Blacksmithing

[Stephen Furley]

I had my first session of blacksmithing yesterday.  The smith only takes two students at a time, in the first half of the day you make a fire poker of a more or less standard design, which uses several basic techniques, drawing down, upsetting, bending by various means and twisting.  Later in the day you can make anything you like; I made three simple s-hooks of various shapes and sizes, one of which is in the picture.

The poker looks bent in the picture, but it is actually straight.  There are several  other things wrong with it however, the diamond point is a bit uneven, I'm not totally happy with the shape of the crook, and I got the metal a bit too hot at one point, and burned it.  The twist is ok, I don't think I could have done that any better.  However, it was only a first attempt, and there's always next time to do better.

The smith who runs the courses is Kath Shortland who shares the forge at Kew Bridge Steam Museum.  They're not part of the Museum, they just rent the forge at the Museum for their business; there are several workshops and former stores in the grounds of the Museum, an old pumping station, which are rented out to various craftsmen.

There's a magazine article about the forge here:

http://www.westsidemag.co.uk/profiles-iron-maidens--181372

Kath is in the picture in the article, and the anvil she is working on and the hearth in the background are her ones which we used.  There are another set at the other end of forge, off the picture to the right, used by the other smith.   The forge is very well equipped, with much of the equipment being original, and very old.  As well as the two coke hearths and anvils, and the usual hand tools there's a small hand-operated hoist for handling heavier items, a small long-disused steam hammer, probably out of use since the steam pumping engins were taken out of use in the mid '40s, a more modern, probably '50s, Allday & Onions air hammer, a propane gas forge, an old belt-driven drill, and a range of manual metal arc and MIG welding equipment.  The Allday & Onions hammer is a self-contained one, driven by a large 7HP motor, though by the size of the thing you'd think it was about 20HP.

I did see a piece about the course written by somebody who did it earlier this year, which is what made me decide to do it, but I can't find it again now.

[Dan/Panther]

I'm glad that part of my work history involved the learning of basic blacksmithing. It does come in handy at times.
D/P

[Bill Cahill]

Honestly, it does warm my heart to see jobs like this not totally dieing.
I have a 4 min. Indestructable Cylinder record  called the armorer's song.
This conversation reminds me of it.

".... Let hammer on anvil ring. And, the torch fires so brighly shine... Let wars rage still, while I work with a will at this peaceful trade of mine, of mine.... At this peaceful trade of mine......

The sword is a weapon to conquer fields. I honor the lad who shakes it...
But, naught is the courage the broadwoard yields, compared to the lad who makes it....

Let hammer on anvil go ring, ring, ring.....

e torch fires so brightly shine..."
Bill Cahill

[Stephen Furley]

Plenty of blacksmiths around bill, more than a few years ago, no risk of it dying out.

[Bill Cahill]

Thanks. By the way. I goofed. It's a 2 min. Cylinder record.
It's a noble art.
Hey, I couldn't have done that well.
Bill Cahill

[bingster]

Despite the fact that you're not happy with the shape of the crook, I still think they're pretty amazing, especially given the fact that you'd never done this before.  Very nice!