familiar with parallel and tapered forgings, shoulders, tenons, and we will use and discuss a variety of top and bottom tools to be used on flat dies and how to achieve a variety of different results with them.
The first couple of days students should expect to attempt to execute several forgings that deal with basic power hammer function and technique to develop a strong familiarity with machines and various tools. Once a strong understanding of the machine is developed, we will go over how those techniques will help you forge both hidden tang and integral bolster chief knives. Students will then have the opportunity to execute those forgings in mild steel to demonstrate their understanding and if time allows get to try it with a mono steel hardenable alloy.
This class is not about making knives from start to finish, rather it’s about understanding the tools and techniques on the power hammer to help you more efficiently get to the pre-form you’re looking for before you start sanding. 100% of this class is forging, any sanding or finishing work you want to do to your work can be done in your home shop. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
