Tooling for the Grille
Forge the top tools, no-weld scrolling wrenches, and a sturdy scrolling jig required for an ABANA Level 2 grille, with heat treatment and case hardening.
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The workshop
Note: This is a private workshop offered to NEBA members and a password is needed to register. To be considered for future ABANA level instruction please contact Beth Holmberg directly.
In this course, growing intermediate blacksmiths will learn to forge the key tooling needed for the ABANA Level 2 grille project. These forged tools are themselves requirements for Level 2 certification, and important preparation for learning the skills needed for the grille itself. They are also super additions to your tool bag, opening up lots more possibilities for your blacksmithing!
We will start with a few key top tools (butcher, set tool, fat fuller) and a review of heat treatment. Using some of these, we’ll next forge at least two no-weld scrolling wrenches. These in turn will allow us to make a proper, sturdy scrolling jig. If time allows, we may also make a quick monkey tool (and learn to case harden it) and forge proper scrolling tongs. Expect lots of forging-to-measure, 3- and 4-D thinking, a bit of filing, some frustrating tweaking, and the use of some basic math.
By the end of the class, you should have (or at least know how to make…) most of the tooling needed for the ABANA Level 2 grille project. The teacher is an ABANA National Curriculum Instructor, certified to teach all levels of ABANA curricula. Please bring along any of your ABANA certification work (complete or in process) for assessment during the course! For the best experience in this class, students should be NEB or ABANA Level 1 certified, or have equivalent breadth and depth of skills.
Please read the workshop policies before registering.
You take home
Most of the tooling needed for the ABANA Level 2 grille project, or the knowledge of how to make it. Includes top tools, scrolling wrenches, and a scrolling jig.
Skills and techniques
- Proper top-tool forging and shaping
- Heat treating tool steel
- Making butchers, fullers, and set tools
- Forging and shaping isolated material
- Preventing corner cracks
- Estimating volumes
- Upset plain corners and heat isolation
- Fast drawing-out techniques
- Forging and sizing scrolling wrenches
- Pattern transfer
- Proper form for scrolling jigs
- Methods for fitting and adjusting work
- Case hardening
Before you come
Details for students
Experience needed
For best experience, students should be NEB or ABANA Level 1 certified, or have equivalent breadth and depth of skills. Private workshop for NEBA members; password needed to register.
What to bring
Bring any ABANA certification work (complete or in process) for assessment.
The work
Five full days. Private. Password required to register.
Where
One of the farm's studios, confirmed at check-in. See the campus
Staying on the farm
Housing, meals, the daily schedule, and places to stay nearby are on Prepare for your workshop.
Your instructor
Beth Holmberg
Beth Holmberg (she/her) has taught blacksmithing for over twenty years, and has helped thousands of people make useful and decorative objects efficiently with hammer and anvil. She is inspired by historical ironwork, whether the household tools found at archaeological sites, or decorative gates and grills on old buildings. She is a frequent demonstrator at historic museums in the US and abroad; perhaps her coolest gig was forging tools, nails, and other hardware for a Viking ship reconstruction in Denmark. In her courses, Beth likes to teach solid fundamentals and good body mechanics, though interesting and useful projects. Often these projects are based on research into the historical craft of blacksmithing and the objects people used in their daily lives in various times and cultures. The goal is to provide students the ability to do as much as possible with simple tools. Beth is a Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths instructor and mentor, and a certified journeyman and instructor for both the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America and the California Blacksmiths Association. She has taught for John C. Campbell Folk School, the California Blacksmith Association, New England Blacksmiths, Maine Craft Association at Haystack, and for Forjadores Argentinos in Buenos Aires, among others. Before she became a blacksmith, she was a high school science teacher, extraterrestrial petrologist, and trained park interpreter.
Questions about this workshop, housing, or meals? Email registrar@sanbornmills.org or call (603) 435-7314. Please read the workshop policies before you register.