I am often asked if I offer courses teaching others how to make knives and tools, or to improve their sharpening skills. I do, and each course is tailored to the requirements of the student. Amongst the regular courses that I offer are:
Terms and Conditions
Unfortunately, due to the poor conduct of a small number of people, I have to lay out some rules. Most of these should fall into the realms of common courtesy.
1) As space on some courses is limited a deposit is required for all courses except the sharpening course (in which case I ask for the whole cost to paid upfront). Deposits are priced thus: £30 for a one day course, £50 for a two day course. Deposits are required at the time of booking, with the balance to be paid at or before the start of the class. Deposits are non-refundable within two weeks of a course commencing unless the cancellation has occured at my end.
2) Should a course need to be cancelled for any reason, a full refund (or transfer to another course if preferred) will be given. I will also give as much notice of this as possible.
3) Should a course have to be cut short (eg. the Great British weather makes it unsafe), then a proportional refund or postponement of course will be granted at the discretion of the organiser. So far this has not happened, as I try to have back up plans ;-)
4) Although everything possible has been done to ensure that these courses are safe, there are inherent dangers with activities of this nature. You will be briefed as to any particular health and safety precautions. The organiser and instructors take no responsibility for injury or loss caused.
5) Participants under 16 years must be accompanied by an adult. Adults wishing to leave their youngsters in the care of the organiser are welcome to do so but are asked to fill out a consent form. By booking an under 16 onto a course, the parent/guardian is promising that they are mature and sensible enough to follow the tuition without disruption of the class.
6) Conduct.
All participants are expected to conduct themselves in a reasonable and adult manner at all times. Please respect and follow instructions given by the tutors and organisers, these instructions are given for good reasons.
I will NOT tolerate antisocial, offensive or dangerous behaviour. Should this behaviour be observed, you will be given a single warning only. If the behaviour continues then you will be asked to leave and forfeit your fee. No excuses and No exceptions.
come and make yourself a robust leather possibles pouch
26th July
At the start of each course I introduce you to the tools and materials that will be used, followed by the health and safety talk (such as "don't touch metal from the forge it WILL be hot and don't touch the edges of my tools as they WILL be sharp!).
If you would like to know more or book onto a course, please contact me. Unless otherwise stated, the price for the courses includes liquid refreshments on tap and all materials. Due to the increasing popularity of some courses, I ask for a £50 deposit to secure places.
Most courses start at 9am (sharpening courses start at 10am) and finish somewhere between 4:30 and 6pm, depending on the subject matter and the ability of the group. Unlike many bushcraft schools, I don't charge you £300 for 4 hours of teaching and 4 hours of "own time" each day. If you come on one of my courses you will be busy the whole time and I like you to feel that you have got value for money!
Whether it is a new kitchen knife or a chisel that you want to make, you can come into my fully equipped workshop and have my undivided attention. You will be able to make every part of your knife, with me showing you how to forge, grind, heat treat and polish the blade, fit a guard and handle; finishing of with a custom fitted sheath from top quality English leather.
How long are the courses?
Well, that depends on what you want to make, what level of finish you desire and how easily you pick things up. As a guide, based on previous students' work, this is the minimum that you should be able to accomplish:
Day 1 (or a one day course)
If you intend to make a forged finished blade, then you will be able to forge the blade and heat treat it with time enough to move onto the next step.
Once you have a finished blade you can fit a simple handle, such as a piece of antler or a rustic branch, and sharpen your knife up.
If your design has a more involved handle, that requires shaping, then you will be able to prepare the handle pieces and depending on the complexity of your design you should be able to glue the pieces together ready for shaping later at home or durng the next day of your course.
Day 2
Prepare and glue the handle onto the blade, if this wasn't done by the end of day 1.
Shape handle to fit your hand and design, then finish it to a fine satin finish with hand abrasives and oil the wood to protect it.
