July 5-11
July 5, 2026
Brandon continued working on his damascus today. He has really done an exceptional job with the forge welding process! He got to 72 layers, and is almost done hammering out the shape of the blade.
July 5, 2026
Asia started her blacksmithing journey today by forging an "S" hook! She really wanted to learn the basic skills first. Then we planned lots of future classes.
July 7, 2026
Homeschoolers Kevin and Ben were in this morning to work on projects. They are in Level 4 and 3 of the homeschool course, and are working on their own projects.
July 7, 2026
Family Forge Time! This family already made railroad spike knives, so they were back yesterday to start billet knives! They did great! Everyone is heat treated and sharpened, so next time is all handles!
July 7, 2026
Brandon was back last night to continue working on his damascus dagger. We did a "motivational dip" in the acid--this is going to be gorgeous!
July 8, 2026
Started the day with Evan! He made a pendant from a leftover bit of his damascus tanto. Really nice pattern in it! Then he learned how to make rings from silverware!
July 8, 2026
We made Kolbe Cheese Knives today! Such a fun family! And they made great knives!
July 8, 2026
And we ended the day with Brandon and Maghan learning to weld!
July 9, 2026
The 4-H welding classes started yesterday! These four did great learning the basics and then making pencil holders out of tube steel!
Thank you again to Allegan County 4-H and Michigan State University Extension for arranging and sponsoring these summer classes!
July 9, 2026
Tyler came to the forge for the first time after getting a gift certificate for the Railroad Spike Knifemaking class from his company's team. He did a fantastic job with his tanto blade!
July 9, 2026
Earl forged a beautiful Railroad Spike Knife today!
July 10, 2026
Dan was back today to continue working on his twisted damascus dagger. He did a fantastic job grinding the bevels! We planned the rest of it, and should be able to finish it next time.
July 11, 2026
The Hegelmann family was back today to finish their Billet Knives! They all did such great work!
