Forging a Knife with Luz - 7/08/25, 7/15/25, 7/22/25, 7/29/25

Learning from Luz

The student will use the skills learned in 101 and 102 to forge a blade from a 1/2-inch round rod to the instructor's style and specifications. The face of the blade will not be ground. The student will learn to hammer a blade shape and profile to temper, harden, and sharpen the blade. 

The students will also learn to put handles in their finish blades. They will learn techniques for adding handles, shapes, and profiles and save several hours when doing handles. 

At the end of the class, the student will have a finished knife and the proper skills to forge blades faster.
 

Required 

You must have completed a Blacksmith 102 class taught at Past Lives Makerspace or equivalent to register.
 

Material for the class

Metal will be provided to hammer the knife. The handles and pins will also be provided. An additional charge applies if you want stabilized or fancy wood. Mosaic pins are also available but will be at an extra cost.
 

Luz Bio

I come from a blacksmithing family on both sides of my family. My grandfather, Jesus, has been a blacksmith every day since I can remember. As a child, I became curious about Blacksmithing because the noise of the anvil would wake me up every day at around 6 am. I wanted to join them and do something, but they told me I was too little. I remember standing outside the forge watching my grandfather, father, and some of my uncles blacksmithing and looking at all the metal they were throwing away. That scrap pile looked like a treasure to me!

After hundreds of hours watching, at the age of seven, they gave me a cold metal, a punch, a chisel, and a small square hammer and told me to sit in the corner away from the forge. They gave me a flat rock and a piece of sheet metal, and I tried to cut it with my new tools. I intended to make a toy, but the chisel and punch were so dull that they could not punch a hole. They were useless. I asked them to please sharpen them for me, and I was shocked because they told me no and to keep trying.

So, one day, while everyone was at lunch, I turned on the grinder and sharpened the chisel! My uncle Manuel was the first one to arrive back from lunch. He saw I cut about 6 inches, maybe more, off of the sheet metal. He started to scream at me, asking who sharpened the tool for you. I said nobody, I did it myself! Well then, who taught you how to sharpen a tool? I said nobody taught me; I have been watching you all do it for hours. 

He raised his hands, screaming Ahhhhhhh, lowered his hands, and said I see. Well, Luz, yes, you can keep doing it; this is your start to a long journey of Blacksmithing. When my father and grandfather returned, they were proud of me and shocked.