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PROSPECT HILL FORGE offers several types of classes and other activities. Advanced Knifemaking |
| drawing bending cutting twisting |
fullering punching drifting riveting |
12 hours total in either 4 3-hour sessions or 6 2-hour sessions. Fee: $320; a discount applies if signing up for all three Rudiments classes at once.
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Rudiments of Blacksmithing II
This class builds on the skills developed in Rudiments
of Blacksmithing I. You'll refine your command of forge-fire management, improve other existing skills, especially forging, and be guided through projects that will expand your repertoire of basic blacksmithing techniques by introducing:
| upsetting filing hardening drilling tempering sinking |
grinding forging high carbon steel adjusting tools forge-welding sharp angle bending |
12 hours total in either 4 3-hour sessions or 6 2-hour sessions. Fee: $320; a discount applies if signing up for all three Rudiments classes at once.
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Rudiments of Blacksmithing III
This class continues where Rudiments
of Blacksmithing II left off. You'll finally have some idea of how to manage a forge-fire, and get to practice doing so. While doing so, you'll produce matching scrolls and generally work on having more control over your work, and learn still more basic techniques, including:
| scrollwork collaring forging pipe |
threading (taps and dies) sheet metal work bending matching curves |
12 hours total in either 4 3-hour sessions or 6 2-hour sessions. Fee: $320; a discount applies if signing up for all three Rudiments classes at once.
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Rudiments of Blacksmithing IV
Rudiments IV can be seen as the first four weeks of Basics II.
There will be welding (chain, basket-motif s-hooks), investigation of the effects of heating and quenching on spring steel, and more.
4 three hour meetings $320
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Rudiments of Blacksmithing V
This class picks up where Rudiments IV left off and finishes out the content of Basics II as it currently stands.
There will be chain welding, forging to a drawing, two piece welding, scrolling in air, master/striker... Possibly making a hammer head.
12 hours in 4 meetings $320
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Rudiments of Blacksmithing VI
This class picks up where Rudiments V leaves off and finishes out the content of Basics II as a 12-week class.
The exact content of the class is still to be determined.
There will likely be chain welding, threading the needle, using set tools, cleft welding, collar welding, angle welding, further examination of the behaviour of spring steel when tempered, handling a hammer...
12 hours in 4 meetings $320
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Shane Stainton: Making a Hunting Knife
Shane, is this picture the sort of knife you'll be making?
Knifemaker and blacksmith Shane Stainton (www.forgedknives.net) makes a variety of historical and modern styles of knives. He comes to us from his smithy in upstate New York.
He describes the class thusly:
This will be a two day class in which we explore the proper making of a knife, its fittings, and the final finish of the work. We will make a clip point hunting knife with a guard and pommel, handled in wood or antler.
Subjects covered will be:
forging the entire knife closely to shape (i.e. the tang, bolster shoulders, and blade)
edge quenching for hamons
finish beveling
decorative file work
making a guard and slotting it for the blade
making a handle
making a pommel
assembling the knife
final fit and finish.
We will also discuss other basic blade profiles and handle styles such as 'slab handled' and 'built handled'.
Day one will be the forging to shape, filing, heat treatment of the blade, and the forging of fittings
Day two will be initial finish work, assembly, fit, and final finish.
Two very full days The tuition for this class is still to be determined.
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Sharpening Your Knives
Do you have fine kitchen knives that don't seem to cut as well as when you first got them? When you try to sharpen them, do they seem to cut worse, rather than better?
We'll show you how to put a keen edge on your good carbon-steel and stainless knives (these techniques will NOT work on ceramic knives!), and either how to use the sharpening tools you already own, or how to use a simple, cheap, traditional "hard Arkansas" stone.
If you have sharpening equipment, please bring it and we will work with that, we also have a number of sharpening stones you can use in the shop. Bring a couple of your own knives. Straight chisels and plane blades are also acceptable; we will NOT be working on gouges or other curved blades.
3 hours one meeting Tuition fee:$45
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
In this class the student will start with a piece of high-carbon spring steel and make a small, simple, one-piece knife, suitable for cooking, eating, or general utility use. This class is intended for intermediate students; there is another class, Nothing But Knives , for those who want to skip straight to making things with edges.
Techniques include: straightening, drawing out, hammering high-carbon steel, twisting, flattening, annealing, filing, grinding, hardening, and tempering.
1 3-hour session. Fee: $105
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Small (Jeweler's) Hammers
Learn to make your own jeweler's hammers.
The sizes you want, the shapes you want, when you want.
The focus will be on learning the skills necessary to make small (less than three ounce) hammers for riveting, raising (anti- and syn- clastic), shaping, texturing... whatever.
