Making nails has been one the oldest forms of Blacksmithing for centuries. It is usually the first task of any apprentice to learn the basics skills necessary toward becoming a blacksmith.
This course does not require a lot of strength nor skill-set prior to the class. For these reasons it is the perfect starting lesson for those wanting to try their hand at some old fashioned Blacksmithing. This course will teach students the proper terms, techniques, and protocols required to successfully create usable nails. For anyone looking to get a basic understanding of Blacksmithing, this is the course for you.
About the Instructor: This class is taught by Kenneth of Fire & Brimstone Forge.
Age: there are no age restrictions to the class, however minors must be accompanied by an adult.
What to wear: At RMM, you must dress safely and appropriately. Arrive for class in all-natural fiber clothing (100% cotton), long pants, and closed-toe, closed-heel shoes with socks that protect up to the ankle. Long hair must be tied back. Nylon, polyester, spandex, or other synthetics are not allowed around machines, equipment, or processes that can produce hot fragments, sparks, or flames. Additional protective gear will be provided as needed.
Please review our Refund and Cancellation Policy.
In this class students will forge a small knife out of a piece of solid stock metal. This lesson will cover material foresight, design vs functionality, and will briefly hit upon types of metal and tempering techniques. The task used to create this knife will involve drawing- stretching out metal in a linear direction, forging out a bevel using hammer control, cutting, and sharpening. This class will involve the challenge of utilizing tongs and will introduce the methods necessary to handle the metal quickly and efficiently. Though this is an intermediate class, no previous knowledge is necessary to take this class. Work level is light to moderate.
Learn how to forge a knife out of a railroad spike!
This is the perfect class to learn one of the basics of knives-making: balancing durability and hardness of the metal to make the perfect blade.
Students will utilize a high carbon railroad spike and learn methods that induce carbon into the metal while also learning how to temper in a process called normalization. The metal will then posses both features of a durable and hard metal that is ideal for knives.
As far as knives are concerned, the harder the steel, the better the edge, however, the harder edge makes for a brittle knife. A balance is needed between the soft flexible metal and the hard brittle metal to achieve a knife that will hold an edge without breaking. In this class more techniques for blade smithing will be covered, including various heat treatments, tapering, and tempering methods used to maximize strength with durability.
Age: there are no age restrictions to the class. Minors must be accompanied by an adult.
In this course students will take old sledge hammers and turn them into high quality forging hammers. This will involve taking an existing hammer head and reforming it into a new type of hammer using custom forging dies. Students will learn how to shape contours using the bench grinder and belt grinder then they will assemble the hammer into new wooden handle!
NOTE: Forging a Dagger is a 2 day course. This class will require students to meet at the very least twice on separate days with the professor. It is strongly recommended that the time between classes is used for some out of class work with access to the shop during Red Mountain Makers regularity scheduled hours of operation.
Creation and Assembly “the use of multiple skills” (high work level)
Details: Using various pieces of bar steel students will forge various fitted components that will be assembled to create a functional dagger. Students will utilize a wide range of blacksmithing techniques to design and fashion a blade, cross guard, and pommel set within the parameters of the project. This class will introduce decorative fluting and basket weaves to be used as the handle! Though it is not specifically required, a basic understanding of blacksmithing and attuned hand eye coordination is strongly suggested before attempting this course.
Task involved - (drawing/stretching, measuring, hammering, beveling, forming, bending, cutting, penning, filing, slitting, punching, grinding, sanding, sharpening, assembling, oil quenching, normalization, tempering, heat bluing, oiling, stretching/drawing, flattening, forge welding, straightening, beveling, assembling, punching heat treating/tempering, grind.ng, sanding, polishing, honing the edge/stropping)
About the Instructor: Classes taught by Kenneth of Fire & Brimstone Forge
Age: there are no age restrictions to the class. Please read carefully the disclaimers and guidelines
What to wear: At RMM, you must dress safely and appropriately. Arrive for class in all-natural fiber clothing (100% cotton), long pants, and closed-toe, closed-heel shoes with socks that protect up to the ankle. Long hair must be tied back. Nylon, polyester, spandex, or other synthetics are not allowed around machines, equipment, or processes that can produce hot fragments, sparks, or flames. Additional protective gear will be provided as needed. The CDC has a guide to acceptable cloth masks that help prevent the spread of infection.
In this class students will learn how to assemble a functional viking shield using a combination of historical methods with modern tools. This class involves, light wood working, leather work, and some metal working. This class requires no prerequisites. Students can further improve their shield by painting their colors upon the face of the shield or adding a metal boss, all which will be covered in class. One month free membership will be granted to all participants to grant use of equipment to complete or expand upon their shield if it's not completed during the classes scheduled time.
Lunch will be included to include drying time.
About the Instructor: Class is taught by Kenneth of Fire & Brimstone Forge
Prerequisites: Recommended to take "Learn to Forge nails" first
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