In this widely popular offering, participants will craft steel into works of art, usable tools, hangers, racks and more. This offering is designed for beginner and intermediate smiths, no experience is required though an appetite and interest in learning hard smithing skills is a must. Returning students with many years and sessions of experience will dive even deeper into this one-of-a-kind creative, physical and ancient craft.

Important safety techniques, protective equipment and best practice will be demonstrated and reviewed to iterate the dos and don’ts of working with hot steel, tools and equipment. Sessions are instructed by our very own, CBA Level II Certified TEAcher, Loren Trux, who has taught many hundreds of campers and students to blacksmith over the last ~10 years at Tahoe Summer Camps / TEA.

In this course metal is heated to 1000+ degrees and using anvils, hammers and metal specific tools, participants will bend, forge, punch and taper hot metal into works of art and tools. Participants will walk away with finished products like bottle openers, marshmallow skewers, decorative key hangers and more. Return smiths will create more elaborate metal works, like liver hooks, decorative works of art, wall rack-hook assemblies and the like.