Week of March 8 to 14
3/8/25
Evan was back today to work on his broadsword. Then he took a break and made a Billet Knife! his speed is increasing with each blade. He did the billet knife in 2 hours!
3/8/25
Lisa and her husband, Clayton, were in the forge for the first time to make Railroad Spike Knives! Lisa was one of the people that took advantage of the special scheduling at the "Wine Not? Wine Fest" last month. They both did a great job and made very sharp and shiny knives!
3/9/25
Oh my goodness, this group was so much fun!! Suzie and Sue have been to the forge many times. They thought it'd be fun to have a girls day out with their friends making Steel Flowers. They were right! What a fantastic group of women! So much fun, and literally cheering each on. Very fun day!
3/10/25
This was the first day of Heritage Christian Academy week! A group of students comes for one week every year. It's another great group of students this year! Today they learned the first thing every blacksmith learns, the "S" hook. They did really great, already putting their own artistic touches on their work. Because it's a smaller group, they had extra time to do another hook.
3/11/25
Day 2 of Heritage Christian Academy! Today was snake day. The group this year is really getting into the artistic choices. We had snakes with unibrows and nose rings today. Thhey have extra time after they finish their main project, so they get to practice their skills by making more, and different hooks.
3/11/25
Great class with Louis and Chris this afternoon! They started their first knives, Billet Knives. They really did a great job. The angles on their cutting edges are perfect! They will do the finish sanding and handles in a few days.
3/11/25
This was a great class with Ruby and her Godson, Jaden! He had been to the forge before but this was his first time making a knife. They both did great! Their knives are super sharp and shiny!
3/12/25
Day 3 of Heritage Christian Academy! Leaf day!! Generally considered the most difficult day. As you do smaller sized project, it tends to get more difficult. These 3 did a great job with it! And again, they had extra time to work on more projects and keep practicing those skills!
3/12/25
Kevin brought his father and friend in to the forge this afternoon to make Railroad Spike Knives! It was a Father's Day gift for his father, who has been a member of the Railroad Society. These were beautiful knives! And a great example of everyone starting with the same thing and making very different styles!
3/12/25
Jackson was back tonight to continue working on his Turkish Twist Damascus blade. Lots of grinding tonight. We did heat treat it, so next time he will finish it up.
3/13/25
Day 4 of Heritage Christian Academy! Today they made bottle openers! We had already learned about drifting holes by putting some nose rings in snakes, so they started their openers with a 1/4 starter hole. They expanded it by using punches until it could fit on the horn of their anvil. Then hit it to stretch it more and shape it round. The handle of the opener is pure artistic choice. Very nice designs, including a freehand "drawn" skull and fire using chisels and punches. They had more fleeting after to make more things using the skills they've learned.
3/13/25
Lucy and Kristi were back today to start their first Billet Knives! They've been working through all of the classes, and are very proud members of the Guinea Pig Club. (I feel like I need to make membership cards soon). They will be back next time to finish sanding, heat treat, and handles.
3/14/25
Last day of Heritage Christian Academy! It was such a pleasure to have these 3 in the forge all week! They were eager to learn and embrace the artistic choices they could make, and they were just nice kids too. Today they had a new teacher chaperone who joined in the steel flower fun! It's fun for the students to see their teacher learning something new along side them.
It was another great week and I’m already looking forward to next year.
3/14/25
We had such a fantastic team from Stryker this afternoon for Railroad Spike Knifemaking Teambuilding! They all made super sharp knives. I have a feeling we will be seeing at least a few of them back again.
