ABANA Level 1 Blacksmithing Certification

Pioneer Farms is kicking off an ABANA Level 1 Blacksmithing Certification course on Monday, August 17, and it's a serious commitment for anyone who's ever wanted to actually learn the craft. This isn't a one-off workshop or a weekend demo; it's a 12-session course that follows the Artists Blacksmithing Association (ABANA) Level 1 curriculum, a nationally recognized standard for the trade. By the time you're through, you'll either have completed all the requirements for your Level 1 certification or be in a position to do so, and you'll take home a start on a set of handmade blacksmithing tools you made yourself.

Over those twelve instructor-led classes, you'll cover the core pillars of the forge: basic forging, heat treating, tool making, and forge welding. If you've only ever watched videos of it, this is where you actually put the hammer to the steel. The curriculum is designed to take you from the very basics—getting a fire going and learning how to move metal—through to the more technical side of things, like heat treating to get the right hardness and forge welding to join pieces of iron together. The tool-making part is one of the best bits: you aren't just making random objects; you're making the very tools you'll need to keep working in a shop.

One thing that makes this a bit more than just a class is the shop access. Along with the twelve sessions, you get access to a Thursday evening Open Shop for six months. That's where the real learning happens—having the time to go back to the anvil and work through a project on your own, without the clock ticking on a scheduled class. It turns the course into a half-year habit rather than just a set of dates on a calendar.

The course runs from Pioneer Farms at 10621 Pioneer Farms Dr. in Austin, with the first session on Monday, August 17, from 6 PM to 9 PM. The cost is $1,250, which covers the twelve instructor-led classes and the six months of Open Shop access.