AME Student Leads New Blacksmithing Club

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.

The club is made up of aerospace and mechanical engineering students Chuy Talavera and Alton Zhang, as well as Kathryn Garrett, Dallas Green, Ranger Stevenson and 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.

Learn more about the student club and see The Copper Head here.