Bladesmithing 101: Railroad Spike Knife Workshop

This workshop at The Forge at Art Center West is a great introduction to knife making. You'll learn to forge a railroad spike knife that's good for camping, utility, and ornamental purposes.

Your experience will be an instructional journey through tools and equipment, material selection, body mechanics, design considerations, forging techniques, basic heat treating principles and finishing methods. You will experience a very active workshop with an emphasis on hands on learning with hammer, heat, and iron. While these 1-day intensive workshops serve as introductions to bladesmithing, each participant will leave the workshop with a finished knife with integral handle. These are foundational courses that will be built upon during future exploration and coursework including adding knife handles, advanced finishing and heat treating, and forging blades from a range of alloys.