Unless your knife is of a very simple design, it is unlikely that you will get the time to make a sheath, but it has been known.
(If your blade has also been ground, then today you will spend a while polishing it to the level that you desire, and possibly etching to reveal any hamon present. You will then be able to fit the handle and begin shaping.)
Day 3
Unless you have a particularly complex design, this is a sheath making day.
Make a template of your sheath and cut out the leather.
Dye the leather, glue the bits together and punch the stitching holes.
Sew the sheath and finish it with oil and wax.
You can also book a longer course if you would like to completely finish a particularly complex knife, such as one including decorative file work, wavy temper lines, inlays, fancy sheathes and the like. If you prefer, you can break the course up, this is often very useful for people who only have one spare day per week. It also means that we can use better quality resins that take 24 hours to cure.
Prices:
All materials and refreshment (not lunch) are included in the price of the course. The price of the course will to an extent depend on what you would like to achieve, but as a rule of thumb for knife (or similar tool) making courses:
£140 for the first day
£110 for each further day on the same project
These courses are run in small groups and can be put together from a group of your friends, or you can book onto a course that I have set a date for. If you form your own group then you can decide what you would like to make and when you would like to make it!
I teach groups using the Iron Age forge set up for three reasons. Firstly because my workshop is not suited to teaching groups, secondly because the iron age forges demonstrate how little equipment one actually needs to make a functional tool, and thirdly this set up is a great group experience, both for team building and the social aspect!
The way this works is pretty much like the one to one course above, but it takes a little longer to forge things because while somebody is pumping the bellows for the other team members, they can't be forging and will need to rotate in order that they can catch up. So, the time scale for making any particular piece must be adjusted accordingly. This isn't a problem as the Iron Age set up tends to inspire more 'primitive' designs; people are more inclined to make a small forged blade with a simple stick tang and a nicely carved wooden handle.
Day 1
After me demonstrating each step, everybody will be given the chance to catch up. By the end of the day we will all have a forged and heat-treated blade.
All of the blades will be hardened in tallow and then tempered the old fashioned way by watching the colours spreading across the blade. This is trickier than the modern method of putting it in an oven, but it is far quicker and you don't need electricity!
Day 2
The group can select a handle material from a choice of woods, antler, bone and horn (whatever I have available at the time). Then fit the handle to their blade using natural glues. Everyone will then be able to shape and decorate their handles at my outdoor workshop (i.e the woods!) or by the campfire.
Again, I will teach everyone to sharpen their knives and any extra details that people wish to build into their designs can be discussed. Also the course can be spread over separate days or weeks if desired. I use the same forge set up for various other courses, such as spear making, eating/cooking utensil courses and a few others that are plotting away in my head. Take a look at my course list for more details.
Using tools that you can easily get from your local hardware store, I can teach you to put a professional edge back on any of your cutting tools. As with my Iron Age courses, I run these in small groups. You can either book into one of my organised courses as an individual, or you can form your own group (no more than 8) and we can set a date together. The actual content of each course will vary according to what people have brought with them and the time taken by the group, but below gives an idea of what can be covered.
Likely Tools Covered
Aspects Taught
Straight knives (kitchen knives, etc)
Pocket knives
Scissors
Shears and Secateurs
Chisels and Plane Irons
Axes
Billhooks and sickles
Handsaws
Wood cutting drill bits
Sharpening and general maintenance
Sharpening, cleaning and general maintenance
Sharpening and general maintenance
Sharpening and general maintenance
Sharpening and general maintenance
Sharpening and general maintenance
Sharpening and general maintenance
Sharpening, setting of teeth and general maintenance
Sharpening
Below is a list of courses that I plan to run this coming year. Except for a few exceptions, all of my courses will be run in the woods using only hand tools and those involving forging will include the Iron Age forge set up.
If you would like to know more or book onto a course, please contact me. Unless otherwise stated, the price for the courses includes liquid refreshments on tap and all materials. Due to the increasing popularity of some courses, I ask for a £50 deposit to secure places.
