Beginners Knife Forging
Join us for an immersive, one-day bladesmithing experience from 10am to 5pm, where you’ll forge your very own knife from start to finish.
This hands-on course guides you through every stage of traditional knife-making — from heating raw steel in the fire to shaping, hardening, polishing, and fitting your finished blade with a simple handle.
You’re welcome to follow one of our beginner-friendly blade designs, or, if you prefer, let your creativity take the lead and allow the hammer and hot steel to guide your own unique shape. No two knives are ever the same!
Course Details
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Price: £170 per person (public course)
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Duration: 10am–5pm
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Minimum age: 18 years
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Guests who appear under 25 will be asked to provide valid ID on arrival
By the end of the day, you’ll leave with a handcrafted knife and a deeper appreciation for this centuries-old skill!
What types of blades can I make? As this course is aimed at less experiences smiths, we recommend aiming for something simple. We have a variety of easy blade shapes for beginners to tackle that you can choose to base yours on, or you can be creative and let the metal flow! Forged finish is much easier than a full satin grind!
Easy kitchen knife shapes include some Japanese blade profiles, such as the Nakiri Bocho and the Santoku. You can go traditional and forge a Sgian Dubh, a Puuko or a Seax. If you're wanting something to help with woodwork, we can forge sloyd carving knives, or if you're wanting something to help chop roots and stalks in the garden we can make a pruning blade! You will guide your metal into the shape you want!
The knives we forge on this course are half-tang, otherwise known as stick-tang. This is a really easy style of blade for a beginner to forge, where there is a spike at the bottom of the blade that slots into the wooden handle and is fixed in place with resin.
All participants are given 150mm x 30mm x 6mm of EN45 high carbon steel to forge your blade from. The average blade length of beginner participants on this course is around 6-7", though it's possible to achieve both longer and wider blades for participants that are a bit more practiced!
The morning is spent forging your blade blank and, after a half hour's lunch break, we begin to grind, polish and heat treat your blade, along with carving the handle. We carry a variety of native hardwoods for you to choose from. If you wish to bring your own wood (eg sentimental value), you are most welcome. We do also have a store of more exotic hardwoods, these can be purchased in the forge shop.
The course ends with a discussion on aftercare for your blades and on the in's and outs of UK knifelaw. In addition with all participants being proven 18+, we do not allow banned blade profiles to be forged on this course (No sawbacks, no double edged blades, no tanto tips) ensuring that all participants are following the law.
Participants will need to bring a bag to take their blades home in after they have been wrapped up securely with bubblewrap. You may with to bring additional stuffing (a blanket etc) to pack into your bag to prevent accident or injury.
As with all our courses, the class starts at 10am and ends around 5pm. We request that all participants arrive 10 minutes early. There is always the possibility of the class running long (resins can take longer to set depending on the weather) so we recommend participants account for this possibility in their plans.
All participants must adhere to our attendance policy.
We have a kitchen and 2 bathrooms at the forge, with cubbies to store coats and personal belongings. We provide tea, coffee, squash, biscuits and crisps, but you will need a packed lunch (or nip to a nearby vendor, Greggs is just across the street!).
It is very important you are following our clothing guide! Sturdy boots and forge safe clothing for all participants. If you have any questions please get in touch!
