Forged Outdoor Knives

Always wanted to make a knife but didn't know where to begin? This extensive two day workshop will give you the opportunity not only to learn these skills, but to put them into practice making two hand forged outdoor knives of your own. We will show you techniques, tools and hints on how to get started making your own knives. This is to make knives to use in the outdoors - hunters, skinners and utility knives.

The course goes from Friday night 7pm until 9:30pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am until 5:30pm, a very packed two days.

The first evening focuses on getting an overview of the process of making a knife, looking at design and material selection.

the next day starts early in the forge with a demonstration on how to forge a blade out of carbon steel. Then it's your turn to hammer out two blades. The blades are normalised (de-stressed) before being annealed (softened). Next the firescale is removed and the blade starts to take shape. After various grits on the linisher, the blades are ready for hand sanding to get all the scratches out. By the end of the day, both blades are hardened and put in the oven overnight to temper.

he second day begins with the final polish of the blade. Guards are made, handles prepared then glued before lunch. After lunch the handles are shaped to comfortably fit your hand then finally sharpened. Sounds easy huh!

You make two blades so you reinforce the lessons as we go. Our job is to guide, instruct and help you recover from any mistakes. You will enjoy the packed weekend and have two amazing knives to show off.

Cost includes tuition, insurance, materials, use of tools, workshop consumables, safety gear, morning and afternoon tea.

Need to bring your lunch, appropriate clothing and covered footwear