What you’ll take home: A metal handled bushcraft or paring knife (max blade length 100mm)

Course length - 1 day (8 hours)

Experience requirement - none

Equipment needed - Natural legwear (jeans are perfect, no Nylon fabrics etc.) and strong leather shoes. I will be providing all the protective equipment.

A delicious lunch for each attendee will be provided.

Maximum number of attendees - 6

Cost per person - £180

Time and Location- 9:30 (sharply) , at my workshop in Bristol (google map Nouko knives)

This course is perfect for those with little or no metal work experience to get hands on and produce a hand crafted paring or a bush-craft knife to take home. It’s a fun day, and at times strenuous course, which will leave you satisfied, if a little worn out.

By the end of this course You’ll understand the key pieces of the process of making a knife, see each of the processes in action, and get experience creating your blade.

We’ll start each session with a rectangular piece of high grade steel. We’ll then go through an explanation of each stage of creating a knife:

Handle and blade forging - you’ll be heating up the billet, and using the power hammer and traditional hammer and anvil method to create the right thickness, to transform the billet to a functional knife shape

Heat-treating stage

Normalising cycles - this softens the blade a little, and makes it more responsive to the hardening treatment we’ll go through. You’ll get to use the forge again for this.

Hardening cycle - we’ll heat the blade up to over 820c, then quench it into hot oil. This is incredibly fun to do, and usually includes a little fire. The process makes the steel incredibly hard but very brittle.

Tempering - this process reduces the toughness of the steel, but increases its strength to be able to take and hold an edge for as long as you use your knife respectfully.

Grinding the bevels - this is a crucial part of the process, and takes years to master. I will be carrying out this stage for the best possible final edge performance. I’ll be using the belt grinder to create the initial edge before sharpening. I’ll still give you an explanation and you’ll be able to watch.

Stropping - we use a piece of soft leather, the kind you might imagine is used at an old fashioned barber shop, to take the blade to a razor sharpness level. You will also be given a piece to take home so you can maintain that amazing sharpness.

As the day comes to an end, we’ll talk about how you can look after your knife through sharpening, cleaning and honing it.

*if you are a group of four people and would like to book a course out of the designated dates, please do get in contact.

*As with blacksmithing, bladesmithing is not an easy craft, we do take every precaution to avoid accidents but expect the odd blister or scratch. Because of this, the workshop is suitable for 18+ or 16+ with an adult.

* Please make every effort to chose a course date that you can commit to, my courses fill up quickly and making changes to group numbers is costly and time consuming. Once you have selected a date you can transfer the date of your course once only, moving the date of your course for a second time will incur a £65 fee. You have the right to a refund up to 14 days after your purchase, as I am a small business I cannot offer refunds outside of this period. You can alter the date of your course up to six weeks before the start date, after this date your booking will be confirmed and is non-transferable. If you fail to turn up for your course you forfeit your place and no refund will be given.