Most courses start at 9am (tool maintenance courses start at 10am) and finish somewhere between 4:30 and 6pm, depending on the subject matter and the ability of the group. Unlike many bushcraft schools, I don't charge you £300 for 4 hours of teaching and 4 hours of "own time" each day. If you come on one of my courses you will be busy the whole time and I like you to feel that you have got value for money!
January
20th
26th
(-27th)
February
23rd-24th
March
8th-9th
22nd-24th
April
12th
19th-20th
21st
May
24th-26th
June
7th-8th
28th-29th
July
26th
August
16th
note change of date
17th
note change of date
September
27th-28th
October
11th-12th
25th
26th
November
1st
8th(-9th)
15th-16th
December
Full day sharpening course. I will demonstrate and teach you to sharpen a variety of cutting tools, the range of tools will depend on the students' interests, but see above for more info. Some sharpening equipment will also be available for purchase.
Max number of students: 8Price: £35
Number of places left: Cancelled due to illness
Bells and Bangles Personal adornments made of iron. Use the Iron Age forges to make your own decorative and functional items such as belt buckles, brooches, key rings/pendants, torcs and the like. I'm going to open this for two days, so that if people would like to stay for the weekend and make more stuff, they can! This is a great course for LRP or living history enthusiasts, as well as anybody who wants to have a go at smithing something small.
Max number of students: 6Price: £65 (Saturday only), £100 two days
Number of places left: Cancelled due to illness (rearranged for October)
Knife Making weekend. Using the iron Age forges we will take a piece of spring steel and turn it into a fine quality knife, all forged and heat treated on the first day. On the second day we turn to our handles, which will be of some great British wood or antler. All of the work will be done without the aid of power (who needs that?!), but in the end we ill have a fine quality and razor sharp knife!
Max number of students: 6Price: £130
Number of places left: FULL
Axe Making weekend. Using the Iron Age forges we will forge out small axe heads (hatchets) and heat treat them on day one. Day two will be concerned with fitting and shaping the handles (made from locally grown cleft ash), finishing with the all important sharpening and testing of our new tools!
Max number of students: 6Price:140
Number of places left: 3
Feast weekend.On day one, using the Iron Age forges we will forge decorative (and useful!) kebab skewers, forks (toasting or smaller eating forks) and if time allows, tripods for hanging a pot over the fire. Then on day two we can do some greenwood carving, making ourselves a wooden spoon and a shallow dish (deeper than a plate, but not quite a bowl). The end of day two will feature the FEAST, using the kit that we have just made to cook and eat with. The food will be provided by me (local and organic where possible!), but please bring some of your own to add to the mix. Day three will be mostly about resting from the feast, but we can do a little more greenwood work (spreaders, spatulas, etc) and a go at some more bushcraft type cooking arrangements.
Max number of students: 6Price: £140
Number of places left: 5 Cancelled due to bad weather, will be rescheduled.
Full day sharpening course. I will demonstrate and teach you to sharpen a variety of cutting tools, the range of tools will depend on the students' interests, but see above for more info. Some sharpening equipment will also be available for purchase.
Max number of students: 8Price: £35
Number of places left: 3
Bow Making. Under the tuition of skilled bowyer David Sinfield, you can come to the woods and make yourself a fine shooting bow. Starting with simple staves of ash (from the woodland around us!) we will carve, shape, tiller and smooth our bows. In the evening we can set to making strings and the arrows which we will be able to shoot from our bows at the end of the course! This is a very full on course, but well worth the effort. We will be making European Flatbows, a design which over 6000 years old, yet still out shoots the famous English longbow!! We can finish off the course by shooting around my own field archery course.
