Chef Knife Making Experience

It all begins with an idea. I wonder what it would be like to make a chef knife?

That’s where I come into the picture. I can guide you through the entire process from forge* to finish over two enjoyable days at my workshop in South Canberra.

Here’s a rundown of what the weekend will look like:

Maybe catch up on the Friday night if you are available but we’ll have talked about this through the booking process along with the design of the knife.

Saturday morning at 8:00, we light up the forge and hammer out a 8 to 9 inch chef knife (we’ll have talked about the shape already). I’ll guide you through the process and explain how/why and what to expect along the way.

After forging we do some metallurgy magic with heat and then move into the main workshop area and shape or profile the shape to look like the one we selected earlier using a belt grinder. After that we do a few steps to get the knife ready to grind in the bevels and add a little performance geometry to the blade.

Somewhere in amongst this we’ll stop for lunch. I will cook you up a burger on the bbq.

After lunch we clean up the grinds a little and get the blade ready for hardening. We then get to select the handle material and do some preparations so day two starts off well. I have some stunning timbers on offer. The day ends around 4:30 with you heating and quenching you blade so that it becomes hardened steel!

Sunday, after your blades have been annealed I do a little clean up and preparation before you arrive at 8:30. You will hand sand the knives to a beautiful satin finish and then prepare your knife for handle fitment.

Once the knife handles are glued we have lunch (a different burger) and give it about 45 minutes until the knives are ready to have the handles shaped.

Handle shaping is a guided process and is done step by step. We’ll get it to fit and feel perfect in your hand. After shaping we sand the handles and prep them for polishing.

Once polished you’ll hopefully be stunned at what you have made. Then we take tape off the blade and you get to see your finished knife in all its glory. I give them a sharpen before it is all said and done

All of this will have taken about 20 hours. You’ll have done as much of the work as you are able to do and you will have fond memories along with a stunning knife.

If that sounds appealing to you then send me an email or text and I will get back to you for either more information or to arrange a booking.

$800pp (all inclusive. Materials, guidance, safety equipment, basic refreshments, lunch. Public liability insurance is in place).

Strictly limited to 2 students per event. Happy to do 1:1. Discounts for both people if 2 places are booked and paid for at the same time. Two consecutive days Mon - Thursday if running midweek.

* I can run stock removal classes if people are not interested or able to do the forging stage.