Knifemaking Boot Camp

What you’ll learn

• How to shape, heat treat, grind, sand, sharpen, and finish your knife.
• How to set up a fully functioning knife shop in a limited space, such as a garage or basement.
• Industry secrets and methods I've learned over thousands of hours of trial, error, and personal experience. No gatekeeping here!
• How to streamline your knifemaking process with efficiency and precision.
• Learn what NOT to do! I will show you common pitfalls of newer makers, so you can avoid doing them yourself, as well as pieces of equipment, consumables, and materials/methods that are not worth your time or money, so you can SAVE that time and money to put them where you really need to/should.

Build it your way

Choose your own adventure. Together, we’ll build a custom plan around the knife you want to make and the skills you want to develop.

1. Design: Choose from three exclusive Arc + Iron Knives designs.
2. Focus: Choose areas of emphasis that align with your goals, such as knife design, scale design, grinding, or handle shaping.
3. Handle: Choose scale construction from a wide variety of colors and materials.
4. Finish: Choose belt satin/acid stonewash or hand satin. The hand satin option requires an additional day of instruction and extra elbow grease!
5. Sheath: Choose premade leather or custom Kydex (thermoform plastic). The Kydex sheath option requires an additional day of instruction.

A finished knife. Made by you.

This is not just practice! You’ll leave with a fully finished fixed blade to take home, having a hand in the process every step of the way.

*Apply for Knifemaking Boot Camp*

The tools are here

During the workshop, you will have access to 1:1 instruction with all the tools you will need to make a high level fit and finish EDC fixed blade, including:

How to apply

1. Fill out an application, found above, also linked here: BOOT CAMP APPLICATION. Due to the in-depth nature of the workshop and my limited instruction time, I will ONLY be offering 1 workshop per month within the months of April-October (7 total per year). It will be held the last week of each month.
2. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis - I'll need at least a month notice to consider the application. This gives you time to prep for travels/lodging and gives me time to plan for your custom experience!
   *Ex: You want to do the boot camp at the end of August; your application will be due end of July.
3. If selected, you will be contacted via email within 48-72 hours. We will setup a zoom call to talk details/preferences/expectations, etc. I'll then begin the background check process and we'll go from there! Please note a non-refundable 20% deposit* is due when accepted to save your reservation.

Cancellation Policy

Deposits are non-refundable if you cancel your reservation without rescheduling. If Arc & Iron Knives cancels the boot camp, you will receive a full refund. Rescheduling requires a minimum of three weeks' notice and is contingent upon future boot camp availability.

Before you arrive

Disclosures to consider before applying:

• Check out my About Me page for a quick intro to my design theory and inspirations!
• My workshop is my garage - it is uninsulated and though it is well ventilated for safety, it does not have any climate control (heat or AC) for comfort. I live in Wisconsin and climate here can be fairly unpredictable in spring/fall months.
• The other half of my workshop is my basement - I have a cat and a dog, so be aware if you have allergies.
• Knife making is physically hard! It is messy -- You will get dirty, you will get sweaty, you will be tired at the end of the day.
• Knife making is hard mental work! You are learning -- that's the point! -- so I expect frustrations to come along with the learning curve based on previous skills and experience. Expect to be challenged; rest assured we will work through those challenges as they come along.
• Arc + Iron Knives is an inclusive, judgement-free space where I strive for equality and safety. No bigotry, racism, hate speech, or discrimination of any kind will be tolerated. I ask you to be open minded to new/different processes and ideas. Be a good human, be a good student, and be nice, that's all :)

Travel/Lodging and Accommodations

If you choose to fly in, there are two airport options, both about a 45 minute drive from my residence. You can fly in to either Milwaukee WI or Madison WI airports. I will be able to pick you up, and drop you off from either airport. Regarding lodging, I would highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express in my home town of Fort Atkinson WI. It's a decent quality hotel with affordable rates, and is only 5 minutes from my residence, so I would be able to both pick you up and drop you off each day. Location is good too, its right next to several restaurants, a grocery store, and a gas station, all within walking distance. So there would be no need to rent a car for the week if you didn't really feel like it! There are a couple other options that can be discussed if you'd like to hear them when your slot is being booked.