Damascus Steel: Chef's Knife forging
Damascus Steel: Forge Your Own Pattern-Welded Knife
Join us for an unforgettable two-day immersive experience, where you’ll create your own stunning Damascus steel knife from raw materials to finished blade.
Day One: 10am–6pm
Day Two: 10am–5pm
During this advanced hands-on course, you’ll learn the
traditional art of pattern welding by layering high-carbon steels and
forge-welding them together. Through a process of folding, cutting, twisting,
grinding, and forging, you’ll transform your billet into beautifully patterned
Damascus steel — before shaping it into your own custom knife.
You’ll be guided through every stage of the process in a
supportive, professional workshop environment. For those new to knife-making,
we strongly recommend following one of our proven beginner-friendly blade
designs. If you have a particular style in mind, you’re welcome to get in touch
in advance so we can discuss what’s possible.
This course is taught using our gas forge and includes
training on industrial presses and the power hammer and hydraulic press, giving
you valuable experience with professional-level equipment.
By the end of the course, you’ll leave with a unique,
handcrafted Damascus knife — and the skills to understand how it was made.
Course Details
- Price: £395
per person (public course)
- Duration: Two
days (10am–6pm / 10am–5pm)
- Minimum
age: 18 years
- Guests
who appear under 25 will be asked to provide valid ID on arrival
- Private
courses available on request
Whether you’re looking to take your bladesmithing skills to
the next level or create a truly special piece, this course offers a rare
opportunity to master one of blacksmithing’s most impressive techniques.
Click the button below to learn more or book your place — we
look forward to welcoming you to the forge!
What types of blades can I make?
This course is intended for
those with a bit of blacksmithing already under their belt, though beginners
are most welcome to jump in! You will forge a blade averaging 8"-`10"
in length + handle. Some participants have forged larger; some have preferred
smaller blades, so if you would like to make a sloyd blade or sgian dubh, thats fine too.
We recommend opting for a stick tang blade on this course,
as it will allow you to spend more time polishing and get a better etch. Full tang handles take more
time and are tricker to get right, especially with Damascus blades, so if you
have never made a full tang handle before we recommend investigating our Modern
Bladesmithing course to get a bit of practice at them before attempting one on this course.
This course is tailored towards chefs knifes, with Gyuto,
Santoku and Nakiri being popular and common blade shapes. However, we have had
people forge many different blade shapes on this course, including viking style
Seaxes, Sgian Dubh, traditional english carving knives, cleavers and many
others! It is somewhat skill dependant, so we recommend that those with less
experience stick to a simpler style of blade. Our smiths will help you shape your blade, but we want you to craft as much as possible!
Day 1 is spent learning how to stack a billet, fireweld the
layers of steel together then using the hydraulic press and power hammer, draw
it out into a bar. This is repeated until you have 100+ layers in your blade!
We finish day 1 by forging out your knife blank.
Day 2 is a bit more relaxed, the hard work is over. We spend
the morning grinding and polishing our blade, before heat treating and a final
polish. Once the polishing is complete, the blade can be put into the acid bath
for etching while you carve your 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 will end around 5pm on the second day, though it
is possible to run late: Resins take longer to set in cold weather and if an
extra 5 minutes of polish is needed then we would rather you left with the best
tools you can make!
At the end of the day we have 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 etc)
ensuring that all participants are following the law.
