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The Blacksmithing Immersion is an 8-month program that intensively teaches essential metalworking skills. Learn Blacksmithing & Metalcraft with a community of like-minded peers. Lead by expert Trackers Blacksmiths & Guides you get hands-on, active training in the following core elements:
Tool Use & Shop Safety Learn to safely use a wide variety of blacksmith tools in our studio workshop. Train to care for tools and help keep our shop organized.
Craftsmanship & Form Forge, split, twist and punch hot metal to create art, crafts, and tools you can take home. Craft edged tools such as knives and blades!
Art & Design Study design in three dimensions. Explore the basics of creating functional and expressive forms. Go beyond the basics to explore more complex forging techniques.
Need a shorter, single day option? Try our 1-day Blacksmithing Basics!
How It Works
From Fall to Spring, join us for monthly weekend shop days (includes a December break). Train Blacksmithing with core Trackers Guides & Mentors. Adult immersion students also get free admission to selected community programs at our SE Portland HQ.
8 weekend shop days (Fall to Spring) 9 AM - 4 PM
See below for full class schedule
+ Graduation Day May
Invite the entire family for a community celebration of our year.
+ Optional Community Programs Dates vary
Students and their immediate family get free admission to Trackers Campfire, Open Forge (with materials fee), and other Community Events.
Location
All program days take place at our blacksmithing shop in SE Portland.
Tuition
Reserve your place with a non-refundable deposit. The remaining tuition is monthly payments. Your first payment is due August 31.
8 Shop Days + Graduation BBQ
$75 deposit, then 8 monthly payments of $115 (total $995)
Scholarships Educators can learn and work with us during the Summer, earning well over the tuition, and be eligible for a 25% scholarship. Returning Intensive or Immersion students get a tuition discount based on year of previous attendance.
Meet your Guide - Tim Smith
Tim Smith comes from the Land Between the Lakes region of Tennessee. Like many of our generation he discovered art through the dynamic and engaging medium of comic books and cartoons. He learned blacksmithing at the age of 14 from his grandfather, forging thousands of nails for shoeing horses on the farm and for the local community.
Tim learned metal fabrication working for a lighting company in Memphis, Tennessee. Then he spent 17 years working in, and learning architectural blacksmithing in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oregon. Part of his career as an architectural blacksmith included historical restoration at sites including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the Marquam House in Portland.
When it comes to teaching blacksmithing, Tim believes that hard work is the currency of creation and problem solving. Putting in the thought, effort, and time to do the job right leads to the creation of objects that perform their function well beyond the life of their creator. He believes in the power and the limits of steel, and is willing to show you what he has learned by his word and his example. It is up to you to apply what you see and hear, however you choose. Your success depends on you.
Tim’s favorite outdoor activity is getting from his house to the blacksmith shop, as well as watching the clouds curl around Mount Hood from the window of his shop.