So you want to be a BlackSmith?

Me, my anvil and a burner I made For My Gas Forge.

Blacksmithing is an ancient art of iron and metal craft.  The blacksmith was a very important part of the community.  He made all of the tools and hardware to sustain the way of life of the time.  He  made the farming implements, horse shoes and various other equine tack, hammers, hinges, handles, locks, latches, nails, pipe, just about everything you can think of made out of metal, he made all by hand.  Of course he was always trying to make his job easier, which led to the invention of many, many newer tools.

Tools of the Trade

When you think of a blacksmith, you immediately think about a hammer and an anvil.  These are the primary hand tools but there are many more. He used a forge (the heat source) with coal being the primary fuel source, to heat the metal to working or forge welding temperature.  In the early days he fed the forge air with bellows and later with hand crank or ratchet and paul blowers.  The more air added to the underside of the coal through the tuyere ( the hole in the center of the forge to direct the air to the fuel without letting it fall out of the forge) the hotter the fire.

My Forge

My forge before the blower. With some various tongs.

 Front of the forge.

My modern update to my forge...my arm got tired of cranking

the other forge below. The blower is variable speed.

He also used may other tools to shape the metal such as swage blocks, hardy tools(the square hole in the anvil is called the hardy hole and it accepts many types of tools), pritchel tools(this is the round hole in the anvil ans also accepts many different tools), fullers(different shaped wedges for stretching steel), and various other swages and forms.  

Here is an example of a swage block.

My swage block.

As time went on the need for faster and hotter heat was needed so other fuels were used such as LP gas, and natural gas in insulated furnaces with the invent of insulation just about any heat desired was achievable.

My propane fired forge and it's burner being test fired the first time.

The blowers and bellows lead to the invent of compressed air systems and many different blower and fan designs for feeding the forges, which were then used for many different purposes.

Power hammers were invented for speed in smithing also, these hammers made blacksmithing faster easier and more efficient.  

These pics borrowed from the web.

Other tools consist of drill presses, vises, grinders, sanders, fly presses, milling machines, lathes and many other machines and tools invented by and for the smith.

Please - if you decide to try smithing - BE SAFE!

Wear safety glasses - Work in a ventilated area.

This is just a tip of the proverbial iceberg on blacksmithing, I will have much more to come in upcoming posts.  I hope this interested, and educated you at least a little, please share this post and leave comments or questions below.

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OLOE