Jboy, that is a pretty broad question. I'll try to help you a bit.
A bladesmith is a person who forges the blade and builds knives and similar tools. A knifemaker is someone who makes knives. A knifemaker makes a knife, but doesn't necessarily forge the blade. He may use bars of steel and shape the blade on a grinder, or he may have the blanks cut out by a industrial shop and do the final shaping of the bevels. Today, 99.9% of all bladesmiths and knifemakers are hobbyists who's day starts with going to work at a regular job. The few who do it full time are more often knifemakers than bladesmiths. The modern shop and tools are far different than the Colonial Bladesmith, who was almost surely the local blacksmith. Companies and bladesmiths that made cutlery only mainly didn't arrive until after the colonial days. I will give you a brief idea of what a Colonial Blacksmith/bladesmith day was like.
The blacksmith/bladesmiths's day probably started early with a good breakfast. The smithy ( blacksmiths shop) would need to be opened up to allow air to flow through it unless the weather was too severe. On a small shop, often there were wide doors on all sides that could open to make the shop little more than a roof over the forge area. The first important chore upon arriving at the shop was to start the forge coal fire, and in the winter, the heating fire. Coal was often brought in by boat or wagon from far away, so it was valuable. Also, coal used to forge iron and steel is a special type of bituminous coal. It was stored carefully, often in barrels or sacks. Wood was used for heating unless regular heating coal was abundant ( as in the Appalachian mountains).The next group of tasks would be to bring in sufficient fuel and coal for tending those fires during the day. There may be horses to feed and clean up after. After warming the place up , the smith would assemble the needed materials for the planned days work. Bars of steel and iron, wood for handles, and other materials for his planned projects and tasks. Tasks for the day might be making and repairing farm tools and equipment, horse shoes, and other hardware items like hooks, nails, hinges and latches, etc. These items were the main trade of the shop. Once the immediate tasks for orders were done, the smith might make some knives to sell. He would cut a piece of steel off a large bar and forge it into a knife shape. Steel was scarce and valuable, so every piece was valued. Often the piece used to make a knife came from a broken farming tool. Once the basic shape was sufficient, he would grind it into a more refined shape and remove the hammer marks. Next he would harden the blade by heating it to a certain degree of red color and quenching it in water or oil. His training as an apprentice and experience allowed him to judge the temperature very accurately. The hardening was often done during the late hours of the day when the light was lower to allow judging the color best. After hardening the blade he would temper it so it would not be too brittle. He would carefully warm the blade over the coals to get a bronze color ( which indicated the steel was about 400F) and then let it cool off. Now, he could finish the blade grinding and polishing until the blade and its bevels were shaped and smooth. Next, he would shape and rivet on some handle pieces, called scales. These were typically a durable wood like hickory or ash. The rivets would be iron, copper, or brass. Once riveted solidly on, the handle was given its final shaping and sanding. If a sheath was needed for the knife, he probably had the local saddle maker or cobbler (shoe maker) do it for him. The majority of the knives made would be utilitarian tools like kitchen and butchering knives. A few would be hunting and skinning knives, ... and very few would be fighting knives like Bowies. Other cutting tools he would make would be plane irons ( blades for wood planes) and wood cutting, shaping, and drilling tools. He would also repair and sharpen these type tools. Farming tools like scythes, sickles, shovels and axes were also important items he would sell.
After he had made tools and items that he might sell, he would close the shop for the day. That would require shutting down the forge fire, banking the heating fire, putting away and cleaning his tools, and shutting the shop to make it secure. His day would end with going home, washing uo well, having a hearty supper....and getting some sleep.
The smith was often one of the wealthier residents of a small town, as he had business with every person in the area. He was usually thought of as honest, hard working, humble, and pious. I'm not sure that was really the truth, as people vary in almost every profession.
Where a blacksmith/bladesmith set up shop, he usually picked a spot in or near a farming and ranching area. Access by the locals was important, as was his ability to get supplies, so it was normally along the main road or wagon path through the area. A nearby water source was also important. His shop was the place that the local people went to, to buy most of the things they needed to build their homes and farms, so as roads and paths developed in the area they often lead to it. With roads well established to the smithy, a town often grew around it. Other merchants would open their shops near the central hub of the roads....the smith's shop. This lead to a business "district" and eventually, homes being built by the merchants and craftsmen. Many towns were named after the blacksmith shop ( or the iron forge)....Miller's Forge, Pigeon Forge, Clifton Forge, etc. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania , where Washington wintered hi troops, was named after the iron forge on Valley creek.
Websites like Anvilfire and Iforgeiron are where many blacksmith/bladesmiths hang out.
Post where you live ( town and state) and a local smith may invite you and a parent over for a shop visit.
Hope this helps your project.
