I have long held a fascination for this ancient craft which until
recent times was the backbone of most communities. The blacksmith was
revered yet feared . He could do seemingly magical things and his
constant fire was a honey pot to local children and passersby. Being a
fire hazard the smithy was often situated on the outskirts of the
village. Many smiths accepted "beverages" in exchange for work performed. This was possibly the greatest health hazard. Another reason I like blacksmithing is that it generally took seven years to forge an apprentice into a journeyman smith (who if he was proficient enough and travelled widely enough , gained the knowledge and ability to be recognised as a master smith.) Anyway , seven years is a year longer than it took to put me through medical school! "The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne." - Geoffrey Chaucer  Only in recent times have I acquired the facility to investigate the possibilities of smithing on my own property. I have slowly accumulated the essential equipment and the forge actually works - we fired it up in July 2008. Now I havenearly completed a small workshop and will post progress as it happens on the "Smithy" page. Here is a link to a great smithing forum http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/  I started out with a reasonably good anvil , an Australian BK Sydney model marked "12" It weighs exactly 1 cwt (112lbs) I machined the striking surface flat with a belt sander , which took ages - and set the collection bag alight. The edges of the anvil were somewhat rounded & a bit chipped but it worked fine. Recently I picked up an anvil stand from the junkyard for $2. Possibly , it could've originally been mated to my anvil. Stranger coincidences... The stand brings the face of the anvil to knuckle height which is the perfect ergonomic arrangement. I doubt whether early smiths had heard of the word "ergonomic".    
50kg is the minimum weight for proper forging. I like to do things properly. Hence , on 21/3/2009 : I traded in this anvil for a bigger one, weighing 124kg (270lbs) . That's a Vulcan' fine anvil! Anvils can be lifted in several ways. By the horn (beak) is a traditional method and a great way to challenge the grip. So far I have lifted 59kg this way by attaching discs to a bolt through the anvil hardie hole. Anvils can also be lifted overhead as an awkward challenge using two hands. Using one hand and a decent weight anvil , this is a very very difficult and dangerous feat. Some people have been able to snatch an anvil by the horn. The great George Jowett , formely a blacksmith and later strongman, father of American weightlifting and strength book author , was reputed to have lifted a 168 lb anvil overhead using one hand...but this seems extremely unlikely. Nonetheless he was a very powerful man with an extremely strong grip. http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Jowett/jowettbiog.htm  < Geo.Jowett http://www.sandowmuseum.com/jowett1.gif Ever wondered where the term "Tough Titty" came from? Twas a blacksmith-turned-strongman by the name of Rasmus Nielsen whose sideshow stage act included hanging an anvil off his nipples! http://thehumanmarvels.com/?p=116 http://www.sideshowworld.com/tgodrasmus.html  My favourite modern day strongman is Dmitriy Khaladzhi. His feats are wide ranging and mind boggling. Here is one appropriate to this page :  Gripmeister Richard Sorin has lifted just over 90kgs by the horn of an anvil. My best is only 59kg. He is a bigger man than me; a true legend of strength feats. SMITHING TOOLS I scoured around for a few tools (though smiths generally make their own ; you have to start somewhere). The three tongs on the left are for gripping various types of bar stock . Not much has changed over the years - the same tools are visible in the medieval picture above . The pincers are farrier's pliers for trimming horse hooves and the curly thing on the right is used to twist hot bars. The cross pein hammer I made by grinding off a standard 3lb hammerhead I got for nearly nothing , together with an old handle also purchased at the right price. It is real wood, not the plantation rubbish you find in hardware stores. Cross peins are standard smithing ware for flattening and lengthening stock.    It was found as a piece of heavily rusted junk in a pile of metal scrap . To the untrained eye - complete and utter junk ; to my eagle eye - possibly an old anvil bick - which proved correct. I had to grind the base down to fit the hole and spend a bit of tme with the horn but it was well worth the effort. FORGE AIR BLOWER One day in an antique shop I weakened and bought along-admired blower to blast air into the firepot. It is very solid and the fan blades are intact. It is marked "Trahar" , which I discovered was a foundry apparently specialising in pumps and windmills in Ballarat . Many surnames beginning with "Tr" originate in Cornwall where tin has been mined for thousands of years. As the tin industry wound down in the mid to late 19th century hundreds of Cornish folk emigrated to places like Ballarat where gold had been discovered in 1865.  I suspect this is a late Victorian era blower. Hand operated blowers provide good exercise and enable one to carefully adjust the airflow to the fire. Some use hairdryers, but I prefer the old way and it is far more manly. Of course , bellows were also used in many forges. I had to have a belt made up for the pulley - this grips well and the blower operates smoothly with no rattles.  Now onto the smithy ...The Smithy |
Blacksmithing |
