Week of March 1 to 7
3/1/25
Ryan was back today to finish his Karambit! He did a great job, and I love the artistic choices he made, putting his own twist on the blade.
3/1/25
Matthew came in this morning to start learning the basic skills every blacksmith should know. And he did the first project every blacksmith should learn, the "S" hook! He did so great that he was able to make 2!
3/2/25
Mandy was back today and brought her nephew! Mandy has done a couple welding classes with us, but never in the fire. So today she and Avery forged their first knives! They both did really great and their knife look awesome!
3/2/25
Scott's back! Today he started the challenging feather damascus! There's lots of cutting, rotating, stacking, and forge welding involved, so he made a massive 6 inch, 17 layer billet. Got that forge welded together and drawn out to 12 inches. This is definitely a Guinea Pig Club project! 😉
3/4/25
Emily and Karl were a lot of fun today! They wanted to learn the basics, with the idea that this will be a new hobby. So they made snakes! Really fantastic snakes!
3/5/25
Jackson was back this afternoon to continue working on his damascus blade. He is trying the Turkish Twist Pattern of damascus. We did the motivation dip in the ferric chloride and it is a really unique design!
3/5/25
Vince and his daughter were in the forge tonight! Vince was back to finish his Billet Knife, and then we started planning his first damascus. His daughter came with him to make a magic wand. She did great tapering it out and doing reverse twists. Then she hammered in a skull face! It look fantastic!
3/6/25
It was finally Knife Day for Level 1 Homeschoolers! We joked that it was basically the day the reason they signed up for the class to begin with They all did great in the fire. All those tapering project paid off! This was the first time they used grinders. That's always fun. Then heat treated and finish sanded their knives. Great work from all of them!
3/6/25
Katie brought her mother, aunt, and friend in to the forge today to start learning how to blacksmith. Very fun group! They all learn some skills and made great "S" Hooks!
3/6/25
Breanna was back tonight! Breanna is a founding member of our Guinea Pig Club! Last time she was in, she wanted to try a new type of twist. It was a tough one, but she did it! Then she need to make something for the other end of the stick. So she started a shoe horn. Today she finished it all up. It's a cool twist, and makes a great handle, and the shoe horn turned out awesome!
3/7/24
Yesterday was Knife Day for the 14-17 yr olds Level 1 class. One student is on vacation, so Cruz had the fire to himself. He did a great job making his first knife! You could definitely see the skills he's learned this year.
