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History of the Blacksmith
A Blacksmith makes many kinds of tools and other objects out of metal. He heats the metal in the forge to make it soft, and then hammers it on an Anvil to shape it. The first metal used was Iron. Iron is still used today but is nearly always alloyed with carbon to make steel, the steel can then be mixed or alloyed with other metals such as nickel to make steels with special properties. There are two main methods of metalworking used to produce decorative and functional items.....Forging and casting.
Iron Production
Iron was smelted from the ore in a blast furnace and the molten iron allowed to run from the furnace into a bed of sand. There were shallow gutters shaped in the sand with several channels diverting from the main gutter to form a herringbone pattern. The iron was allowed to set hard in these channels. The iron could then be broken into manageable pieces for re-work. These channels were said to resemble the shape of a sow suckling her litter, so the iron was given the name "pig iron". This type of iron was high in carbon and therefore very brittle when solid. It could not be hammered, but it could be re-melted and cast into moulds and also heat treated to make it even harder and more wear resistant. This became known as "CAST IRON"
Cast iron could be re-melted and "puddled" in a special furnace to produce wrought iron. This furnace allowed the metal to be heated and the carbon and other impurities drawn off from the molten metal, it was also stirred or "puddled" with a rod to help with the process. The semi- molten metal was then dragged from the furnace in large lumps and hammered under a steam or water powered hammer or even by hand with sledge hammers. This would then be rolled in different shaped rollers to give various stock bar sizes. Wrought means literally "by hand". As this process was done mainly by hand, this metal was named "WROUGHT IRON". This was the metal of the blacksmiths craft and anything produced with it was known as wrought iron work. Today this metal is now extinct and has been superceded by steel, but decorative forged work is still known as wrought ironwork.
The role of the Blacksmith
The role of the Blacksmith was very diverse not only was he the local toolmaker and "engineer" he was sometimes called upon to act as Dentist, Doctor, Undertaker,Veterinary surgeon and horse dealer. He would also usually hold important offices in the village such as magistrate or Church warden. He would be the obvious choice for these positions as his job demanded a certain level of intelect, numeracy skills and business sense.
The age of the horse was a great source of employment for the old time Blacksmiths and the decline of horses being used for transport and labour has brought about the demise of the traditional country smithy.
The Blacksmith was at the heart of every country village and was very often thought of as a magician, due mostly to his mastery of iron working and the ability to understand the metallurgy of the iron that he used. He knew how to alloy the iron with carbon to produce small amounts of "crucible steel". This could be hardened and tempered to hold a cutting edge. Carbon could be added to iron by heating the iron in a metal box containing a carbon rich compound such as bone dust or powdered hooves and allowing to "cook" for several hours. This would give a hard casing to the object and is called CASE HARDENING. These secret processes were responsible for many Blacksmiths being burnt as witches and wizards. Some villages banned Blacksmithing as a black art in the middle ages with anyone caught practicing the craft being put to death. What went on in the darkness of the smithy was a mystery to most people. Many stories evovel about the man of fire, and some people say that this is where the stories of the Devil in burning hell started.
Blacksmiths were once employed to mend carts and waggons, to make the wheel bonds (metal tyres) that would be shrunk onto the wheels and hubs (naves) of cartwheels, to provide the horse shoes and fit them, to make countless designs of horse drawn implements and associated draught gear...................the list goes on. These skills along with those of armourer, bladesmith, chainmaker, nailmaker, tool maker, rivetmaker and swordsmith have now been consigned largely to the history books.
On a more practical day to day level, the Blacksmiths Knem how to keep a fire going all year round, so he was often asked to make space near his forge or even in a seperate brick or stone box, which in time became known as an oven, for bread to be baked or meat to be roasted. We know that in later times when the Blacksmith stopped work for the day, the hot coals were scooped up and rushed to the Bakery to heat the ovens to bake the bread. In many communities bread was baked at night using the hot embers from the smithy.
Simon specializes in craftmans tools. Thatchers, wheelwrights, stone masons, they have all become specialist crafts with all tools being made to order as they are no longer available to buy as standard. Simon also makes replica tools, weapons and other artifacts that are used by history groups to re-enact famous battles or life scenes to show how people lived in the past. He also makes items used in museums and by Archaeologists to re-creat and study experimental Archaeology.
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