Bladesmithing and Knifemaking Course (Basic) PDF Print E-mail
Learn the art of bladesmithing and knife making from Bladesmith Karim Haddad. This extensive weekend workshop will give you the opportunity not only to learn these skills, but to make a hand forged knife of your own.  Karim will guide a small group through the processes to hand forge and craft a tool that you would be proud to own and use.

The course goes from Friday night until Sunday Afternoon. For starting dates of next courses see the upcoming courses list on the side panel

Cost - $550 (incl GST)

Cost includes: Tuition, insurance, materials, use of tools, workshop consumables, safety gear, tea and coffee.

Need to bring: Lunch, appropriate clothing and covered footwear

This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge, just enthusiasm and desire to learn.

Program

Friday
Evening 7pm - 9pm

  • Design, form and use
  • Knife making overview 
  • Selection of materials
  • Tool orientation
  • Safety overview
 

Saturday
8am – 4pm

Forging

  • Temperatures and colours
  • Basic forging techniques
  • Flattening
  • Drawing out
  • Shaping

Forging blades

  • Forming the point
  • Tapering blade
  • Tang and Ricasso
  • Edge packing
  • Annealing and normalising

Lunch

Grinding

  • Profiling
  • Rough Grind
  • Ricasso and shoulders
  • Fine Grind
  • Hand Polish
  • Filework

Hardening

  • Edge hardening
  • Tempering
 

Sunday
8am – 4pm

Hand Polishing

Handles

  • Shapes and form
  • Guards
  • Handle Assembly
  • Shaping and finishing

Lunch

Sharpening

  • Edge angles
  • Sharpening
  • Maintenance

Sheath Making Overview

Finish off knives

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information contact Karim on 02 6235 5622

 
 
< Prev

Upcoming Courses

Thu, Oct 2nd, @7:30pm
Sharpening
Fri, Oct 3rd, @7:00pm
Knifemaking
Sat, Oct 4th, @9:00am
Damascus (Advanced)
Thu, Nov 27th, @7:30pm
Sharpening
Fri, Nov 28th, @7:00pm
Knifemaking
Sun, Dec 7th, @9:00am
Damascus (Basic)
Sat, Jan 31st, @9:00am
Canberra Knife Show

Knifemaking Tip

“Don't put your knife in the dishwasher. Handles don’t last very long in its hard detergents.”
-Common sense

From a recent course

Essential Supplies

From our Store

Knifemaking Steel

High carbon steel for bladesmithing. Excellent for forging and heat treating. The steel works well under the hammer and the size is perfect for a range of small to medium blade. This is a simple steel that is oil quenched and shows hamon lines very clearly when heat treated correctly. Perfect for Japanese style blades. You should get between 4 and 6 blades per length. 15N20 is the same as 1075 with an additional 2% nickel. It makes a high contrast pattern when combined with either 1075 or 1055 in Damascus steel.

  • 1055 - 4mm x 25mm x 530mm (annealed) 400g - $10 per length
  • 1075 - 3mm x 25mm x 450mm (spring tempered) 250g - $15 per length
  • 15N20 - 2mm x 25mm x 500mm (annealed) 200g - $15 per length

Postage/freight extra. This is in limited supply so contact us now to order.

 

Knives for Sale

From our Forge


Damascus Skinner

Damascus Belt Buckle

Damascus Belt Buckle back

Damascus skinner detail

Recommended Reading

More Recommended Books