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Seattle Gets Schooled: Blacksmith For A Day!



It’s uncommon to find people with a blacksmith background in Seattle. It’s even more rare to find a school designed to teach and facilitate blacksmith classes on this old-world craft. That’s why as part of the Yelp Gets Schooled event series, Yelp Seattle teamed up with Lawless Forge to show the Yelp community what blacksmithing is all about.

Greeted by owner Max Levi, supporting staff Buddy and Spiff, and Max’s 150-pound Great Dane Zjook, Yelpers were eager to roll up their sleeves and gain exposure to blacksmithing. Their task: to transform a steel rod into a functional bottle opener. 

Yelpers started the night by putting on protective gear, consisting of an apron, gloves, and safety glasses while learning about the safety procedures that process for their activity. Step one was to stick their rod in the 2,400 degree forge and begin to taper the metal by hammering on one of Levi’s authentic anvils. 

Following the tapering, Yelpers learned how to create a decorative scroll on one end. They then used a vice and monkey wrench to create a textured body on the bottle opener. After that, Yelpers took their bottle opener to a staff member to cut off the excess metal. 

The final step was creating the lip that would catch and remove caps from bottles. Yelpers were able to test their tool on a real bottle of beer to celebrate their achievement. Chatter of a future return visit to create an item, such as chopsticks, horseshoe knives, or oyster shuckers were commonly heard throughout the night. 

Read the killer reviews and browse the photo gallery here. 

About our sponsor: 

Lawless Forge brings back an old-world craft to the modern era. It brings groups of friends, family, and colleagues together to create wonderful memories and stronger bonds by using fire, hammers, and anvils to turn hot steel into finished products to take home.

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