Max Number of students: 6Price: £130
Number of places left: FULL(Plus £20 for materials)
Arrow making. Separate to the bow making course, this is purely about the projectiles. We will be making a few good arrows from scratch. Most archers shoot arrows assembled from shop-bought parts (as we will on the bow making course),but on this one day course I shall teach you to make arrows from shoots of hazel. We shall straighten and true the shafts, fletch and cut goose feathers and cut self nocks, finally fitting a durable steel point (these are bought in, though I will have some handmade ones available). This course is open to all, but particularly appropriate for those coming on the bow making course: you can make arrows to match your prehistoric bow! We can finish off the course by shooting around my own field archery course.
Max number of students: 6Price: £65
Number of places left: 3£50 for those from the bowmaking course!
3 Day Knife Making course. Using the iron Age forges we will take a piece of spring steel and turn it into a fine quality knife, all forged and heat treated on the first day. On the second day we turn to our handles, which will be of some great British wood or antler. Day three is the sheath making day. Each of our knives will go home with a custom made sheath made from the same heavy duty veg tanned leather that I use. If the inspiration and time are willing then you can decorate the sheath to make it all the more special. All of the work will be done without the aid of power (who needs that?!), but in the end we ill have a fine quality and razor sharp knife!
Max number of students: 6Price: £180
Number of places left: 2
Spoon carving. After selecting a piece of green wood we will sit down to some carving. The goal is to finish up with a beautiful and useful range of eating utensils including at least one spoon (be it teaspoon of ladle), but along the way I will teach you how to use axes, knives and hooked knives safely and efficiently. I'll also go into the sharpening of the tools, wood selection and treating the treen that you make so that it lasts for years. Cups (kuksa if you prefer) and dishes are also on the cards.
Max number of students: 8Price: £130
Number of places left: 7
Spear making weekend. Forge a spear head, carve and fit a shaft of ash, then go 'hunting! Sounds simple, but the process is quite involved and the better job you make of the forging and straightening, the more accurate your spears will be. I have wooden targets for us to practice our accuracy with and a small field archery type setup will be laid for us to go 'hunting' around!
Max number of students: 4Price: £130
Number of places left: 4
Leather Pouch Making. Come and learn how to make yourself a leather pouch, ideal for keeping bushcrafty bits or any thing else in really! We will be using high quality English leather and you will have the opportunity to decorate the leather too.
Max number of students: 6Price: £65
Number of places left: 4
Sheath Making. Come and learn how to make sheath for your knife, axe, billhook, etc. Using the same quality leather I do in my sheathes you can wet-form, decorate and sew custom clothing for your blade! Enough leathre will be provided for a 6" or less knife, but if you want to sheath something bigger I can sell you enough to do the job.
Max number of students: 8Price: £65
Number of places left: 8Special price for attendees of my
knifemaking courses this year £50
Full day sharpening course. I will demonstrate and teach you to sharpen a variety of cutting tools, the range of tools will depend on the students' interests, but see above for more info. Some sharpening equipment will also be available for purchase!
Max number of students: 8Price: £35
Number of places left: 8
Knife Making weekend. Using the iron Age forges we will take a piece of spring steel and turn it into a fine quality knife, all forged and heat treated on the first day. On the second day we turn to our handles, which will be of some great British wood or antler. All of the work will be done without the aid of power (who needs that?!), but in the end we ill have a fine quality and razor sharp knife! Last group knifemaking of the year!
Max number of students: 6Price: £130
Number of places left: 1
Feast weekend.On day one, using the Iron Age forges we will forge decorative (and useful!) kebab skewers, forks (toasting or smaller eating forks) and if time allows, tripods for hanging a pot over the fire. Then on day two we can do some greenwood carving, making ourselves a wooden spoon and a shallow dish (deeper than a plate, but not quite a bowl). The end of day two will feature the FEAST, using the kit that we have just made to cook and eat with. The food will be provided by me (local and organic where possible!), but please bring some of your own to add to the mix. Day three will be mostly about resting from the feast, but we can do a little more greenwood work (spreaders, spatulas, etc) and a go at some more bushcraft type cooking arrangements.
