In November 2005 the Tharwa Valley Forge began running basic knife making courses in it Canberra workshops. The first course was run by Master Bladesmith Thomas Gerner and assisted by Karim Haddad the owner of the Forge.

The course began on Friday night with an outline of the program and introduction to knife design. Each of the students planned their knives and selected handle materials.

Saturday began early with the forging of the blades after a demonstration by Thomas. Each student completed two blades that were left to anneal over lunch. The afternoon saw profiling, grinding and hand sanding to get ready for heat treating. The blades were edge hardened then tempered and left overnight.

Sunday focused on hand polishing the blades, fitting the guards then making the handles. After final shaping and polishing the knives were sharpened and the course wrapped up. Each of the participants completed one knife and had another blade ready to heat treat in a very intense weekend.

The students really appreciated sharing in Thomas’ knowledge and experience as he coached them through the process. The high standard of tuition was reflected in the very impressive results for first time makers.

Seven more courses were run by Karim in the first half of 2006 with at least one per month planned for the future. A partnership with the Canberra Institute of Technology has been developed to offer the courses to a wider audience through its adult education program.

The Tharwa Valley Forge aims to provide an environment to share and develop skills and knowledge. We are very interested in any other knife makers willing to come run classes for small groups in their area of expertise. We would like to offer our growing client base an exciting and diverse range of programs. We also welcome visits from knife makers who are passing through Canberra.

For more information contact Karim on 02 6235 5622, email on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or see the website on www.tharwavalleyforge.com