Currently, we are doing classes in 2 locations: Oakland, CA and Arcata, CA.

Oakland class location:
Alchemy Metalworks
2440 Adeline St.
Oakland, CA 94607

Arcata class Location:
5425 Ericson Way # 2
Arcata, CA 95521

All-day classes run from 10am to 6pm (unless stated otherwise) with a half-hour lunch break around 12:30pm-1pm.

For certain classes, it may be possible we’ve arranged a slightly different time schedule , but most of our all-day classes will follow this schedule.

Clothing:
Please wear all natural fiber clothing; nylon, polyester, spandex, or other synthetics are not recommended around open flame. Please also dress in long pants. Depending on weather and which process we're learning, the temperature in the shop can vary between cold and hot, so we recommend wearing layers.

Shoes:
Make sure to wear close-toed shoes, preferably made of leather or thicker material, running shoes/sneakers are not ideal due to being constructed from (mostly) thin synthetic material. No flip flops, sandals, or open-toed shoes please.

Protective Gear:
Please bring your own leather gloves and protective glasses (clear), both of which can be found at Home Depot or most larger hardware stores. If you can’t get these before the class, we have some loaner pairs around the shop that you can use.

Respiratory masks
During grinding, we’ll be working with metal dust as well as wood dust, and it is **highly recommended** that you use an N95 rated dust mask. Better yet, we recommend getting a 3m half-face mask available for around $25 from Home Depot (down the street from the shop) or from an online retailer (here's one on amazon that includes filters)
*Note: These come in several sizes so make sure to choose a size that will likely fit best for you.

We’ll have aprons, earplugs, and everything else you’ll need for the class. If you have your own tools or hammers that you'd prefer to use instead of ours, by all means bring them along.

Unless stated otherwise, essential materials are provided for the classes like blade steel, handle material, abrasives, etc.

We have some high end handle block material as well, like stabilized exotic burl woods, figured woods and other rare varieties that tend to cost more, in which case we would offer those separately.

For our beginner to intermediate classes - While prior experience is helpful, it is not required. We’ve had students with no prior experience turn out some really nice work, and it’s quite common for us to have an entire group of students with no prior experience.

Intermediate to Advanced classes - prior forging and basic blacksmithing/bladesmithing experience is recommended.

We usually order lunch from a local restaurant (there are plenty to choose from) using a delivery service (Caviar, Postmates) every day of the class and eat lunch around 12pm-1pm (though sometimes it can be a bit slightly earlier/later depending on what we’re doing) If you’d like to bring your own lunch instead, that also works!

Yes, we welcome private group bookings - please contact us at nandaknives@gmail.com to arrange