The Complete Carving Axe Course featuring Maurice Pyle | 18th-20th Apr 2025 | DEPOSIT

Course Overview:

Day 1 - You will learn how to forge the head of your carving axe by hand, hammer and anvil in our teaching workshop here at Thorn Wood Forge, covering many of the traditional blacksmithing skills in great detail to achieve your very personal and functional carving axe.

Day 2 - Learn how to profile grind, heat treat, bevel grind and haft your axe. These processes refine your axe head into a tool that can be passed on for generations of use and can be repeated to maintain your axe.

Day 3 - Learn how to use your own hand forged carving axe with a full day of instruction from Maurice Pyle founder of Woodsmith, learning how to carve both a bowl and a spoon to take home as well as your axe. Maurice is a highly regarded professional woodsmith and green woodworker with over 30 years of experience making a living from traditional woodland crafts.


Further Course Details:

Join Thorn Wood Forge & Maurice Pyle - a professional woodsmith and green woodworker with over 30 years of experience making a living from traditional woodland crafts, for a 3 day axe forging and wood carving course. This unique 3 day workshop is perfect for those looking to forge their very own personal carving axe and develop their technique and carving skills to use it. The focus of this course is centred on the axe, which you will forge, heat treat, bevel grind and haft over the first two days with axe maker Joseph Garnett.

Building on the skills learned in the 2-day forging course with Thorn Wood Forge, the third day will focus on teaching you the skill of carving with an axe. You’ll gain the confidence and techniques needed to create beautiful and functional items from green wood. Under Maurice's expert guidance, you'll carve a spoon and a bowl, with an emphasis on mastering as much of the carving process as possible using the axe.

What You’ll Learn with Maurice:

• How to safely and effectively use an axe for carving, from roughing out to detailed work

• Essential techniques for carving both spoons and bowls, focusing on using the axe as your main tool

• How to compliment your axe work with knife and gouge techniques to finish your spoon and bowl

What to Expect from Maurice:

• Tuition from Maurice Pyle, who will share his extensive knowledge, tips, and tricks for efficient axe carving

• Plenty of hands-on practice to help you build confidence and control in your axe-handling skills

• Experience the joy of working with green wood and creating your own unique, handcrafted pieces

This course is suitable for beginners looking to develop foundational axe skills, as well as experienced carvers aiming to refine and advance their technique. You'll have the unique opportunity to learn from Maurice, whose carving style is heavily inspired by the Scandinavian slojd craft tradition. Maurice had the honor of hosting master craftsman Wille Sundqvist at his North East workshop in 2002, an experience that has significantly influenced his approach to carving throughout his career.

By the end of the three days you'll leave with your own personal carving axe and strong connection to the tool you have learnt to work with. We aim to give you a deep understanding and appreciation of the axe carving, improved skills, and your very own handcrafted spoon and bowl.