Blog

Blacksmith Workshop: Making a Chef KnifeWe have been having fun working on the format of the blacksmithing workshop, after feedback from students. Some student wished they had been making chef knives rather than the more blacksmith-looking "herb chopper" or pizza cutter. So we stuck our heads together and got some awesome process advice from Kevin Slattery of Kev's Forge (who hold workshops in Canberra) and changed the workshop to this; Forge a chef blade from 1084 High-carbon steel b …

Abrasive belts can be a confusing topic, at least if you are not able to pop into a shop for some good advice.So here is a quick guide to get you going. This is not a long, exhaustive list covering lots of specialist belts for specialist makers, but a good middle-of-the-road list of belts that works well for us - and might work well for you.The 10 second summary: For steel: Ceramic belts in 60 and 120 grits, they just last longerFor handles: Zirconia belts, less grit on the belt stops …

Sharing some photos from the Blacksmithing Workshop we had with Zoe and Kat last weekend.The blacksmithing workshop is held under roof in the Creative Man back yard, held once a month on a Saturday.We started by covering the tools and safety equipment we would be using, and the forging process of making the knife we would make. Zoe decided to rather than make the normal herb chopper or pizza-cutter, she would make a chef knife blade, and make the handle at a later time as a project with her …

Spoon Carving InstructionsThe below is a cut down version of what we go through in our workshops, so you can start making your own spoons at home.Wood: For your first couple of spoons, use pine from a hardware store like Bunnings. It is easy to carve and makes a nice looking spoon. The photos below use pine.Tools included in the spoon carving kits we sell:Sloyd knife: Sharp, thin blade for wood carvingHook knife: Bent blade for hollowing out the bowl.Chip carving knife: Short blade for …

4-Hour Speed Forging Challenge on the Australian Beginner Knife Making GroupBy Bjorn Jacobsen, 10th of July 2020.Jamie "Sausage Man" Bishop hosted the first 4-hour speed forging challenge competition on the Australian Beginner Knife Making Group the first week of July 2020.This came about a while ago when Jamie and I were discussing if we could do a "forged in fire" kind of competition; doing a 4-hour knife build where you had to test your knife at the end. I tried a couple of times to do i …