Best Blacksmith – Eveleigh Works
Image: Magda Szubanski
If you’ve been thinking you’d really like to make your own sledgehammer, you’re in luck. At Eveleigh Works, on the fringe of the city in Redfern, they practice and teach one of the oldest skills developed by humans – forging. Situated in the old train yards at Eveleigh, these blacksmithing workshops give you an immersive historical experience while giving you practical skills. You can start with a beginners forging course, which will teach you the basics and give you have a feel for shaping metal. Once you know your way around a furnace and anvil, there are some very cool things you can do. Enrol in Knife Making and go home after a weekend of forging, heat treating, shaping and grinding two nondescript bits of carbon steel with two proudly hand-made knives. Or try your hand at an attractive and practical herb chopper. If you have an artistic leaning you’ll be drawn to the beautifully patterned designs of Damascus Steel. You can even build your own tool kit, making specialised blacksmith tools that are impossible or expensive to get otherwise. Who knows – you may end up forging a new career. (See what we did there?)
Australian Technology Park, Bays 1 & 2, 2 Locomotive Street, Redfern. 0499 986 899. eveleigh.works
By Rita Bratovich
