Blacksmith’s Automatic Folder
with
Matt Aaron
Class runs: June 16-19
Tuition: $650
Material Fee: $50
Skill level: Seasoned Beginner and up, competent bench skills/layout/filework/drilling
Heat Source: Gas Forges
FULL as of 2/23, please click ENROLL NOW to join the waitlist
I took a course with Nick Rossi in Tucson on his friction folders in 2021 or so.
The simple construction of a Higonokami style knife spoke to me quite loudly, and after the course I began really delving into different folding knife mechanisms and how I could distill them into their simplest functional form in the fewest number of parts with only the use of commonly available tools.
Three years later, I debuted the Blacksmith’s Automatic at Blade Show West, and have continued to refine the design. It is a hybridization of a couple different mechanisms, primarily a lockback folder, a Rossi-style Higonokami, and some of my own personal idiosyncrasies. Demonstrations of various parts will guide students, using mild steel and 1084 among other interesting materials with plenty of fussing and fiddling to create a smooth clean action.
Matt Aaron is a smith currently based out of Phoenix, Arizona who began playing with metal in his early teens. He’s been working as a full time smith since 2021 making knives, jewelry, and maybe most notably armor and blunted swords for full contact medieval combat sports.