Week of October 12-18
October 12
Dane and Grace were in the forge for the first time today for Grace's birthday! They made beautiful Railroad Spike Knives. Grace was so excited about everything, but the baseball bat might be her favorite tool too.
October 12
Mandy and her nephew, Avery, were back to to celebrate his birthday by blacksmithing! They learned more of the basic skills by making "S" hooks. And then they made steel pumpkins.
October 16
Busy morning with the 11-13 yr old Level 2 class!! First up was finishing their first Billet Knives! They got most of it done last time, so we just need to put handles on. They did such a great job! They're fantastic knives.
Since we finished those pretty quickly, so they started their first Damascus knives too! We do low layer damascus in the homeschool class, just for time. But they started forge welding the pieces of steel.
Then a couple of them wanted to do pumpkins too, so we did pumpkins!
All in 3 hours!
October 16
Great class with Dan this afternoon! He finished his first damascus knife. He wanted a bold, dramatic pattern, sohe started with 9 layer and folded once for 18 total. Low layer damascus is really a beautiful option. His blade shape is gorgeous, and finished the knife with an ipe wood handle. A timeless knife!
October 17
Fun teambuilding class today with 13 of the Natural Resource department of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi! Beautiful Railroad Spike Knives!
October 17
Spectacular damascus pattern! Christian, who is also the student who designed and 3D printed our knife stands, finished his first damascus knife today. He took the time last time to drill a lot of divets in his billet for raindrop pattern, and the patience paid off. We've nicknamed it leopard pattern damascus. Its absolutely gorgeous! Finished with an ipe wood handle.
October 18
Alex finished his sword today! Lots of finish sanding, and then making the guard, and putting it all together. Fantastic job!
October 18
Stephanie and Neal were back today to start their Billet Knives! Stephanie got hers hammer, ground, and the cutting edge put on, all ready for heat treat. Neal is doing a larger blade, forged from a lawn mower blade. Lots of hammering, but he is ready for the grinder, and finishing.
