Tuesday, December 13, 2011

New Blacksmithing Class at Museum Village

Blacksmithing Classes at Museum Village

1010 State Route 17M, Monroe, NY 10950
Visit: museumvillage.blogspot.com

On Jan.18 & 19, 11-1PM, a free blacksmithing demonstration ( Making a Tomahawk) at Museum Village for those interested in taking this course and/or blacksmithing.
4 Days of Intensive Blacksmithing for Tuition/ 24 Hours of Instruction/$375, materials included. Friday, January 20: 5-9PM, Saturday, January 21: 10-6PM Sunday, January 22: 10-6PM, & Monday, January 23: 5-9PM.

Class Limit: 6
Where: Museum Village

Instructor: Adriaan Gerber

To reserve your place in the class or for information, contact Robert Schmick, Museum Director, Museum Village, email: rschmick@museumvillage.org or Call 845-781-3729

Mr. Gerber is a full time blacksmith. He refers to himself as a “bladesmith”, as much of his creative output results in high quality knives, axes, and swords that he sells world-wide. These objects are entirely created by hand and without power tools, although most recently Mr. Gerber has employed the use of an antique trip hammer for the purpose of preparing the metal billets he uses in his work. Mr. Gerber’s home smithy is located in Lamoine, Maine, near Acadia National Park.


Show up to class with cotton clothing, no synthetics. Long sleeve shirts, no coats with nylon shells, safety glasses are required, and you might start out with a 2 1/2 or 3 lb. drilling hammer of your own( after you swing this a number of times it will feel heavier so I prefer the 2 1/2 lb. weight). There will be hammers and other tools to complete the class.

Day 1 / 5-9PM, 4Hours: Introduction to Safety, Materials and tools of the trade. Tapering. Drawing Out Metal. Forging square taper to octagonal and round. Bending over the horn. Twisting. Make a drift tool for punching holes. Temper. Using the Cross Pein Hammer or drilling hammer to forge a basic s-hook. Decorative Bending. Setting down using half-faced blows. Make "S" Hook and/or "J" Hook.

Day 2/ 10-6PM, 8 Hours: Forge a Set of Skewers with fancy handles using knowledge from prior class. More hot-cutting and splitting. Separating split parts for better access. Smoothing out cuts using the vise. Tapering to a square point. Drawing out metal. Forging square taper to octagonal and round. Flattening and twisting. Forging out a meat fork. Upsetting. Reducing metal width to form a neck. Preventing folds. Flattening. Drawing Down, bending and filing using the vise.

Day 3/ 10-6PM, 8 Hours: Using knowledge from Day 2 forge out a spatula (to be used for forge welding). Work on prior projects, if necessitated. Preparing for Welding. Upsetting and Scarfing. Fire Control For Welding. Using Flux. Forge Welding. Forging a spoon.

Day 4/ 5-9PM, 4 Hours: Preparing for Welding. Upsetting and Scarfing. Fire Control For Welding. Using Flux. Forge Welding a Ring. Punching a Square Slot. Punching Mounting Holes. Forging a Door Knocker.Forge Studio. Drawing down. Folding and welding. Preparing steel blade insert. Welding high-carbon Steel. Cutting and Spreading. Heat treating high-carbon steel. Forging a Tomahawk.

See Adriaan Gerber in action in this video (click):

Click: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=113817