Blacksmithing Classes

The first session covered the tools needed to create the water leaf: the crimping stake, the leafing stake, and the general-purpose leafing hammer, with lots of helpful tips and tricks along the way.

The second session took an in-depth look at the development of the water leaf found in the Level III grille drawings. Using the tools learned in the first session, the second focused on spreading the material for the leaf in a controlled manner, shaping it into an anticlastic form, and finishing with elegant, symmetrical crimping along the edges to bring the leaf to life. Taught by ABANA National Curriculum Instructor, Ryan Belanger, July of 2025.

This two-night Zoom class took a deep dive into the tooling and techniques required to forge the two welded collars onto the central stile of the Level III grille. The first session covered tooling, starting with how to forge anvil blocks, using one of the blocks to create a ½” bottom swage, then moving on to creating a positive blank in the shape of the collar, and then using that blank to make matched top and bottom swages that you’ll use to forge the collar. The second session covered techniques for forge-welding the collars using the wages, including how to get the required dimensions. Taught by Mark Aspery, National Curriculum Instructor, April 30 & May 1, 2025.

This online Zoom series focused on the skills and techniques of Level I of the ABANA National Curriculum. Zoom sessions were held monthly from October 2024 through February 2025. Participants enjoyed small group coaching sessions in between the Zoom classes with certified instructors.

Participants were able to level-up their forging skills with this Level II class of the ABANA National Curriculum! Zoom sessions were held from January to May of 2024 with small-group coaching sessions in between.

Featured instructors included: Becky Schimpff, Victoria Ritter, Russ Evertz, Philip Waters, Mark Aspery, Otto Engel, Frank Annighofer, and Beatrice Perret.

The ABANA National Curriculum Level I Zoom Class ran from April through August of 2023. The course consists of 5 two-hour Zoom sessions plus small-group coaching sessions in between.  All Zoom sessions were recorded and made available to participants to rewatch. Participating instructors included Drew Buckingham of White Flint Creations in Maryland, Bud Harvey of Hot Iron Blacksmith School in Illinois, Daniel Sutton of Sutton Industrial Arts in Indiana, David Walker of Fire Iron Forge School in Idaho, Otto Engel of Innovation Forge Classes in Colorado, Victoria Ritter, National Curriculum Instructor (CA), and Becky Schimpff, National Curriculum Instructor (CA).

This 2-evening class involved a presentation of Jerry’s path from his decision to become a blacksmith to his training and eventually to creating a self-supporting business with sales over $200k+ without the aid of business loans or inherited wealth. Sample topics include:

• • • • • • • • • Will you create speculative work or fulfill commissions?
                • What training do you need?
                • What tools do you need?
                • Do you need to borrow money?
                • How much do you need to charge per hour?
                • Who is your market or audience?
                • How do you keep financial records?

The Bear’s Head Class consisted of 3 Zoom sessions which demonstrated forging a bear head, the tooling required, and then a final session demonstrating additional heads. Recordings of each session were made available to all registered participants. 

• November 18, 2022: National Curriculum Instructor, Mark Aspery, gave a presentation on how to forge a Darryl Nelson-style bear’s head from square stock.
• November 21, 2022: Victoria Ritter and John Williams, both National Curriculum Instructors, covered the tooling required for the forging of the bear head and how to make those tools.
• January 2023: Bealer Award winner, Darryl Nelson, gave a demonstration showing how to forge 5 different animal heads – wolf, bear, cougar, lynx, and bison.

This course featured 5 Zoom Tutorials delivered by ABANA-certified National Curriculum Instructors.  The class covered all aspects of the Level II curriculum and grille production including: measurements, transferring drawings, forging scrolls, square corners, collaring, grille assembly, metallurgy, and more! The 2-hour tutorials were held once a month from June 2022 to October 2022.

Small-group coaching sessions occurred in between the tutorials with an assigned instructor to provide tips, troubleshooting, and focused feedback. The teaching team consisted of Mark Aspery, Frank Annighofer, Russ Evertz, Victoria Ritter, and Becky Schimpff.