Students should bring if possible:
- A handle (or handles) suited to the hammer(s) they plan to make
12 hours. Four meetings Fee: $420
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Special Open Smithy
This is a special session of Open Smithy intended primarily for students of our special classes. These sessions are typically scheduled just before or after the classes in question and are intended to give those students a chance to continue their work with minimal interruption.
If you are one of our regular students and there is room, you are welcome to come and work, but please note that priority will be given to students of the current special class.
In general Open Smithy is a chance to work on your own projects or continue on a project begun in a class.If you would like to reserve a forge, call or email us at If you just show up, you're taking a chance that no one else called ahead and we decided to go sailing, or that lots of people called ahead and there's no room to work.
$25 per hour 1 hr minimum 10-hour-package discount available
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Steampunk Festival
What is 'Steampunk'?
It has been described as "the science fiction of the steam age"; a re-imagining of the modern world through the eyes of the likes of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells but with the benefit of modern hindsight. (mad)Inventors, steam-power, rogues, airships, adventurers, clockwork, explorers, corsets, jewelers, top hats, pocket watches, gas-light... and of course, blacksmithing.
It promises to be an interesting crowd.
There is more info on the festival in this PDF.
The entry fee is $4 for children $6 for adults
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Strawberries and Art Festival
We'll be demonstrating blacksmithing and offering our wares for sale.
There will be some amount of Striker Team activity through the day as needed and suited to the situation.
There will be lots of other merchants and artists, there was some very neat stuff last year, and some good food too.
The rain date for the festival is the 20th. Click for more info on the Festival
6 hours, from 10 to 4 No admission fee
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
We'll be learning to strike and to master, with single strikers and with teams of strikers. Striking directly and with set-tools. This is not so much a class in the usual sense as it is an ongoing practice session. There will be training for new people as they arrive, and practice for the more experienced. The projects we work on will be for the smithy or for sale by the smithy. Accordingly, the hourly rate for Striker team practice is lower than the usual Open Smithy rate.
Our Striker Team is available for both our own and our students' use, and performs at Fairs, Festivals, Exhibitions, and other opportunities for blacksmithing demonstrations, showing what it was like to do heavy forging in the old days.
To book the Striker Team for a special project, drop us an email.
To come see the Striker Team in action, check out our calendar for Fairs and Festivals at which we will be performing.
2 Hours (or so) Fee: $35
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Sunday Afternoon at the Forge
We'll be spending a couple hours in the afternoon working with/on one of a variety of techniques or concepts. Generally there will be about 20 minutes of lecture, the rest of the time will be for the participants to work alone or together on the day's subject.
Exploring Fold Forming
We'll deal with some particular aspect of fold-forming for the first 15 or 20 minutes, after that, it's a chance to use the tools and cross-fertilize with other fold-formers.
Striker Team
A time to work on large iron in teams, with sledge hammers.
Twisting the Afternoon Away
We'll discuss some underlying concepts of twisting and why things come out the way they do, then try putting them to work making sample twists.
Students Show Off
A chance for our students to strut their stuff and show what they've been up to.
Watch and Do
We'll watch (or read) an instructional blacksmithing video (or book), then go try it out. The video (or book) will be available for reference all through the time.
Usually 2 hours, often followed by a few hours of Open Smithy $35
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Sundays at the Forge
Sunday Afternoons are a special time for many people, a time to relax, a time to set aside the cares of the work week, a time to hit hot iron with a hammer.
We've shuffled our course schedule around a bit and are pleased to announce 'Sundays at the Forge', a series of laid-back, atelier-style, demonstrations and simple workshops paired with Open Smithy time.
Topics will vary, ranging from Aluminum Casting with the Coal Forge to Explorations in Foldforming, from Knife Sharpening Techniques to Twisting the Afternoon Away. Some topics will repeat regularly, such as our monthly Striker Team Practice, some topics will come up every few months, and some just once a year.
What they'll have in common is that they will generally be light treatments of topics that can be covered in a more social, less intense manner than our regular classes. Students will be more free to make their own mistakes and learn by doing so. Sometimes students will share forges, rather than having a private workspace. There will be more opportunity to get to know your fellow smiths, and there may be a pot-luck or an outing for ice cream or ethnic food included in the day's schedule.
'Sundays at the Forge' runs from 2 pm to 4 pm, and will be followed by at least 2 hours of Open Smithy time for those who want to keep rolling and put what they've learned into practice right away.
Sessions will be $35 for the 2-4 pm session; a subscription can be purchased for $100/mo (pro-rated for months when we're going to be short of available Sundays). Subscriptions to repeating SatF topics, such as "Striker Team" and "Exploring Foldforming", can also be purchased on a separate basis at $75/quarter.
