Japanese Knifemaking

Japanese kitchen knives have distinct elegance in both form and function. In this intensive weekend course you will build two traditional style Japanese kitchen knives. Options include hammer finished or polished blades, chisel grind or V grind and a variety of handles choices. These blades will provide you with years of excellent service in your kitchen.

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

Friday night focus on getting an overview of the process of making a knife, looking at design and function of Japanese kitchen knives as well as material selection and a shop tour.

Saturday starts early in the forge with a demonstration on how to forge a blade. 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 grinding through 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 edge hardened and put in the oven overnight to temper.

Sunday begins with the softening of the tangs and blade backs, before a final polish. Guards are made handles prepared then glued before lunch. After lunch the handles are shaped to comfortably fit your hand then finally sharpened. 

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. This course requires no previous experience in knifemaking. Experience with tools will make things easier, but is not necessary. 

You will enjoy it and have two amazing knives to show off and enjoy in your kitchen.

Want to make your knives from Damascus steel? Attend our Damascus Steel Introduction course then use the Damascus steel you've made to forge these knives.

Cost includes: Tuition, insurance, materials, use of tools, workshop consumables, safety gear.
Need to bring: Lunch, appropriate clothing and covered footwear
Booking in advance is essential

Course Dates