Run. Fast. Escape.: To the forge!!

I turned 30 this year and as a gift my girlfriend had booked me a place on a one-to-one axe-making course. Now, I live in Sheffield, a city synonymous with steel production, however I had to travel 254 miles to Cheriton Bishop to meet Dave Budd, the man who would be teaching me how to make my axe.

Several hours, and numerous wee stops later (Millie the dog, not me), we arrived at the woods where Dave has his workshops and where I would learn how to operate a forge. We met Dave and he took us on a tour of the woods, pointed us in the direction of where we could camp for the night and left us to set up the tent. We'd chosen to camp rather than to stay in a bed and breakfast for two reasons, firstly, you can't beat a night's sleep breathing in fresh woodland air, and secondly, it was free.

Dave joined us at the campfire for dinner where we shared a few beers, discussed archaeology, blacksmithing, dogs, knives and axes and all manner of things in between. The beer soon ran out, and we called it a night.

So, after a quick breakfast around the campfire I met Dave at the workshop and was immediately handed a length of steel that I was to somehow turn into a functioning tool (I'd explained earlier that morning that I spend considerably more time cutting vegetables than I do trees, so perhaps a kitchen knife would be a more appropriate tool to make).

Dave readied the forge and as soon it was up to temperature he explained how the steel should be heated and demonstrated what it should look like when the steel is up to temperature and how to start the process of beating it into submission/a knife. Dave demonstrated by pounding on a glowing piece of metal with force and accuracy that I was somehow expected to copy. Now, my turn. The heating was ok, I may have checked it too many times but at least it didn't turn into a sparkler (a good sign that you've overheated your metal), and then I had to hit the damned thing. And I had to hit it repeatedly, for hours.

Everything went smoothly, Dave's instructions were clear and with him producing the same tool alongside me it was easy to compare and see where changes needed to be made. Some time later the 'rough' forging was just about done and so we moved to the bits that required a little more finesse. By this stage, hours of hammering had taken it's toll and I had a handful of painful, swollen blisters (13, I counted later that evening). This did nothing to improve my accuracy, which was a bit of a bugger because I now needed to forge the bevel of the blade, the working section of the knife. I must have lost some concentration because I had a slight wobble and burned the tip of my knife, turning it to 'cheese' and rendering that section useless. I was disappointed with myself and concerned that I may have buggered up all hard work we'd put into the knife so far, but Dave was reassuring and was able to swiftly remove the burned tip and we cracked on.

The rest of the knife came together pretty well, making the handle (I chose a bare handle, making it comfortable by putting rounded shoulders into the steel that if you were to see in cross-section would look something like a cartoon apple that had been eaten), straightening the blade, grinding away the bits I didn't forge quite as well as I could have and then going through several heat treatments. The heat treatments are massively important, turning a relatively soft steel into a material that will hold a cutting edge when sharpened.

The heat treatments take time due to the temperatures required, so in the mean time Dave and I were able to make a teaspoon and a bottle opener. These were much smaller projects that came together quickly and were immensely satisfying to make.

By now the knives Dave and I had made were cool enough to handle and start working in the cutting edge. A few passes across the grinder (quite a few more for me than for Dave) and we had a basic cutting edge, then out came the water stones for final sharpening. I've used sharpening tools before on other knives that I've bought and I've always been very pleased with the results achieved, but the water stone method was significantly more effective and after listening carefully and copying Dave, I was able to get an edge that shaved the hairs off my arm (this has somehow become a common test of sharpness, at least on YouTube anyway).

I had made a knife. With extreme heat and expert tuition I was able to turn a chunk of steel into a fully functioning tool that now sits very proudly in my kitchen where it will stay for many years to come.