Honing Your Axe Skills

This class runs Saturday and Sunday, March 23-24, 9 am-5 pm both days.

Join featured guest instructor Julia Kalthoff in this two-day class that dives deep into the basics of axe carving. Julia is the owner and axe designer behind Kalthoff Axes, one of Sweden’s premier axe workshops. This workshop focuses on exploring the fullest possible uses of the axe — safely, ergonomically, and effortlessly. Appropriate for woodcarvers with previous green wood carving experience, this class allows students to hone six fundamental axe techniques: chopping, fine carving, making convex and concave shapes, splitting, and hewing. After reviewing basic safety and ergonomics, students will practice techniques one by one to create efficient and precise blanks. Using Julia’s own axes, students will focus on what it feels like to carve with and against the grain, and gain the confidence and skills to use an axe as a primary carving tool. With proper axe technique, you’ll find that knives only are needed to make finishing cuts to smooth and clean up your carved items.

Students will create axed blanks for several projects to take home and finish, but this class is focused on process and technique rather than a finished product. Note, axe work requires long periods of standing and moderate hand, arm, and upper body strength. All tools and materials are provided. Suitable for registrants ages 16+ who have some previous experience working with green wood. Tuition includes a $50 materials fee.