The Tharwa Valley Forge is pleased to be in partnership with CIT Solutions in providing courses to a wider audience. CIT Solutions provide short courses for adults in a wide variety of interests and topics. Tharwa Valley Forge has offered a range of dates for CIT Solutions in its Bladesmith and Knifemaking Course and How to Sharpen Knives courses.
Check out CIT Solutions for enrollment details and more great info on the courses they offer. We are excited to be able to offer our courses to a wider variety of people.
New Blacksmithing Book
Written by Jim Steel
The General Blacksmith by Malcolm Paine has just been released in Western Australia and I can truly recommend it to any knife maker thinking of turning to the dark side and forging blades.
The book is a complete work on general blacksmithing with more than enough information to get an absolute beginner started on the path to successful smithing or equally provide many interesting insights to the blacksmith’s craft for those who have some experience. The writing style is concise and quite straightforward being more than adequately supported by simple line drawings and numerous colour and black and white pictures. The end result is a clear and easy to follow set of instructions on how to complete the processes required in general blacksmithing, from making charcoal and making and lighting a forge through making tools, punching holes and designing and making art-works in steel... A small amount of history, tradition and myth relating to blacksmithing makes the book a really enjoyable read, whilst at the same time providing a really useful text book and ready reference on blacksmithing.
The book is published and printed in Western Australia on excellent quality paper, in fairly large print and is spiral bound for convenience and long life.
In short, I think, the best book of its type that can currently be found and will in time become important as both a “workshop manual” and a record of general blacksmithing methods accumulated over the 60 plus years that Malcolm has been practicing and quite obviously thoroughly enjoying his trade.
The book is available directly from the author and costs $40 plus postage enquiries or orders to
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This course introduces the concept of forge welding cable to create patterns in the steel. This not only makes attractive blades, but also a very tough, flexible blade that keeps a great edge. This process is called "pattern welding" or sometimes "Damascus" after the city which made the process famous.
The finished blade is then etched in acid to bring out the patterns of the different parts of the cable - often with dramatic results.
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.
The book is a complete work on general blacksmithing with more than enough information to get an absolute beginner started on the path to successful smithing or equally provide many interesting insights to the blacksmith’s craft for those who have some experience. The writing style is concise and quite straightforward being more than adequately supported by simple line drawings and numerous colour and black and white pictures. The end result is a clear and easy to follow set of instructions on how to complete the processes required in general blacksmithing, from making charcoal and making and lighting a forge through making tools, punching holes and designing and making art-works in steel... A small amount of history, tradition and myth relating to blacksmithing makes the book a really enjoyable read, whilst at the same time providing a really useful text book and ready reference on blacksmithing.
This course introduces the concept of forge welding cable to create patterns in the steel. This not only makes attractive blades, but also a very tough, flexible blade that keeps a great edge. This process is called "pattern welding" or sometimes "Damascus" after the city which made the process famous.
