Knife mailing is a regular discussion in blacksmithing. There is so much to discuss about making a knife. These include but are not limited to: materials, types of steel, shapes, cutting out patterns, shaping on the anvil, finishing on the grinder, selecting and making handles, bolsters, types of tangs, overall heat treatment and of course damascus steel. There are many books on the subject. It is a fascinating subject and there are as many opinions about the best knives as there are blacksmithing.
Years ago a professional knife maker came to DMS and offered to teach a class. He was a friend of another member. It was a mutltpart class, 6 sessions as I recall, and each session was about $60 per person. He had a number of knives he showed us and they were all beautiful. The class never made for various reasons, not the least of which was that we didn’t have a KMG at the time.
As you can see from this category the subject has been around for a long time:
The usual inhibitors to a class are 1) people don’t really know how to use the forge and make a knife from a blank piece of steel, You have to teach them how to at least do the basics of blacksmithing before you can teach them how to make a knife 2:) everyone wants to make a piece of Damascus or use an old railroad spike to start with and neither are good choices for different reasons 3) It is difficult to teach the subject in a short amount of time. People learn and perform tasks at their own speed. As usual mistakes will be made and if they have to start over if can be expensive and time consuming.
Having said all of this, if you decided to teach a class you’ll probably have a lot of takers. How much would you charge for your class? Are you going to provide the steel, handle pieces, pins, adhesives etc?