First Responders' Kitchen Knifemaking

The Cuppacumbalong Foundation has scholarships available for first responders to take bladesmithing courses conducted by Tharwa Valley Forge.

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

These courses are only open to scholarship recipients who have a valid scholarship code

The course goes from Monday night 7pm until 9:30pm and Tuesday and Wednesday 8am until 5:30pm, a very packed two days.

Monday night focuses on getting an overview of the process of making a knife, looking at design and material selection and a shop tour.

Tuesday 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 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.

Wednesday 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 two days and have two amazing knives to show off.

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

Need to bring your lunch, appropriate clothing and covered footwear.

Scholarship recipients

To book a place on one of these courses, you’ll need the scholarship code provided by The Cuppacumbalong Foundation.

• fill out the registration form
• enter your scholarship code in the “Gift Voucher Code” field under you’ll see under the heading “Payment Information”

You will then receive a confirmation email that contains the details of the course you have enrolled on.

If you have any problems or otherwise have any questions, please get in touch via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.