The following should answer most of your questions about why NEB Level 1 is organized as it is, what to keep in mind when designing a curriculum that will train students for certification, and how to ‘grade’ student work.
Please first read the “NEB Level 1 Student Progress Record,” and “NEB Level 1 Questions Answered” documents before digging in here. If you have questions that remain unanswered, please contact Beth Holmberg.
General
Why skills-based assessment, not project-based?
Three big reasons. In training and education, the best results come from deciding on the desired outcome, then working backwards. For blacksmithing, we can probably all agree that everyone needs to be able to draw a nice taper and punch a neat hole, but do we all need to make the same wall hook?
Secondly, students all have different interests and motivation- skills-based assessment allows them to stay excited as they learn: tool freaks can focus on tools; artsy folks can focus on more creative projects.
Finally, project designs can morph over time and re-teaching, losing some of the reasons why they were good teaching projects in the first place and leaving gaps in the resultant education. Skills are skills, always.
Why project-based learning, rather than focusing on each skill?
Real blacksmithing means forging real stuff, not making pointed sticks and demonstration bends. By seeing the fundamental skills used in different ways to make different things, tons of extra learning is done!
Level 1 smiths should be able to forge lots of different things using the skills they learned, not just be able to demonstrate a skill out of context. Project-based learning (with skills-based assessment) inherently builds more understanding of the applications and nuances of each skill.
Why does the final sign-off need to be from an ABANA-certified instructor?
This just helps ensure that our certified smiths are being held to a national standard. If we implement a formal NEB instructors’ certification sometime in the future, we may consider changing this.
Do I need to be a current ABANA member to sign off on an NEB Level 1?
Nope! If you have earned ABANA Instructor status (at any level), then you have demonstrated your qualifications for signing off on student work. Do please keep track of your ABANA instructor certification number- we’d like that with the final signature on NEB Student Progress Records (it’s printed on the bottom of your ABANA certificate).
Why 3 levels or ranks on each skill, instead of just pass/fail?
Ultimately, the whole point is to build skills. With the 3-level progress record, students can see what they need to work on, and what they haven’t even tried yet- all of which encourages growth.
As an instructor, it also makes it easier to be honest with a student, acknowledging that while they did get a hole punched in the metal, the puckered raggy mess that resulted maybe isn’t up to snuff. You won’t be tempted to pass work that is on the edge, just because a student worked hard or is frustrated. All of which is better for everyone involved!
OK- I’ve signed off on a Level 1 Progress Record! Now, what do I do with it?
Get it to Beth Holmberg, and she’ll record it and get the certificate and patch taken care of! Email Beth to work out together how best to do this. Let her know if the student will be at the next NEB Meet to receive their award publicly, or whether you/they would rather award it more locally or just have it mailed directly.
Curriculum Design and Teaching
Having NEB Level 1 use skills-based portfolio assessment leaves lots of options for ‘teaching to the test.’ In fact, building a training program based on desired outcomes now goes by the moniker “backward curriculum design”- it’s considered a best practice in education!
Here are a few things to consider if you are designing a program that aims to prepare students for NEB Level 1…
- Have plenty of projects! The more different ways folks see and use each skill, the better they’ll learn. And they’ll be more versatile smiths, too. 12 is a good minimum number (even through the minimum for the cert. is 10, including the final project).
- In growing to be an intermediate blacksmith, there are lots of skills and experiences a student should have that aren’t in the Progress Record (because it could go on for pages)! But they are still important. A good curriculum will also help them learn things like:
- localized quenching for bend control/locking-in shapes
- fish lips/cold shuts on tapers and how (and why) to avoid them
- proper, efficient hammer swinging
- how to achieve symmetry or same-lengths
- layout and measuring basics; center punching for bends and holes
- order-of-operations and planning how to forge a project
- how a black neck will crack even when you are hammering glowing metal
- Keep in mind that the goal of Level 1 is to produce smiths who are well-rounded and able to be independently productive. While learning to use basic blacksmithing tools is important, the focus should be on hand forging. As much as possible, any tools used should be ones the students make (or could or will make).
You can teach hot punching before tool making, but graduates should be capable of forging and heat treating a punch. Focus on scrolling and bending mostly with hammer and anvil- scrolling tongs and fork use should be minimized. Avoid using lots of cool tools and jigs in class- it may result in satisfying projects, but it produces a smith who is incapable of working on their own in a simple shop! - When teaching, do spend time on how to do each skill well! While the projects are the motivation, the skills are what will ultimately produce self-sufficient blacksmiths who can make new things.
- There should be a “final project.” It should require skills that the student has built up over time. It should be a little harder, and have some tricky bits (and ensure that they will complete all the required skills for certification). It should maybe hurt their brain a little.
