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So what is the History of the Blacksmith
The skills probably began in what we call the "Iron age". Someone obviously discovered that some types of rock would give up a substance when exposed to high heat that would become solid when cooled. This substance could be used to make simple tools like knives and scrapers and eventually spear and arrow heads that were much tougher and sharper than stone.
Nothing much happened for thousands of years until it was discovered how to make charcoal to burn at very high temperatures and how to find and extract good quality iron from the ore.
Blacksmiths suddenly became very important, because everybody depended on them to make their everyday tools and weapons.
Today we have many materials that are lighter and stronger than the metals used in the past. Many materials are used today instead of metal because they are cheaper to produce and their properties are more reliable. We now have plastics and resins that are far stronger and cheaper to produce in large quantities.
All this means that the traditional role of the Blacksmith in the community has all but gone. He is rarely needed because we no longer live in a world where we would use what he made in our everyday lives. Those Blacksmiths that have found enough work to make a living today have become very specialized in what they produce.
So Blacksmithing is a very old craft with a long tradition. There were once Blacksmiths in every Village and town but there are now few left. Learning about the craft and tradition is a valuable way to find out about everyday life through history as there have always been Blacksmiths, and the skills they developed and the objects they created all tell their story.
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