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- Jan 30, 2014
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Last weekend I had the opportunity to take a class on forging a small axe. The class was offered by Cedar Root Folk School on Marrowstone Island near Port Townsend, WA. My friend helps run the folk school and I always wanted to make a knife or something similar, so I decided to sign up and make the trip up there. This was my first experience with blacksmithing and grinding steel. The class was taught by blacksmith David Tuthill, of Fire Horse Forge in Seattle, WA.
The class was a ton of fun and maybe a little advanced for someone like me who had no blacksmithing experience. I did end up with a very cool little axe / hatchet that actually works exceptionally well. A lot of the work involved having your partner strike for you with a sledge hammer while you held your Axe head and a punch or fuller. That part was interesting. Very different from holding and striking the piece yourself.
After lunch the second day, David undid a coiled car spring and made it into a knife for demonstration purposes. He did not put an edge on it and ended giving the work in progress to me. It still needed to be hardened. Luckily the owner of the shop, Rick Kirkwood let us into his shop on Monday so I could harden it in his forge. I ground it (poorly) on a bench grinder and then brought it up to a high temp in the forge and quenched it in oil. I tempered it at home in my oven, but I still need to put an edge on it with some files. I also bought a little scandi knife David had made.
This is the piece of steel we started with.
David showing how it is done with someone trying to strike for him. The first step was using a punch to form the hole for the handle.
My piece after getting the punch through.
Then we had to get a drift into it so we could spread the cheeks. Here is my buddy setting the drift.
David showing how to spread steel quickly.
Here is mine taking shape. After this it was on to the bench grinder. Then came hardening, tempering and a lot of file work. At this point in the game my axe head was getting a lot of gonzo references.
Here it has been filed for profile, hardened and tempered and needs only to have an edge put on with the files.
After the file work it only needed a handle.
Shaving sharp!
The final product.
Here is a pic of the demonstration knife that still needs an edge put on it, the little scandi knife I bought from him, and the axe I made next to a kephart for reference.
All in all, it was a great class and definitely worth the trip. I will post up a pic of the demonstration knife after I get an edge on it.
The class was a ton of fun and maybe a little advanced for someone like me who had no blacksmithing experience. I did end up with a very cool little axe / hatchet that actually works exceptionally well. A lot of the work involved having your partner strike for you with a sledge hammer while you held your Axe head and a punch or fuller. That part was interesting. Very different from holding and striking the piece yourself.
After lunch the second day, David undid a coiled car spring and made it into a knife for demonstration purposes. He did not put an edge on it and ended giving the work in progress to me. It still needed to be hardened. Luckily the owner of the shop, Rick Kirkwood let us into his shop on Monday so I could harden it in his forge. I ground it (poorly) on a bench grinder and then brought it up to a high temp in the forge and quenched it in oil. I tempered it at home in my oven, but I still need to put an edge on it with some files. I also bought a little scandi knife David had made.
This is the piece of steel we started with.
David showing how it is done with someone trying to strike for him. The first step was using a punch to form the hole for the handle.
My piece after getting the punch through.
Then we had to get a drift into it so we could spread the cheeks. Here is my buddy setting the drift.
David showing how to spread steel quickly.
Here is mine taking shape. After this it was on to the bench grinder. Then came hardening, tempering and a lot of file work. At this point in the game my axe head was getting a lot of gonzo references.
Here it has been filed for profile, hardened and tempered and needs only to have an edge put on with the files.
After the file work it only needed a handle.
Shaving sharp!
The final product.
Here is a pic of the demonstration knife that still needs an edge put on it, the little scandi knife I bought from him, and the axe I made next to a kephart for reference.
All in all, it was a great class and definitely worth the trip. I will post up a pic of the demonstration knife after I get an edge on it.
