Returning to the forge — New Agrarian School in Bigfork revives the ancient trade of the blacksmith

Jeffrey Funk forges a piece of steel at a Chambersburg power hammer in his workshop at the New Agrarian School in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Jeffrey Funk describes a variety of blacksmithing hammers and tools inside his workshop at the New Agrarian School in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Jeffrey Funk shows a piece of steel repurposed from an automobile leaf spring inside an axe head that was forged from iron salvaged from the Old Steel Bridge in Evergreen. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Jeffrey Funk shows an axe inside his workshop that was forged from iron salvaged from the Old Steel Bridge that used to span the Flathead River in Evergreen. The grain is created by etching the axe head in acid, dissolving out the slag in the wrought iron from the bridge.

Jeffrey Funk holds a sample bar inside his office forged from a wrought iron “bloom,” a mass of iron produced by smelting iron ore on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Jeffrey Funk walks to the library building on his property, part of the New Agrarian School in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. The sculpture in the front yard was forged from wrought iron repurposed from the Old Steel Bridge by students in one of his workshops. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Support columns made from wrought iron from the Old Steel Bridge outside a residential building for instructors at Jeffrey Funk's New Agrarian School in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Jeffrey Funk shows two sample bars of wrought iron inside his office that have been deeply etched in acid to remove slag and reveal grain. The bar on the left is from wrought iron from the Old Steel Bridge, which used to span the Flathead River in Evergreen. The bar on the right is iron smelted from ore in his workshop. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Jeffrey Funk holds a Japanese-style chisel called a slick that was forged from wrought iron inside his workshop in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

A page of Jeffrey Funk's handwritten instructions on forging a new axe inside his workshop on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

An axe with a New Agrarian Tools label inside Jeffrey Funk's workshop in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Woodworking tools forged in a recent Carpenter's Tools workshop at New Agrarian School in Bigfork on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Students taking a June iron smelting class from the New Agrarian School in Bigfork pose for a class photo by a bloomery furnace. The class made iron from a variety of ores sourced in Montana and Utah. (Photo provided by Jefferey Funk)

Students in the American Axes class held this summer at the New Agrarian School in Bigfork showcase items made during the one-week workshop. (Photo provided by Jeffrey Funk)