Blacksmithing Jargon

[hibjib10987]

I am pretty interested in history and on IFI there seems to be a wide variety of smiths from all over the country and world. I was wondering about Genreal jargon in blacksmithing and maybe a few phrases that are specific to your region or heritage. Thanks.

[Frosty]

AlahPah! (spelling?)

Inupiat word for COLD!

Frosty

[JAFO]

!!@*%#^%$#-explitive deleted.
Used pretty much all over the country during any number of blacksmithing operations
From hitting your thumb with a hammer, to having the tip burn off your high carbon blade because you lost concentration for one moment.

[ThomasPowers]

Over at anvilfire.com there is an international glossary of blacksmithing and metalworking terms that has entries for: English, Latin, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Hungarian, French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.

anvilfire.com - FAQs about Blacksmithing and Metalworking

[hibjib10987]

Thank you. I agree whole with the @#$%** being universal.

[griz1955]

uffda- one word that covers many

[jayco]

Hibjib,there isn't a lot of blacksmithing jargon used in my area.
Of course it could be because there aren't any smiths in my neighborhood except for me.
When I question older folks about the local history of blacksmithing, I encounter an absence of information.

The one term that often comes up is "beating out" something.....as in beating out the edge of a hoe, axe ,or mattock.
What we would call 'drawing out a taper'.

Even the word blacksmith is mostly missing from the local vocabulary.
Folks will say, "He had a shop", or "He made stuff on an anvil"
The funny thing is......when you mention a 'shop' to older folks, they always mean a 'blacksmith's shop'.........not a tire shop.....not a sewing shop.....
But, they never use the word "Blacksmith"!

By the way, that's a great avatar pic.....I know that guy!

[CurlyGeorge]

JAFO, I think you hit the nail on the head, (pun intended), with that one. I love it!!! James, I think I know that guy, too. We went to different schools together! LOL.

[HWooldridge]

Every profession has a jargon - "fuller" means something to a smith, both as a verb and as a noun. Telling a machinist to go fuller a 3/4" groove on a 1" picket will only draw blank stares.

My grandfather worked in a big agricultural shop in the 1930's that employed many men -very little ornamental work was done, only horseshoeing, repair and rebuild of plows, wagons, etc. When I showed him a tenon set, or monkey tool, he remarked it was for "monkey work", which by his definition was anything ornamental (he also turned his nose up a little when he said it). When I probed a bit more, he said the less skilled smiths were called monkeys in the shop, and not capable of forging and tempering or building something as complicated as a road plow, so were consigned to "easy" work like iron fences and such (of course, he never saw any of Yellin's work but right or wrong, that was his criteria for judging a craftsman during the Depression here is Texas).

So, I think a "monkey tool" can be considered jargon, as can a multitude of other words.

[UnicornForge]

Well, the term "pattern welding" may be of interest. My humble understanding is that the term evolved to encompass the modern development of creating visible patterns in steel/iron by different steel/iron materials together.... and to indicate that the process was not done in an area of the world that would properly allow it to be referred by the term Damascus.