What Does a Blacksmith Do?
This word blacksmith means something different than it did years ago. Today, when you ask someone what does a blacksmith do? The likely answer will be shoe horses. I thing Mr Webster will be changing the definition in another few years with the definition of the word farrier. Again the answer is: that depends on whom you ask. • What is “traditional blacksmithing”? That depends on what time period in the past that you are looking at. Are you going back to when someone used a rock as a hammer? Or when someone first used a metal anvil? Or when they only used wrought iron? Or when they used only bellows? Or when they used only Charcoal for heat? Or when the blacksmithing trade started to disappear as it did in the early 1900’s? • What is the best coal to use in blacksmithing? That depends on whom you talk to. Here is an accumulation of advice that I have received: you need to have high BTUs, low sulfur content, not much ash, produces very few or no clinkers, does not burn hollow, does not
A Blacksmith forges and repairs metal parts; makes striking and cutting tools; makes, sharpens or hardens drills; chisels; and performs custom work including ornamental railings, gates, grilles, and furniture. Job -Related Skills, Interests and Values • reads and interprets engineering drawings; plans or sketches as well as weld-processes documentation in order to prepare the sequence of work to be performed • performs calculations and determines the type and profile of workpiece material • knowledgeable about the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Chemical Hazards and hazardous materials, environmental protocols as well as Welding Certification and Regulations • gains knowledge and expertise in metal pre-cutting, heat-treating and forging technology • uses layout tools and equipment including rules, squares, protractors, dividers, callipers and/or layout medium or dyes • cuts template and tracing features on workpiece material; rough-sizing preliminary cuts so that completed layout c
A blacksmith is a professional who works with metals such as iron, shaping them into useful or decorative shapes. Blacksmithing is a highly skilled trade, and although blacksmiths are not as abundant as they were historically, they can still command respect and high prices for their services. The work of a blacksmith has also been extremely important historically, as blacksmiths at one point made everything from nails to wrought iron furniture. The “black” in “blacksmith” is a reference to the metals that blacksmiths work with. These metals develop a layer of dark or black oxides as they are worked. “Smith” is developed from “smite,” to hit, so a blacksmith is literally someone who hits black metal. The tools for blacksmithing are simple, and the art of the work lies in the skill of the practitioner. At a minimum, a blacksmith has a forge for heating metal to malleability, along with an anvil, a hard surface to work the metal against. Blacksmiths also have hammers and similar tools for
• How old is blacksmithing? • How did a person become a blacksmith? • List some of the metals with which a blacksmith works. • List some of the tools that a blacksmith needs. • List some of the objects that a blacksmith made before the invention of machines that could mass produce. • Why did blacksmithing almost die out in the 20th century? • How did L. Brent Kington help revive blacksmithing? Web sites: students look at these and other sites and take notes. • Appalachian Blacksmithing Association (http://www.appaltree.net/aba/history.htm) • National Blacksmiths Association http://www.horseshoes.com/assoc/nationalblacksmiths/ • Colonial Williamsburg (http://www.history.org/Almanac/life/trades/tradebla.ctm) Activity: Use web sites, books, dictionary, and other sources to come up with a written definition of traditional blacksmithing and a timeline showing smithing skills, technology, products, as well as events of developments that impacted the viability of traditional hand-smithing. Se
