Hosting our first Blacksmithing experience day

Last weekend we ran a Blacksmithing experience day for 4 people. Other than having some close friends mess about on the forge, it’s the first time we’ve done anything like this. The couple who booked it had seen us at the Reivers festival market back in March and wanted to have a go themselves.

We discussed what a complete beginner could achieve in a morning prior to the course, plus the sort of things they might want to achieve. We knew our students were, like us, very much dog people so I made sure we had plenty of different dog profiles available in the workshop for them to choose from – I felt it would be nicer to go home with an actual finished piece rather than just a handful of bits that would just get stuck in a drawer and forgotten about.

Basic Forging Techniques

We decided to go for hooks as an ideal first blacksmithing project because this covers several really important techniques using different areas of the anvil:

1.    Drawing out a taper (making the end of the bar thin out to a point)
2.    Creating a rats tail end (bending the taper over the anvil and hitting it back on itself)
3.    Using the horn of the anvil to create the hook shape.
4.    Using a hardy cutting tool.

Once we’d had a look around the workshop and at the current projects we are working on, I enjoyed demonstrating how to make a simple hook and describing what I was doing, before I let our group loose to have a go themselves. 

Teaching four different people, all complete beginners, was a learning curve for me as they all had different skill sets and backgrounds. Initially I wasn’t sure if, with 4 people they would all get enough time on the forge so was well prepared for the half day to run over, but they all managed to get a decent go at it. Everyone did so well and all went home with something they were clearly very happy with which was obviously the goal! We had a go at welding too; you can’t teach TIG welding properly in the time available but was fun to have a play with it and let those interested give it a try.

What we loved about running a Blacksmithing experience day

It was great to have people in our workshop, genuinely interested in what we do. It was a really good laugh teaching a group of friends too, especially ones that like talking about dogs as much as I do. It's definitely something I would be up for doing again.

What I found difficult

I found it challenging to work out what needed changing when something wasn’t working – I guess this is the skill of being a good teacher! For example ‘the piece is bending because you’re holding it at too high an angle’, or ‘it’s flattening too much because your hammer angle is too flat – picking up on these really subtle points quickly enough was tricky but I think will have made me more aware of my own technique when I’m working too.

Interested in learning blacksmithing?

If you or a friend would be interested in having a go and learning some blacksmithing skills in the Scottish Borders, contact Black Fox Metalcraft to enquire about running an experience. We can tailor it to your interests, and if there is anything in particular you’d like to achieve we can plan the day to suit.