Max number of students: 6Price: £140
Number of places left: 4
Tool Handles. In response to public demand, here is a tool handle replacement and maintenance course. Bring your broken tools along and learn how to safely remove and refit their handles. Examples could include: Axes, Billhooks, Spades/Shovels, Hammers, Chisels, etc. I will have some store-bought handles for you to purchase or you may wish to bring suitable replacements with you.
Max number of students: 8Price: £35
Number of places left: 8(plus handles, priced individualy)
Full day sharpening course. I will demonstrate and teach you to sharpen a variety of cutting tools, the range of tools will depend on the students' interests, but see above for more info. Some sharpening equipment will also be available for purchase!
Max number of students: 8Price: £35
Number of places left: 8
Charcoal Making. Come and help with a charcoal burn, seeing the process through from stacking the wood to sieving the charcoal. We will also be carrying out a small scale oil drum burn that you can easily replicate at home! As well as learning how to do the charcoal making yourself you can take away a bag of fine Organic English fuel prepared during the weekend. The tutor for this course is my own supplier, 'Black' Alex.
Max number of students: 10Price: £65
Number of places left: 10
Bells and Bangles Personal adornments made of iron. Use the Iron Age forges to make your own decorative and functional items such as belt buckles, brooches, key rings/pendants, torcs and the like. I'm going to open this for two days, so that if people would like to stay for the weekend and make more stuff, they can! This is a great course for LRP or living history enthusiasts, as well as anybody who wants to have a go at smithing something small.
Max number of students: 6Price: £65 (Saturday only), £100 two days
Number of places left: 4 (moved from January)
Axe Use and Maintenance. So you’ve bought an axe, now what? I’m offering you the chance to learn about different types of axe and how to use them to their fullest. We will cover Axe Identification, Axe Safety, Felling a tree, Snedding the tree and Converting the tree into useful things. The conversion will include splitting a tree with gluts, hewing the tree into a flat board/beam and then carving something a little more ornate (or useful!). We will also go through axe maintenance; refurbishment of an old tool, sharpening and day-to-day care.
Max number of students: 6Price: £130
Number of places left: 5 (£110 if you have made an axe with me!)
The Next Course is:
Leather Possibles Pouch
26th july
Many bushcraft enthusiasts carry a 'possibles pouch', this is simply a pouch to carry those basic essentials such as fire lighting kit, pocket knife, first aid kit, etc. Of course, you don't have to use a leather pouch just for bushcraft, it is a very useful extra pocket or small storage space when out and about (I use one to keep my camera safe). Many Living History and Role Players carry out-of-character objects in a case on their belt. Likewise I know several people who carry a first aid kit with them at all times, this is a more elegant way to carry things!
During this one day course, you will be able to wet form a pouch from 2.5-3mm vegetable tanned leather. It can be decorated and dyed a colour of your choice and then sewn up with a belt loop on the rear. We will discuss various options for fastening the puch (toggles, snap fasteners, Sam Browne studs, etc) and you are free to choose teh size of pouch as well as the method of closing and wearing it. At the end of the day you will have a finished pouch to carry all your loose change and car keys!
Location: My Woodland workshop just outside Cheriton Bishop, Devon.
Max number of students: 6Price: £65
Number of places left: 4
Primitive Bowmaking
The bow that we are going to make is the European flatbow, along the lines of the Meare Heath and Holmeguard bows. These bows predate the longbow by several thousand years and are actually more efficient and (in my opinion at least) more fun to shoot. Over the course of the weekend we will turn a stave of English Ash from my woodland (other native woods may also be on offer) into a beautiful working bow. Since I'm not a master bowyer, I have enlisted the expertise of David Sinfiled to tutor this course. David's website can be seen here.
Saturday will be concerned with the rough shaping and primary tillering of the bow. We are going to be using handtools that haven't changed much in a very long time: axes, drawknives, rasps and scrapers. Then around the campfire in the evening we can make a couple of arrows and a layed in bowstring (both skills in their own right!).
