Past weekend taught a beginner blacksmith forge welding class.. 

Had 2 with experience and 6 students completely new at the forge and anvil. 

Had them forge welding day 1 with a treble herb hook ( long tapers, using the hardie for cutting and notching,  Long taper sq, oct, round, bend and weld).  A very tough first project but gives me a real sense of whats possible.   The long tapers and SOR were awesome. 

Day 2 was finish up herb hooks and chain welding.   

Day 3 I gave them 4 options..  blacksmith twist poker, spoon, Heart trivet or round trivet.   

5 people chose  poker and 3 chose spoon.. 

Huge success with plenty of time forge welding..  

It's crazy what you can teach to people open to learning in such a short time..  

20hours total time for these people during the class at the forge and anvil. 

4 coal forges and 2 gas forges..   The students also switched from coal to gas or the other way around several times depending on what was being done. 

My TA Eric J did an amazing job.  

A big thumbs up, looks like they done good with your instructions.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

Jennifer much of how people learn is a reflection on the teacher. No matter how open people are to learning if you go to fast or go to slow they will lose interest, if you do not "dumb it down" more for some than others they will loose interest. 

Looks like they did well. 

Thanks IFCW

Billy,

I have seen many other teach and feel like I have a slightly different approach.  The demonstration is group-oriented but after q/a about what was shown/ done it then becomes very individualized. 

Every individual question/performance/ output is kept track of and addressed.. 

Lots of extra work teaching this way, but it opens topics/subjects and makes it like having a private instructor. Safe, inclusive.. 

Number 1 rule..   Teach to the person. 

When you are able to connect it becomes magical.  And it really frees people up to engage easier. 


 

Very nice. As I've noted elsewhere, a short visit to the Haystack forge in the summer of 1983 was one of the significant moments at the beginning of my blacksmithing journey.