5 Day From Ore to Knife Course

A journey through making steel!

This 5 day course covers the process of smelting iron and steel from ore and then making a finished knife out of the materials you have smelted.

On this course we will make a knife or seax from bloomery iron and steel you have smelted from iron ore.

To secure a place on this course a 50% deposit is required, the remainder being payable one month before the course begins. Alternatively, you may pay the full amount on booking.

Description

No prior experience is needed and the class will guide you through:.

  • The theories of smelting
  • Building a smelting furnace
  • Preparing ore and charcoal for the smelt
  • Running a smelting furnace
  • Extracting the bloom
  • Consolidating bloomery material
  • Using a gas forge
  • Forging the blade to shape
  • Thermocycling (reducing grain growth, which is an undesirable effect of over heating steel)
  • Blade shaping, using grinder file and abrasive paper
  • Heat treating
  • Blade finishing, sharpening, and edge testing
  • Fitting a simple handle.

This 5 day class will take you through the process of making a knife starting out with iron ore and ending up with a finished handled knife.

We will spend 2 days smelting, 1 day building a furnace and then 1 day running it.

The resulting bloomery material will be forged into bar stock for making knives. The bar stock will be shared between the people attending the class. From this stock we will shape our knives by forging and grinding the blades and fitting simple handles.

We will aim to each end up with a small kitchen/general use knife or seax.

This is a rare chance to make yourself a very unusual thing – a knife made absolutely from scratch, literally from rock to finished knife!


The course day runs from 9am - 5pm.

Safety equipment is provided for all the classes but please ensure that you have non-flamable clothing and sturdy shoes (preferably leather). No shell suits, fleeces or synthetic flammable materials (cotton and wool are perfect).

Please read the terms & conditions before booking a course.
Some suggestions for local accommodation.
Further information may be found on the Courses FAQ.
Please note, the minimum age to attend a class on your own is 18.