In my pursuit to be a better Furniture Designer & Maker I’ve been taking Blacksmithing courses with Alex Pole Ironwork & team - although I have incorporated more metal & fabrication into my work in 2021, the forged aesthetic is beautiful & I hope to one day have a forge at Deer River Workshop, so I can make & create furniture hardware for my pieces.

I’m also a fan of Axes, and I have a small, but growing colllection of axes from makers across the world - some are displayed in my workshop on the tool wall…so to continue my foray into Blacksmithing, how better to hone those techniques than to take an Axe Forging workshop at The Forge in Sommerset

The axe pattern is based on the traditional Hudson Bay pattern, and handled in Ash. We leanrt a number of key skills inclduing difting the eye of the axe, forging out the blade, before heat treatment, quenching & finally handling.

After completing the axe making part with Joe Garnett & Steve House, we worked with wilderness skills instructor Joe O’Leary to learn survival skills using our axe