Wildcat Forge, a budding student club, takes third place in the TMS 2024 Bladesmithing Competition.
Wildcat Forge honors Arizona with The Copper Head, a traditional Japanese short sword tanto.
Wildcat Forge is a budding student club, to become official in the next fiscal year, that is forming from the Material Advantage club. Its members placed third at The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2024 Bladesmithing Competition. Pictured left to right are (standing): Chuy Talavera, Dallas Green, Ranger Stevenson and (seated): Alton Zhang, Katheryn Garrett, Blaise Wilson. Zhang, the team captain, became hooked on blacksmithing when he took a class on a whim in 2021: “There is a magic to transforming an unremarkable piece of metal into something altogether new and beautiful,” he said. He set up the team the following year and plans to continue blacksmithing long after he graduates.
The students worked together to forge The Copper Head, a traditional Japanese short sword tanto. The Copper Head honors Arizona through use of local materials including copper, rattlesnake leather and mesquite wood. Green has been a blacksmith since 2016 and was eager to help form the club: “I enjoy learning and being able to pass that on to others. Knowledge is worthless if it is not passed on to others,” he said.