On sunday we can finish the shaping and tillering to produce a bow that will shoot straight! We should have plenty of time to get a bit of practice in at the range and we may even get out into the field archery course.
This is a fantastic value for money course. Most other bowmaking courses I've looked at cost well over £200 and you make the usual boring longbow. Here you get to make a unique and more ancient type of bow, your own string and your own arrows! And you get to shoot around my field archery course for free! What more could you want?
Location: My Woodland workshop just outside Cheriton Bishop, Devon.
Max number of students: 6Price:
Number of places left:
Arrow Making
Most archers assemble their own arrows as it's a cheaper way of buying arrows and allows you to tune them to your specific requirements. Making arrows from shop bought parts is easy and only takes about 15 minutes per arrow, this course is different.
Starting with natural hazel sunshoots,we will scrape off the bark and straighten the shafts over a small fire. Then we can smooth the shafts down with abrasives to make them more uniform in size and shape, smoothing them down as we go. After carrefully cutting self nocks in one end we can begin the fletching. I will provide some feathers for fletching, these will need to be cut to shape and size and glued and/or whipped in place. Finally we can glue on a steel pile, these can be either store bought piles or one that I have made myself. I may even be able to conjure up some stone (slate rather than flint I'm afraid), bone and antler to tip our Primitive Arrows with this time! All materials are included in the price for this course.
Assuming that we all have at least one good arrow to shoot, we can then try out our handiwork at the range. Then off we go to the field archery course, if you are feeling confident in your skill as an archer and arrowsmith/fletcher!
Location: In my woodland near Cheriton Bishop in Devon.
Max number of students: 6Price:
Number of places left:
Leather Possibles Pouch
Many bushcraft enthusiasts carry a 'possibles pouch', this is simply a pouch to carry those basic essentials such as fire lighting kit, pocket knife, first aid kit, etc. Of course, you don't have to use a leather pouch for bushcraft, it is a very useful extra pockt or small storage space when out and about. Many Living History and Role Players carry out of character object in a case on their belt. Likewise I know several people who carry a first aid kit with them at all times, this is a more elegant way to carry things!
During this one day course, you will be able to wet form a pouch from vegetable tanned leather. It can be decorated and dyed a colour of your choice and then sewn up with a belt loop on the rear. At the end of the day you will have a finished pouch to carry all your loose change and car keys!
Location: My Woodland workshop just outside Cheriton Bishop, Devon.
Max number of students: 8Price:
Knifemaking Course
Using the tools of the original Masters of Iron, I invite you to my woodland workshop to make yourselves a sturdy, functional knife. On the saturday we will forge out blades from bars of tool steel using ground level Iron Age forges, followed by hardening and tempering in the fire. On sunday we will selcet a piece of handle material (wood, antler, horn, etc), drill it, fit it and glue it with natural glues (or epoxy if you prefer!). The handles can then be shaped, sanded and decorated using simple handtools, oiling the natural materials to keep them in good order. Finally we will sharpen the knives so that they can do ther job properly!
Take a look at the full description of an Iron Age knife course above for more details!
Location: My Woodland workshop just outside Cheriton Bishop, Devon.
Max number of students: 6Price:
Number of places left:
Feast Weekend
On this course I shall be teaching a whole range of primitive skills, including forgework, green woodwork, firelighting (real flint and steel), natural cordage making, wild food identification and prehistoric cooking! I will be providing the bulk of the food, but please feel free to bring along anything you think the group would like to try as well. Now how is that for value for money!
The aim of the weekend is to spend the saturday and sunday making equipment in preparation for a feast on sunday evening. Just so that nobody feels they have to rush away from the meal early, everyone is free to stay overnight in the woods! Here is an idea of what we will be doing:
Saturday - Iron Work, all made using the Iron Age forges