Reserving Open Smithy time on Sundays will be like reserving any other OS time; people who have reserved in advance have priority. SatF subscription holders will enjoy a discounted rate of $20 per hour for SatF OS, but may be asked to double up on a forge if numbers require.
2 hours per meeting $35
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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A Taste of Blacksmithing
In this three hour class you will be introduced to the basic smithing
techniques of hammering, drawing-out, cutting, bending, and twisting.
Using these techniques and a coal-fired forge you will bring a piece of
iron to an incandescent heat and with anvil, hammer, and tongs create
one or more cooking skewers or a decorative and useful 'S'-hook.
3 hours one meeting Fee: $60
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Tent Stakes and Open Smithy
A chance to make good solid tent stakes.
This is sort of a focused Open Smithy* time. The main intent will be to make, you guessed it, tent stakes.
Techniques: drawing-out, cutting,and bending. Minor coaching on form and technique will be available. We have four coal forges, so that many people (or groups) can be working at once. Some protective gear is available. If you're bringing a group you may need to bring some of your own eye and ear protection. We have aprons, ear muffs, and safety glasses enough to protect eight people. Bring your own stock or buy some from us, we have 1/2" square, 3/8" square & round on the rack.
*If you really want to make something else while everyone else is
making tent stakes, feel free, you can do as you please with your forge
time.
$25/hour
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
In this class we will make a long-handled two-tined fork suitable for cooking at the grille or over the campfire.
The techniques involved will be splitting, drawing out, curling & bending, and if there's time, twisting and draw-filing.
This fork design can also be modified slightly to serve as a most excellent marshmallow toasting fork (S'mores anyone?).
3 1/2 hours, one meeting $123
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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The Topsfield Fair
We are the blacksmiths at the Topsfield Fair again this year.
If you are a smith, and you'd like to demonstrate at the fair, please contact us, we'll probably welcome the break.
We will be in "Kiddieland" on "Country Way". [hey, we don't name these things.] If you come in the main gate on Rt 1, we are around to the right (due South of the Administration building).
Good news! We have it on good authority that they are pointing the Kiddieland Stage away from us this year. Yay!
More info on the fair
October 1st to 11th, from 10am to 10pm except the 1st, which is 4pm to 10pm $8 admission for one day, three-day pass for $21, if you're helping us, we can comp you in.
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
In this class we will make a tripod for cooking over a camp fire.
This is a good solid design that stands well and can also be arranged as two verticals with a horizontal either as a spit or as a bar for hanging utensils from.
Techniques: hacksawing, drawing-out, bending, twisting (optional)
The parts disassemble easily for transport. You'll need a few 'S' hooks
or a trammel hook to adjust the height of your cookpot. (Watch for a
trammel hook class coming soon).
2 hours one meeting
Fee: $80 + $8- $12 materials fee depending on size
of tripod
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Twisting the Afternoon Away
The twist is a very common ornament in blacksmithing, largely because the aesthetic return for your labor investment is huge.
We'll talk about how and why twisting does what it does and how heat, cross section, size, and interruptions affect how stock twists. Then we'll play with as many variations as the class can come up with.
One meeting, 2 hours (with Open Smithy following for those who wish to stay on) $35
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Waltham Mills Artists' Association Open Studios
The WMAA Open Studios takes place each year on the first weekend of November. The 76 artists of the WMAA open their homes and studios to the public. Works of all media imaginable are demonstrated, displayed and discussed.
PHF will be there displaying and offering for sale a variety of ironwork, and touting our classes.
Carl will be offering his Percussive Drawings for sale and will also have his armor and some other sculpture on display.
Visit the WMAA website for more information.
Note!: This is not at the Smithy. This is at 144 Moody Street in Waltham, right near the Charles River.
Directions to the WMAA Buildings.
You will need to park elsewhere unless you have handicapped plates. There are public lots just across the Charles that are a brief walk away.
There is no admission fee...
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
We'll be doing some demonstrations along with famed knifesmith Shane Stainton, who we hope we'll see teaching some classes at Prospect Hill Forge one of these days. Shane hails from upstate New York, so we don't get a chance to see him around here very often. Come on down, meet the man, and decide whether you want to take a class with him.
Directions:
The directions on the Faire's Site are good.
But note that there is a hiccup in the signage:
As you get close, there are square yellow signs with big black arrows. At the last turn they switch to a white rectangular sign. There is a square yellow sign there too, but it doesn't look the same as the others.
As of Sunday morning there is a Tanker accident at the 95 and 495 interchange and all traffic is being detoured around it.
Find an alternate route.
Festival admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children 5-12, free for 4 and under. $2 off if you wear
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Worcester stART on the street
So far, we know very little about this event.
At the Blackstone Valley Celtic Festival we were approached by the organizer of the event and mutual interest was expressed.
More when we know how involved we'll be.
