Blacksmithing

Forge welding is often seen as a difficult, even mystical process. This course is designed for students who have completed a basic class or who have equivalent experience. We will demystify and cover the basics of forge-welding, learn to forge weld a loop on a bar, then will move on to forging a short length of chain. ABANA

Dates/Times

• Saturday, October 24, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Steve Gurzler

Member Tuition: $135.00
Non-Member Tuition: $155.00

Material Fee: $25.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

This basic class will give you the foundation needed to start out on your journey of blacksmithing. You'll learn fire management, hammering methods, drawing out, upsetting, cutting, splitting, twisting, and convenience bending along with a demo of forge welding. Make punches and chisels and learn to harden and temper them. Heating material and heat management will be taught and much more.

Dates/Times

• Friday, October 2, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Saturday, October 3, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Sunday, October 4, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Monday, October 5, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Dick Sargent

Member Tuition: $540.00
Non-Member Tuition: $640.00

Material Fee: $100.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

Always a popular class, Create Your Own Roasting Fork is geared towards the novice blacksmith. Blacksmith Steve Gurzler will teach basic blacksmithing skills while the students work to create a roasting fork for marshmallows or maybe even bratwurst. Bring something to roast at the end of the day with your finished product!

Dates/Times

• Saturday, May 16, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Steve Gurzler

Member Tuition: $135.00
Non-Member Tuition: $155.00

Material Fee: $25.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

Guillotine tools are handy for a variety of tasks. They enable the Smith to accurately butcher, fuller, forge and tenon stock. This helps with tasks like joinery, as well as isolating material when forging work like a knife tang, rivet or tenon. In this class the student will learn to use a MIG welder to make and use a useful guillotine tool that can be used in an anvil hardy hole or vise, as the student selects. A basic set of 3 dies including butchers (isolating material), tenon dies, and flat dies are included. Skills covered include learning to cut, grind, and case-harden dies, and to do simple MIG welds to fabricate an accurate tool. This tool uses readily available mild steel for the dies, so specialty dies can be easily and cheaply made when needed.

Dates/Times

• Saturday, April 18, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Colin Roy

Member Tuition: $135.00
Non-Member Tuition: $155.00

Material Fee: $25.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

Join us for our first ever Adirondack Folk School Forge Fest Blacksmithing Competition! Contestants will showcase their traditional blacksmithing skills in one of three divisions (novice, intermediate or professional) for cash prizes. There will be two heats separated by division, with an Open Contest to end the day; each division will have assigned projects for the session which must be completed during the time allowed. Contest rules and parameters are available upon request, and will also be sent to contestants upon registration. Competitors must provide their own tools, including forges and anvils. Forging stations will be available to Novices for rent at a small fee (please request one upon registration). Stock materials and coal will be provided.

Dates/Times

• Saturday, May 9, 2026 – 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Instructor: Steve Gurzler

Member Tuition: $20.00
Non-Member Tuition: $20.00

Material Fee: $0.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Please indicate with your registration your preferred shirt size and whether you are a novice (new to blacksmithing with 2 years or less experience), intermediate (serious hobby blacksmith with 2-7 years of experience) or a professional (7+ years experience or working as a full time blacksmith, bladesmith or farrier).

One of the most crucial skills for any smith is the ability to forge weld. This 2-day class will cover a variety of different forge welds from welding chain to more complicated techniques.

Dates/Times

• Saturday, June 13, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Sunday, June 14, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Derek Heidemann

Member Tuition: $270.00
Non-Member Tuition: $310.00

Material Fee: $50.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

This class is taught by renowned instructor and the very first winner of History Channel's Forged in Fire, Matthew Parkinson. The chef's knife is the most used knife in almost any home. These iconic knives help to create meals for family and loved ones. Well-made kitchen knives can last a lifetime and this class will give you the opportunity to create one of your very own. In this two-day class students will make their own chef's knife from high carbon steel. All aspects of bladesmithing will be covered, from forging the blade to shaping, then heat treating, grinding, and polishing, making and fitting a wooden handle and finally, sharpening – with very special attention given to the design and geometry of this kind of knife. This class is intended as an introductory bladesmithing class, but some forging experience is helpful.

Dates/Times

• Saturday, July 11, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Sunday, July 12, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Matthew Parkinson

Member Tuition: $280.00
Non-Member Tuition: $320.00

Material Fee: $50.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

In this three-day class students will create a hand forged high carbon steel kitchen knife with a wood handle. Forging, grinding, and sharpening skills will be covered.

Dates/Times

• Friday, April 24, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Saturday, April 25, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Sunday, April 26, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Mace Vitale

Member Tuition: $405.00
Non-Member Tuition: $465.00

Material Fee: $75.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.

In this course each student will get a chance to forge their own set of dividers based on 18th century designs. These tools would have traditionally been used to trace and chart out patterns as well as calculate size or distance. This is a helpful tool for any traditional wood or metal worker and would be an excellent additional to any tool chest. This class will involve forge welding and hand filing. It is recommended that students taking this course have some basic working knowledge of blacksmithing (how to operate a forge, using hand tools, etc.). Prior forge welding experience is not required.

Dates/Times

• Saturday, May 30, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Sunday, May 31, 2026 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Instructor: Lucas Novko

Member Tuition: $270.00
Non-Member Tuition: $310.00

Material Fee: $50.00 Included in fee shown on checkout page

Location: AFS, 51 Main Street, Lake Luzerne, NY

Special Notes: Hard shoes and long pants are required for student's safety.