A butterfly hinge forged from 3/16” x 2” x 6” stock is an example:- it requires detailed layout before hot-cutting the tongues for the hinge barrels
- mis-cutting can lead to disaster
- there are 6 punched holes to get in the right spots and make nice and neat
- fullering a tapered edge requires understanding and restraint to avoid sharp edges or peen divots
- a short taper on the tongue has to be properly places w.r.t. the front in order to tuck in nicely on the barrel
- scrolling very round (not cats-eye) for the barrel is hard
- scrolling two tongues at once is harder
- getting the barrels aligned and drifted is tricky
- the pintle pin can get riveted too little and fall out, too much and lock the hinge up, or bend in the middle or at the end while heading
- the hinge needs to open and close well, but not be so loose that a door would sag on it.
Whew! That’s a pretty good test! A pair of hang-forged tongs has lots of similar complexities…
Grading/Signing Off Skills
The NEB Level 1 Progress Record offers 3 different rankings for each of the skills. Definitions are printed at the bottom of the Progress Record.
When you assess a student project, look for skills from the list, and try to use the definitions to rank what’s demonstrated on the finished pieces. Do your best to rank each skill fairly.
When you sign off student work on the Progress Record, please write your name legibly- enough to tell who did the signing! People named “Bob” should maybe add a last initial…
You can decide it you want to assess projects as they are finished, or less frequently- whichever works best for you and for the students. Of course, you should only be assessing work that the student has done themselves!
Assessment is best done with the student- it’s a chance for further learning! Take the time to point out areas for improvement to the student- “You did punch two holes in the hook, but I also see lots of extra punch marks and it looks like the biscuits didn’t shear out neatly.” Ask them what they think of their work, and what they’d like to learn to do better- then help them do it!
Because students only need 6 skills ranked “very good,” there’s plenty of space for growth and honest assessment by instructors.
There are a few skills/check-offs that are not ranked: these are simply experiences the student should have (convenience bends, half-face forging, and a minimum of 9 different projects plus final project). There are also two (fire management and safety as a habit) that only offer “very good” as a ranking, because less than that is simply not good enough for an NEB certified Level 1 graduate!
While we hope that the simple definitions for the three skill-ranking categories is sufficient, here are some notes for each of the skills. Problems should keep a student ranked as “tried it/learning” or “adequate,” depending on how many and how bad they are. Remember that a skill should be demonstrated, not assumed- you are grading up from zero, not marking down from 100!
Generally: metal should not be crusty, burned, or have oxidation cracks: “very good” work will be smooth and well-brushed. “Very good” work should also be free of cold-shuts, (inappropriate) sharp spots, awkward shapes, bad hammer marks, or over-thinned areas. The “very good” rank also requires consistency and demonstrated control, so you’ll want to see several examples of that skill.
| Skill | Typical Problems | Very Good Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Draw Out Taper | fish lips/cold shuts; uneven or inconsistent taper; hammer-edge marks; uncontrolled length and/or width; too pointy or thin for the purpose; too short or thick for the purpose; | Naturally rounded tip from hot forging; even and controlled shape that is appropriate in length and beefiness; nice transition at the end of the taper; minimal hammer marks; sharp edges broken as appropriate; |
| – square | Off-center; diamond or rectangular x-section | Square x-section all the way |
| – round | Off-round (kinda square or oval); too much texture | Proper S-O-R leading to good roundness; quite smooth |
| – ribbon | Wider than starting stock; slight fishtail end; not enough taper; off-square x-section | Width matches starting stock; natural tip rounding |
| Upset | Bent more than upset; upset in the wrong place; insufficient upset; over-long upset (lack of quench!); galling below upset (vise marks); cold-shut in/across upset; significant scale wasting; off-center | Sufficiently big and short; correct size and shape; good transition; well-centered; no scale wasting or tool marks |
| Fuller | Mis-hit marks visible; uneven; wrong location; mis-aligned; cold-shuts; over-thinned or over-spread; weak points produced | |
| – width (peen) | Peen-corner divots; peening depth varies noticeably; peening is uneven; edge sharp or over-thinned; material spread uneven or off-center; cold-shuts or folds; peen angle varies or is wrong; desired shape not achieved | Minimal peen marks (well-blended); even, well-centered spread to desired shape; even and appropriate thicknesses/tapers |
| – neck down | Off-center or uneven; puckered; cold-shut; misplaced; too shallow or too deep; cross-section is diamond, oval, or otherwise off; fuller mark is too wide or is crooked; fullering caused a twist; material is out of alignment | Well-centered; properly located and aligned; correct fuller thickness/width; resultant neck width/diameter is appropriate; cross-section is correct (square, rectangular, round); material on either side is aligned; nice transitions |
