Dragonfly Mountain Japanese Sword Forging School

Now that the leaves have begun to change color and the cooler weather of Fall begins to descend here on the southern Oregon coast, our swordsmithing school, the Tomboyama Nihonto Tanren Dojo (Dragonfly Mountain Japanese Sword Forging School), will be closing it doors until classes are planned to resume again in April of 2009. The winter weather here can make for difficult traveling conditions, and it is for this reason that we do not schedule classes during the winter months.

The August Basic Forging Course was full with four students. The sounds of three students hammering at once was like music to our ears! Two students, Phoebe and Joe, returned to take our Forging Course a second time after taking the class for the first time in 2007. This year Phoebe brought her daughter, Davida, to take the course as well. The fourth student was Paul, who had been given the opportunity to take our class as an anniversary gift from his wife. We’re are very happy that all blades were successfully heat-treated, although one blade took a couple attempts.

In September, Bruce, a student who took our July Basic Forging Course, returned to the school with his wife and they both took our weekend-long Habaki Course.

Our October Basic Forging Course was the last of the school year, and we are extremely pleased that Paul, the one student of the class, was able to bring home a well-forged and heat-treated wakizashi.

We would like thank all of our students for making the 2008 school year enjoyable and a great success.

As the new year draws nearer, we will be prepare and post the dojo course schedule for 2009 online.

Anyone interested in our curriculum should feel free to contact us by telephone or by email.

P.S. Some new photos have been added to our photo gallery.

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Since we began teaching formal swordsmithing courses at Dragonfly Forge, we have been very lucky to teach friendly and talented students, many of which have been able to return for more instruction at the Tomboyama Nihonto Tanren Dojo. This year’s students have been as enjoyable and talented as ever, and with this years completion of our new dojo, teaching the curriculum has been a pleasure.

All of the students who have taken our course this year have been successful, and have been able to take home a handsome and functional blade.

Our June Basic Forging class was attended by a 12 year old student, Kevin, who showed a great deal of natural talent, even at his young age.

In July, another talented student, Bruce, attended our July Basic Forging Course. During the class, Bruce forged and heat-treated a very nice wakizashi, as well as a small tanto.

Several photos of these two students have been uploaded to a new gallery of our swordsmithing school. We will continue to add photos to the album as possible. Former students who would like to submit photos of their time at the dojo or of their completed projects are greatly appreciated.

Two new photo galleries were added.

The first is a collection of photos from outside the shops, in the garden, etc.

The second gallery is a selection of a few photos of visiting friends from our Open House and Dojo Blessing from back in April, 2008.

Outside the Forge

A random collection of photos taken outside the shop, in the garden, etc.

11 Photos

Dojo Blessing and Open House 2008

Photos from the temple blessing ceremony for the new dojo and open house on April 14-15, 2008.

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UPDATED 7-30-2008  Our August Basic Forging Course is fully booked.  There are still vacancies in all our other classes.

We are also pleased to be offering an October Basic Forging Course. The class will run from October 6-10, 2008.

We have also recently updated our Photo Gallery section with new albums. New photos will continue to be added as possible.

Dragonfly Forge At Work

Photos of us at work, here at Dragonfly Forge.

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Japan Spring 2006

Photos from Gabriel's semester abroad at Tokyo International University and Michael's visit to Japan.

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Every seat in the August 25-29 Basic Forging Course have been filled. All of our other courses for the year still have at least one vacancy.

We also may be holding an additional class in October if there is demand. If that is the case, the information will be posted online. Feel free to contact us regarding our courses.

We would like to thank everyone who visited our table this past weekend at the Oregon Knife Collectors Association Show in Eugene Oregon.

We would also like to thank everyone who attended our open house and grand opening at our new shop. Thanks to all of you it was a great success.

From The World Newspaper, Coos Bay, Oregon

By Jo Rafferty

Michael Bell started up the electric motor on a gigantic press he uses to shape the blades of Japanese swords.

“Bam! Bam!” The dies clanked together on the approximately 3-foot-long flat piece of steel, turned red from the heat of the forge fire.

“It’s 1,500 degrees, but it will go all the way up past 2,000 as it warms up,” Bell, 61, said loudly over the hissing of the forge, which sounded like a heavy wind storm.

The warmth of the fire quickly spread throughout the cold workshop.

The press is one way of shaping the hot metal. The other is by hand, using a hammer on an anvil.

Read the rest of the article online at The World Link.

Once again, Dragonfly Forge will be attending the annual OKCA show in Eugene, Oregon. More information on the show can be found here.

Michael Bell will be giving a one hour presentation at 1 PM on Saturday of the show. It is entitled “The Japanese Sword: A Social and Technological History”.

One the Monday and Tuesday to follow the show, April 14-15, we will be hosting an open house here at Dragonfly Forge. Please contact us if you are interested in attending.

Last week, all of us here at Dragonfly Forge completed the most important step in our move to our new upgraded facility. We moved our 100lb Little Giant Trip Hammer, which weights about 4,000 lbs! The move went according to plan, with no problems. The Little Giant nows sits in its new home, ready to pound hot steel. The new building of the Tomboyama Nihonto Tanren Dojo (Dragonfly Mountain Sword Forging School) is now covered in red cedar siding. A mahogany hardwood floor has also been constructed for what will serve as the metal studio area of the school.

As many of you may know, we began construction on a new larger better equipped shop late last summer. The new shop will make conducting classes much easier, as well as many other possibilities. These photos were all taken late last summer.

New Shop

Photos of early construction of the new swordsmithing school.

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We are currently preparing to the move our huge Little Giant Co. trip hammer. After the “big move”, we will post new photos of the progress.

The new Swordsmithing School will officially open on April 14-15 at our Grand Opening and Open House. Space to this event is limited, so please contact us if you are interested in attending.