Drawing on 15 years of bladesmithing instruction and 23 years of bladesmithing, Nick breaks down the process of completing a full tang chef knife into easily digestible steps in this educational online video series. This 3 part video series is intended for a seasoned beginner, but those who are new to forging or those with an academic interest in how a smith develops a forging process will find it equally valuable. Each part can be purchased independently or all together. This series assumes that you have a forge, anvil, tongs, a post vise, a drill press and a 2×72 belt sander. No power hammers or presses are required for this series. The purchase of any video includes membership to a private Facebook group where tech support will be offered by Nick along with exclusive educational opportunities and detailed breakdowns of each forging step and techniques that until now were only available via in-person workshops. Each installment is a little over an hour.

Chef Knife 1: Forging through Straightening

Includes detailed templates that are mailed to the smith upon purchase. It covers design theory, material selection, ergonomics, forging fundamentals and tool selection.

Required tools/materials: Forge (gas or coal), 2.5-3lb cross peen hammer, tongs that will hold 3/16 x 1.5 x 7 on edge, wolf’s jaw tongs, anvil (with horn helpful), post vise, soapstone, cheap dial calipers and ruler.