| Twist | Uneven tightness; tool/jaw marks; not straight, esp. at transitions; edges hammered after twist; out of alignment ; | Even tightness; nice transitions; good alignment on either side; |
| Bend Correctly | Stock thinning; wrong location, alignment, angle, plane, tightness, etc.; messy bends or transitions; added compensation bends to fix alignments. | Neat bends in the right places and to the right degree with nice transitions; tight where they need to be; minimal stock distortion; everything in the correct plane and alignment. Don’t assess on projects where precise bends aren’t called for. |
| Scroll | Only assess hand-turned scrolls, not scrolls/bends done with tongs or forks! | Hand-turned with hammer, anvil, and eye only. |
| – round eye | Flat (unbent) tip; Cat’s eye/tear drop; not closed; kinks/flats; folded over; negative space not round; not in one plane; tip tucks in too much (snail scroll); tip can scratch or snag when felt | Round and even; tip touches main bar; round negative space; diameter as intended; in one plane; no flat tip; nice transition at base; can’t feel the tip. |
| – expanding | Flat (unbent) tip; kinks/flats; pinch points in the negative space; not in one plane or corkscrews | No flat tip; radius of scroll changes gradually and evenly; negative space is consistent in width or consistently expanding; in one plane |
| Hot Cut (slit) | Multiple cut marks on surface; slit not aligned or centered as needed; crooked, wandering slit; rag left on edges; metal bent back along slit; sharp edges; slit starts or ends in the wrong place; surface marks extend well beyond the end of the actual slit | Neat, straight, aligned, well-centered (as appropriate); cut edges are neat and safe and in the same plane as the stock; no rag or sharp edges; slit ends distinctly; no extraneous chisel marks |
| Punch Holes | Multiple punch marks on surface; stepped hole edges; hole is much smaller on one side than the other; notable rag; deep metal suck around front side; raised metal on the back side; folded-over or pushed-back rag; hole location misplaced; hole out-of-round | Cleanly sheared round (or square, or…) holes in the intended locations; top and bottom sizes similar; no rag or cold-shuts; natural swelling of metal around the hole; minimal thickness change around hole |
| Straighten | Kinda-sorta straight-ish; transitions have funny bits; noticeable hammer marks from straightening; hitting too many times and causing new bends; centered features are off-center | Straight sections (even twisted) should be straight, without leaving hammer marks; centered features should be centered. This should be done efficiently, with minimal blows. |
| Drift (make and use) | Drift: not tapered at both ends; tapers off center; tapers wrong size/shape for use; transitions obvious or mis-shaped; sharp edges; shape likely to gall in use; file/grinding marks across driftDrifted hole: uneven or wedged shape; radial cracks from drifting too cold; distortion or cold shuts; hole is crooked; over-thinned sides; drifted hole off-center; marks on back or material suck on front; galling; wrong hole size when cold. | Drift: Smoothly double-tapered (with smooth shape transitions); untapered section shorter than hole depth; tapers well-centered for effective behavior; feels very smooth in the direction of movementDrifted hole: consistent size and shape; correctly aligned; even and strong sides; hole well-centered; no galling, cracks or other distortions. |
| Rivet | Head too thin or too small to hold well; head too large (rivet not cut to the right length); shank folded over; head off-center; parts not held together firmly (loose or gapped); head shape uneven; cracks | Strong, well-shaped, well-centered head; parts held together firmly with appropriate tension |
| Moving Joint | Sticks; comes open or apart; won’t open/close fully; too loose; hard to use; comes out of alignment through the movement; gets looser with appropriate use | Moves in the directions it should, not in the directions it shouldn’t; smooth movement; opens/closes fully, as appropriate; well aligned through movement; stays functional with use |
| Heat Treat tool steel | Not hard (file test!); not tempered; wrong hardness for the job; chips or cracks in use; deforms in use; cracks from quench; not hardened at the working end (because it cooled before quench or the carbon was burned out); | Hard (file test!); properly tempered (color). Should know when to use water vs. oil and why, what quenching and tempering each do, why different temper temperatures are used, how and when to normalize, and how to approach heat treating an unknown tool steel. (Most students will only get “adequate” on this one). |
| Forge Weld | Not actually stuck; can’t survive cold hammering; burned; tip flapping (or sharp), cold-shuts; misplaced; too thin after welding; excessive scale wasting nearby; flux crust or stippling; starts/ends in the wrong place or runs-out; only welded in some spots | Actually welded, even the tip; blended pretty well; minimal scale wasting; weld is strong and in the right place; weld has a distinct end; welded area is forged to the correct dimensions; no flux remains obvious |
| Skill | Typical Problems | Very Good Includes |