July 2023
Sunday, July 1 – Sunday, July 2 – Oroshigane (Steel-making) Seminar
Monday, July 3 – Friday, July 7 – Intermediate Japanese Sword Forging Course
Monday, July 24 – Friday July 28 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
2022 Class Schedule Announced
After two year of disrupted class schedules due to the global pandemic, we are happy to announce that the Dragonfly Mountain Japanese Sword Forging School will once again be scheduling forging classes for 2022.
For now, we have planned three sessions of our most popular class, the Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course for 2022. Depending on the amount of interest, we remain open to scheduling a few more classes later in the year (August-September).
We also have rescheduled a session of our Oroshigane (Steel-making) Seminar and an Intermediate Forging Course, but these classes are already full with students whose class was canceled in 2020.
The upcoming class schedule is as follows:
March 19-20, 2022 – Oroshigane (Steel-making) Seminar
March 21-25, 2022 – Intermediate Tanto Forging Course
May 23-27, 2022 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
June 20-24, 2022 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
July 18-22, 2022 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
If you would like to attend a different class than we are currently offering, please let us know so we can consider adding it to the schedule.
Dragonfly Mountain Swordsmithing School in the time of Covid
2020 was a difficult and challenging year for most of us. At Dragonfly Forge we had to cancel all classes for the year and adjust to the new circumstances.
2021 begins a bit brighter with the expectation of an effective Covid vaccine.
However, there remains a great deal of uncertainty and for that reason we will not be scheduling any classes this year at Dragonfly Mountain Japanese Swordsmithing School.
This is a fluid situation and we intend to be active still in the sword and cutlery world. Those of you interested in receiving first notice if/when we do offer classes again may sign-up for our school’s email newletter below.
Over the last decade and more it has been our pleasure to meet and work with so many interesting and accomplished people; many have become friends and some are like family. We hope you will stay in touch.
Michael and Gabriel Bell
Dragonfly Forge
2020 Class Schedule
2020
March 2020
Monday March 23 – Friday, March 27 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
April 2020
Monday, April 27 – Friday, May 1 – Kajioshi-Habaki Combo-Course – CANCELED
May 2020
Monday, May 25 – Friday, May 29 – Koshirae/Shirasaya Course- CANCELED
June 2020
Monday, June 17 – Friday, June 21 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course – CANCELED
July 2020
Saturday, July 18 – Sunday, July 19 – Oroshigane (Steel-making) Seminar – CANCELED
Monday, July 20 – Friday, July 24 – Intermediate Japanese Sword Forging Course – CANCELED
Michael and Gabriel Bell appearance on Science Channel’s Built By Hand
Michael and Gabriel Bell, instructors of Dragonfly Mountain Japanese Sword Forging School and father-son swordsmiths were featured a while back on the Science Channel’s TV show “Built by Hand”. The same documentary series earlier aired in the UK and elsewhere under the name “History in the Making”.
Each episode features the re-creation of three items: a tool, a weapon, a machine or an item of historical importance by expert craftsmen. It is a fascinating glimpse into historical crafts and the dedicated people continuing them in the modern world. We are proud to be featured alongside expert craftsmen of so many diverse backgrounds.
Gabriel and Michael Bell appear on History in the Making
Dragonfly Forge is excited to announce our recent appearance on the documentary series History in the Making, which recently aired in the United Kingdom on the Quest TV Channel. We are proud to be featured alongside expert craftsmen of so many diverse backgrounds.
Each episode features the re-creation of three items: a tool, a weapon, a machine or an item of historical importance by expert craftsmen. It is a fascinating glimpse into historical crafts and the dedicated people continuing them in the modern world.
Viewers in the UK can watch our episode of History in the Making, Episode 4: Katana, Daguerreotype, Electric Guitar, on the Quest TV Channel website. It may also be airing in other parts of Europe, but we are unaware as to the specifics. Hopefully, the series will also air in North America in the near future.
In the meantime, one can watch the show’s trailer on the website of the content creator, Crook Horse Productions. If you watch closely enough, you can spot our sword!
2019 Class Schedule
2019
March 2019
Monday March 25 – Friday, March 29 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
April 2019
Monday, April 1 – Friday, April 5 – Forging the Working Knife
May 2019
Monday, May 20 – Sunday, May 26 – Advanced Katana Forging Course
June 2019
Monday, June 17 – Friday, June 21 – Forging the Working Knife
July 2019
Monday, July 1 – Friday, July 5 – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
August 2019
Monday, August 5 – Friday, August 9 – Kajioshi/Habaki Combo-Course – CANCELED
Monday, August 12 – Friday, August 16 – Koshirae/Shirasaya (Scabbard & Handle) Course
September 2019
Monday, September 23rd – Friday, September 27th – Forging the Working Knife
October 2019
Monday, October 7th – Friday, October 11th – Basic Japanese Sword Forging Course
2018 School Year Photo Gallery Now Online
Ford Hallam – Filing Seppa, and more on Patreon!
If you would like to see more videos like these, we would highly recommend subscribing to Ford’s Patreon Channel.
A very modest monthly subscription will get you access to many videos including how to raise and form menuki, insights into tosogu (Japanese sword fittings), tool making instructions, and much much more.