Historic Warwick Blog: Follow-up Blacksmithing Classes

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Follow-up Blacksmithing Classes

Prerequisite: Offered to those with intermediate-level blacksmithing experience.

Those who recently completed the two-day intensive blacksmithing class.

All Classes Limited to 6 students

Class 1: Forging a Tomahawk/ 1 Day/ April 30, 1-6PM
Tuition: $125

Requirements: Cotton clothing, goggles, and gloves ( if preferred).

Forge a bowtie body out of steel. Fold over and forge weld the handle eye. Prepare steel bit. Insert and forge-weld blade edge. Cut to length. Draw out edge. Drift handle eye. File to final shape. Heat treat. Sharpen edge. Make a handle and fitting. Throw.

Class 2: Forging A Knife from Welded Cable Steel/ 2 Days/ April 1 & 2, 12-8PM (no power hammer needed)

Tuition: $225

Prepare the cable for welding.
Forge-weld the cable.
Draw down the cable to usable format.
Forge knife blank.
Demonstration of etching process.

Credit cards and checks accepted. Reservations: Call (845) 986-3236, or send an email to: whs@warwick.net For more information about the class, call: (845) 781-3729

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At our Summer History Camp this year kids will dig up crystals that fluoresce under a special black light. The crystals were actually discovered in the area as early as the 1820s and collectors from all over the United States and Europe came to the specifically places like Amity in the Town of Warwick to find these rare specimens for their museums, universities and their private collections. One of the largest off site exhibitions of these crystals is found in the Ecoles des Mines in Paris; there are over 150 samples of minerals specifically from Amity, NY in that collection which were discovered in large in the 1830s. What is interesting to imagine is that geologist and mineralogists from the greatest institutions of higher learning were traveling by horseback and carriage to the wilds of Warwick in the 1820s and 1830s to find rocks for their cabinets of curiosities.

Wawayanda Furnace ( 19th century ) the furnace that many of us remember seeing on our trips to the New Jersey State Park actually was integral to iron ore production supplied by Warwick mines. On a recent sojourn into the woods we visited some local iron ore mines that would have supplied the mid-nineteenth century Wawayanda Furnace. Of course, these operations were supplanted by the end of the nineteenth century when places with better quality ore that were closer to cheaper forms of transportation, like water and rail shut them down.

Ken Hamilton, "Woodlands Interpreter", will present the early 18th century life of Algonquin-speaking people, like the Minsi people of the Lenape tribe, of what was later named by Benjamin Aske as "Warwick." Here we see a trade camp with historially accurate artifact reproductions produced by Mr. Hamilton by hand; he an accomplished leatherworker, blacksmith and silversmith. As an "historical artifact artist", Mr. Hamilton produces props used in many living history scenarios and museums throughout the country. He will share some of his knowledge with campers at the Summer History Camp 2012. See further details.