Intro to Bladesmithing: The Everyday Carry Knife

This course is meant to serve as a primer to beginners hoping to learn the basics in all aspects of bladesmithing. We will cover basic EDC design, steel and material choices, as well as forging, grinding, heat treating, and polishing. We will explore various ways of fitting handle materials to our knives, and each student can expect to leave with a finished 3-5 bladed knife as well as a firm grasp of the techniques and processes used in custom knife making to go from a bar of steel to a fully finished and sharpened knife. Prior experience is not necessary

Skills and Techniques:

• Forging and grinding small blades
• Accurate heat treatment by eye
• Ergonomics and handle design
• Cutting geometry and designing blade shape
• Hidden tang handle construction
• Sharpening

Materials Fee: $50 paid directly to the instructor. Fee covers steel, wood, and consumables.

Special Tools or Equipment to bring: Students should bring: safety glasses, leather work gloves, sketchbook/notebook, earplugs, non-flammable work clothes (no synthetic materials), closed-toed leather shoes/boots, water bottle, and any forging tools you may have that you’re comfortable with (hammer, tongs, etc).

Workshop and Cancellation Policies

Please be sure to read our 2026 policies before you register for a workshop: https://www.sanbornmills.org/workshop-policies/