This seems to be the link for the event.
(this conflicts with the NEB Fall meet. We'll work something out.)
Just the one day No admission fee known at this time.
Full Description, Dates, and Registration Information.
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Wrought Iron Candlestick
This class is specifically geared to the production of a simple, elegant and functional candlestick. In the process of making it, you'll cut threads with tap & die, form a tenon, forge pipe, and work with sheet steel.
When finished with this class, the student should be able to use Open Smithy Time to make as large a set of candlesticks as they desire.
This class is 9 hours long. Either in three sessions of 3 hours or two sessions of 4 1/2 hours. Fee: $315
This will be a three day class in which we explore the proper making of a knife, its fittings, and the final finish of the work. We will make a clip point hunting knife with a guard and pommel, with a wooden grip.
We'll be exploring the aluminum casting technique known as 'The Foam Vaporization Method' or 'Lost Foam'.
In the twelve meetings of this course, you will be exposed to the
basics of the language of blacksmithing. From "smash-it-flat" to forge
welding. There will be practice pieces, exercises, samplers, problems,
and actual projects all aimed at building your smithing vocabulary and
fluency. By the end of the course you should be well on your way to
thinking like a blacksmith.Taking the classes 
In this class we will spend more time practicing and refining skills, with emphasis on variation and experimentation. New topics will include: working to a drawing, forge-welding chain, working with/as a striker, two-piece welding (alone and with a helper), heat treating unknown (scrap) metal...
Prospect Hill Forge will be 'performing' at the 
This is a demo at the Centennial Patriot Muster "Camporee". Outdoor cooking tools such as tripods, flesh-forks, trammel hooks, spits, skewers, spoons and spatulas will be the order of the day. We'll be editing this text as we get more information.
Here are a couple of the official fliers:
In this class you will make a pair of simple butterfly hinges, suitable for use on a cupboard, small chest, or box.
Just upstream from the Weeks Memorial Footbridge, we'll be demonstrating traditional blacksmithing techniques, and the Striker Team will put in an appearance with their two-handed sledge hammers. 
In this class we will address the techniques necessary to produce a towel rack, be it wide or narrow, intended to hold an elegant cloth towel or a roll of toilet paper.
This is more a 'session' than a 'class', it is a chance to work with the technique in general or to spend the evening investigating the variations on a particular fold. Most sessions will begin with a brief demonstration of a particular fold or some aspect of hammering or opening. (if there's something in particular you'd like to see in the demo, make a note of it when you sign up and we'll do what we can.)
In this class we will make a fire-steel from high-carbon steel and learn to use it.
We're going to take some time to work on the Bin of Broken Tools.
We will introduce Mr. Lewton-Brain's methods of working sheet metal by folding, working, and unfolding. There will be demonstration and hands-on work, mostly in copper, which will provide a quick overview of the range of form-folding techniques.
This class will focus on the basic fold-forming concept of working sheet metal by folding, working, and unfolding and its application to hot iron.
The class is equally suitable for young teens, pre-teens, and
adults and older teens that need practice to improve their hammer skills. 
This class covers the production of a traditional and useful heart-shaped trivet, based on several in the Sorber collection of colonial wrought iron. 
We'll be participating in the Innovations of Yesteryear festival along with various other artisans, entertainers, and educators. Come visit!
You'll learn how to use punches and chisels to open mouths, punch noses and eyes, and cut ears and horns to make fantastical creature heads with unique personalities.
PHF will be demonstrating, but not selling anything, from no later than 10am (and maybe earlier) until 4:30.
PHF will be at NEFFA for the three days of the event, participating as staff, dancers, and (we hope) demonstrating blacksmithing.
In this class the student will start by learning the basic moves of
knife-making on a piece of mild steel, ending up with a letter-opener
if all goes well, and then move on to a piece of high-carbon spring
steel and make a small, simple, one piece knife, suitable for cooking,
eating, or general utility use.
A chance to work on your own projects or continue on a project begun in a class.
We opened officially on May first 2007 but our Grand Opening Bash was later in the month, so it seems fitting that our Birthday Party should be a bit late too and the evening of Saturday the 16th of May fits that bill beautifully.
3 Days of Hot Metal at The Ashokan Center, Olivebridge, NY
Prospect Hill Forge is happy to host your party, be it to celebrate an Engagement, an upcoming Marriage, an Anniversary, a Birthday, a Bar Mitzvah, a Reunion, a Bat Mitvah... any day that is so important you want to remember what you and your family or friends did that day for the rest of your life.
This class continues where "A Taste of Blacksmithing" leaves off. You'll
learn more about shop safety and begin to work on forge-fire management, while being guided thorough a series of projects that will begin to build your
repertoire of basic blacksmithing techniques, including: