That being said... onto the good stuff, LOL.
I'll start with some pics taken the last day of class. I took my camera every day but was too involved with the class to even think of getting pics, LOL. I did however take a ton of pics on the last day.
Here is a shot of the blades I forged and my test knife sitting on the James Black memorial made and donated by Bill Moran.
Here's the Motley Crew displaying our test knives around the memorial statue. I'm the fat guy in the grey shirt standing in the back row third from left
Part of the class is making a "TEST KNIFE" . To get the Journeyman smith stamp the first part is the performance test. To sum it up- your knife must cut a free hanging 1" manilla rope in 1 swing, then chop through a 2x4 twice and still be shaving sharp with NO edge damage. (Chipping, rolling, flatened, dented, dinged, or dulled edge results in FAILURE) Then the blade must flex 90 degrees without breaking. The purpose of the bend is to demonstrate the smith has knowlege and control of heat treating the blade to do what he wants, NOT because this heat treat makes the best knife for using.
Here's a shot of me going through the rope