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Blacksmithing Classes are available on Saturdays 10 am — 4 pm.

 

Students will leave every class with at least one metal item that they made themselves. 

 

Classes are limited to 4 students—Ages 18+ 

 

Welcome to the Pioneer Settlement's Blacksmithing course taught by Heinrich Hole. In this course we have 3 class levels designed to teach you the basic techniques of blacksmithing, fire control, and how to use the equipment. These classes are meant to take an individual that has only ever seen the craft on tv to being fully competent to begin their own journey.

 

Please wear only cotton based clothing, and close toed shoes. (boots are preferred but not mandatory)

 

CLASS LEVEL 1 - $75 This is the entry level class. It's prerequisites include: A desire to learn, enthusiasm to get into a new craft, and finally a love of getting hands-on and a bit dirty.

 

We will be focusing on fire control, how to use the tools, basic metal moving techniques, and how to move yourself to achieve accuracy and strength while minimizing the impact to your body.

 

The techniques being taught will include:

1. tapering

2. drawing out

3. bending

4. spreading

5. hole punching

6. curled finial designs

7. twisting

8. surface treatment

 

CLASS LEVEL 2 - $100.00 This class builds directly off of the skills learned in the level 1 and allows you to make a functional fire tool called a fire hoe. This tool is super useful for fire management. We will be focusing on increasing our fire control so that we can work on a piece of plate steel effectively, refining our hole punching, and working with a little more precision.

 

The techniques being taught will include:

1. making a set down

2. spreading

3. hole punching in plate steel. This time we are punching 4 holes that must line up exactly.

4. riveting two pieces of steel together.

5. decorative leaf design on the handle.

6. twisting across a large area

 

CLASS LEVEL 3 Tong making.

 

The ability to make tongs is a huge deal. It will both save you money and open the doors for you to work with any size or shape material you desire. There are two variants of this class. Both will teach you all the fundamentals of tong design. With this knowledge you will be able to extrapolate how to make any other shaped tongs you may need in the future.

 

$125.00 Basic flat nib tongs. This is the most fundamental tong there is. Its primary purpose is to grab flat metal. Blade smiths usually begin with this type and then move on to box jaw tongs. We will be focusing primarily on the 3 major portions of a tong. These are the jaw, boss, and reigns. It is important to understand what each of these parts are responsible for and therefore how they should be formed.

 

Techniques used include:

1. flattening with more precision

2. making clean precise set downs

3. hole punching in a working surface

4. riveting a working joint

5. jaw and reign alignment for comfort and function.

 

$175 Advanced Universal Tongs This is my preferred tong for holding most common shapes and sizes of material other than flat. They allow you to grab around corners and other difficult shapes that other tongs simply fail at. All techniques in the basic version are included here as well.

 

The extra techniques included in the advanced version of the class are:

1. splitting

2. Bending with precision

3. alignment of complex jaw design

4. proper use of a chisel for shaping a channel

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Register by calling 386-749-2959 or email blacksmith@pioneersettlement.org 

(a deposit of 50% class cost is required at registration)

First Responders, veterans (and active duty military), and teachers get a $25 discount on all blacksmith class levels!

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