In this class, students will create a 6-7" European-style chef knife. Starting with a section of flat 1080 steel bar, the class will cover forging, grinding, heat treatment, handle fitment and finishing techniques. Students will leave with a finished, hidden tang blade ready to take home and prep a meal. There will be opportunities for additional forging as time allows. Beginner blacksmithing experience is strongly recommended but not required.

Course fee: $500

Materials fee: $50

Class size limited to 6

Zach is a welder by trade with experience in a wide range of industries. Based in rural NY, he is an ABS bladesmith who creates custom, heirloom-quality, hand forged kitchen cutlery and edged tools. He strives to blend traditional and modern techniques and materials to create quality tools to be used for decades in the kitchen. After teaching welding for Monroe Community College and at the Arc + Flame Center for seven years, Zach now runs his own company where, in addition to blades, he manufactures tooling and machines for blacksmiths and metalworkers. He is passionate about collaborating with other local artisans, makers, and tradespeople. In his classes, Zach seeks to inspire students by sharing the functional artistry of modern bladesmithing. https://tarbellindustries.com/

Wendell’s former studio director, Scott Grove, will share his creative process for developing ideas. Students will gain fresh perspectives on concept development through a series of informative exercises while incorporating a personal passion into their designs.

Projects include: identifying a passion; pursuing variations on a theme; converting an idea into a graphic and 3D form; expanding, distilling, and refining a concept; visualization techniques; napkin perspective sketching; orthographic drafting; and freehand figurative drawing. Modeling techniques include additive, subtractive, linear, planar, exo, and endo structures. Exposure to a wide variety of design approaches is the main objective to this enlightening course.

For beginners onward, this class is ideal for anyone, in any discipline, who wants to expand their creative thinking process.

Scott Grove is an international award-winning artist, master craftsman, sculptor, teacher, author, and tool designer who demonstrates, lectures, and judges at international and national woodworking and woodturning conferences. He has an unconventional approach to all he does, and constantly pushes boundaries to develop new and unique methods of creating functional and decorative art and art furniture. He understands that imparting information in an entertaining way makes learning easier and more fun; he is a featured instructor at the Marc Adam’s School of Woodworking and leads the veneering program at the Chippendale International School of Furniture in Scotland. He also worked for Wendell Castle as studio director. Scott has won numerous awards including the Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge Award four times, an unprecedented achievement, and has been featured on the broadcast series Woodworking in Action, HGTV’s The Furniture Show, and PBS’ The American Woodworker with Scott Phillips. An author of four books, Scott also writes for Popular Woodworking, Woodworking Network, and Woodshop News, American Woodturner, among others. Scott maintains a studio in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York where he produces commission work and speculative art as well as limited edition pieces. He is also the founder of Easy Inlay, a company that provides exotic inlay materials to crafters. http://www.scottgrove.com