Beginner's class

I'm a rank beginner and am enrolling for Jay Hendrickson's 'intro to bladesmithing' class at the Bill Moran school in February.
I'm not sure if I want to do forging or stock removal, so does it make sense to just jump into this class and get a feel for forging? Or would I be better advised to try to get some class work in stock removal first? I'd welcome all opinions.

And, by the way, my learning style is not to just go out and experiment. Initially, it's important for me to be in a classroom setting.

Love this eboard and thanks for any advice.

Terrance Collins
Austin, Texas

Welcome Terrance. Good to have you. We're glad you have been enjoying the forums.

Since you have already enrolled in the class, it looks like you might be leaning towards forging. You're going to be doing plenty of it, so I hope it's what you want to do.

There's no reason for you to assume that you have to limit yourself to either forging or stock removal. Lot's of makers do both. If your primary interest leans toward high alloy/stainless steels, then you would be best served with stock removal. If your main interest is in carbon steels, it doesn't matter either way, but carbon steels sure do lend themselves well to forging. If you are wanting to make your own damascus, forging is necessary.

Terrance,

I attended the hammer in at washington,ar last spring,and although it is geared toward forging,it will be a tremendous experience.Regards less of what you pursue,you will find that several techniques apply to both forging and grinding.

Welcome to the CKD.

A key thing to think about is damascus. If you are going to want to use it, it is a lot of fun to make it. You can buy it but it is very expensive. Damascus is one of the main reasons I got into forging. It took me a while to get the feel of making damascus but when you complete a knife out of your own damascus, you look at it and can't believe you made it. I do that on every knife I make.

Attending the class will teach you things about steel and moving steel that would be beneficial to you even if you never forge anything. The knowledge you get will be in your head while you are working on stock removal but you will know what is going on in the steel when you get it hot at the ginder, what happens during heat treat, etc....

There will be grinders there also, so you will get some hands on training on them also.

Have fun, look at it as if you plan to forge, then decide after the class how to proceed.

Go to this class, right now your not sure what you want but I'm sure somewhere down the road you will use and be rewarded for what you have learned from going. There's always stock removal to be done, just not as much. Might as well learn the right techniques and save yourself alot of frustrations. You can do the stock romoval when your an old man. Ray....

Regardless of which way you want to go,or both ways,you can have it all if you want.Grinding is the way to your finished blade.If you dont learn to grind correctly, nothing else will help you.