Historical Ironwork

A British Royal Navy blacksmith removing the leg irons from an escaped slave in 1907: This was posted on social media with the following caption:

It's had it's up's and downs. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_statue

Here is a link to a cool find in Wiltshire, UK: https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72455#respond I suspect that the anvil has 2 bases/hardies is so that as one striking surface wears down it can be turned 90 degrees and you get a fresh striking surface. Since the base is square I don't think you could get much use out of it as a horn. The palstave axe dates to the middle bronze age which in the UK is about 1500 BC. So, that anvil was cast 3500 years ago and could still be used today. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

1) Bronze dog in Ibiza. 2) Bronze "clout nails" or "clench nails" a residential door In Cadiz. 3) Flower pot hangers in Cadiz. 4) Flower pot hangers somewhere in Andalusia.

New studies on a chisel found on the Iberian peninsula have pushed the age of hardened steel being used in Europe back a couple hundred years. This chisel dates to 900BC, 2900 years ago, and predates Roman use of steel by almost 1000 years. This also predates when smiths were first thought to be able to heat treat steel as well. https://www.livescience.com/bronze-age-craftspeople-tempered-steel-more-than-1000-years-before-the-romans-did-it Anyway, just found it interesting and figured i would share.

Hello! I would greatly appreciate any help that folks could give regarding a hand wrought iron candelabra made in late 1942 in Ukraine for an aviation unit. The bottom of the candelabra has the casting marks of the foundry "КЕРЧЪ. Г.М." followed by what appears to be numbers. I did some online research and the letters translate to Kerch GM. I think the numbers after the letters are 3.19. The Kerch Metallurgical Plant was a large metal production facility in Ukraine, founded in 1900. This would fit, as the fighter aircraft squadron associated with the candelabra was located in the Ukraine. I can’t quite figure out what ГМ 3.19 (or GM 3.19) stan…

I may add to this from time to time. https://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,466672

https://www.pacificng.com/template.php?page=/ref/russiairon/index.htm Just an interesting tid bit I have never heard of before. Perhaps it is common thing?

Blacksmiths in front of the anchor forge, Söderfors Bruk. Jarnets Metallurgy, Sweden Chain smiths at Ramnäs Bruk. Jarnets Metallurgy, Sweden Ship anchor from the year 1676, set up in Söderfors park (made in Söderfors). I had to translate the descriptions so they might not be right. First time I tried that, of course. If they have been shown on here before, sorry about that.

These are some really cool hinges I bumped into on an old church. if knows more about these than me (low bar) please share.

Hello, when we were in drought here in Minnespolis in 1970s, my father found an axe/hatchet head that he found on the shore on south side of famous Nicollet island. I have neutralized the rusting. I am wondering if anyone can tell me age, purpose and if hand forged. St. Anthony Falls was settled in 1850s, and a sacred Native American site as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated. https://barrett-bettcher.blogspot.com/2024/06/antique-hatchet-found-on-shore-of.html?m=1

https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/70349#respond

Here's an article I found interesting. I like how they innovated and kept the shop going. Talk about thinking outside the box. I did not know about transfering chain from ship to ship either. I do think there are a few topics on IFI about the fate of some of the equipment from Building 105. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/charlestown-navy-yard-chain-forge.htm

The Vikingeskibsmuseet (Viking Ship Museum) in Denmark is partnering with a team of students from the National School of Blacksmithing in England to forge a copy of a 10th century Viking anchor. The webpage for the project is here: https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/news/impressive-viking-age-anchor-will-be-recreated-at-the-viking-ship-museum The above photos were taken from this post on the Museum's Facebook page. The original anchor was found in the Ladby ship burial, which itself is of considerable archaeological interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladby_ship

https://www.hmdb.org/results.asp?Search=KeywordA&SearchFor=Blacksmith

I recently spent some time at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and was pleasantly surprised to find numerous excellent examples of blacksmithing done in the last century. The Hotel was built in 1918 and much of the iron work dates from that time. From gates to lights and huge fireplaces it was fun to look at. Anyone have other examples form around the country?

I'm a high school teacher and I was blessed to be able to go on a school tour to Japan during our Easter holidays this year. We visited Nijo Jo castle while in Kyoto and I among all the other hundreds of photos I took on the trip, I snapped a few of these rivets on the outer doors: I love the decorative elements, even on such practical, heavy-duty rivets (about 3/4" diameter). I'm not sure what the larger round pieces are but I believe the floral pattern on them is the Imperial Crest which is a Chrysanthemum. There were no photos allowed inside, unfortunately, but they had examples of (I presume cast) metal crests of the Shogun who origina…

This looks like it may be some kind of branding plate maker, or maybe not. If anyone knows what this item was used for, I’d love to find out.

I would not want to be the one to scrape out the ash pit. https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/news/excavations-sheffield-castle-heat-19th-century-steel-working-discoveries

Here is a very interesting article about the Celtic Torc which was supposed to have magic and healing powers. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1687/ancient-celtic-torcs/ I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus

Here's an article of a Roman helmut restoration. Caution, they like to use the word "bling" a lot. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-68674319.amp

Here is an article about a find of a Roman Era hoard of iron objects in Poland. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69305#comments "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Since we do not have a Historical Ironwork topic (hint, hint} and this is not about a blade I will post this here. This one is a twofer! Here is a link to an article about a 14th century find in Switzerland of an articulted iron gauntlet AND the remains of a blacksmith shop that was destroyed in the same fire. It's probably a translation error but what the article calls "pliers" are clearly, in reality, tongs. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69277/comment-page-1#comment-4256190 IMO pretty cool. GNM

Here ia a link to an article about an iron Roman window grill that has been found ib Spain. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/68019 It appears to me that the horizobtal and vertical pieces were riveted together but the photos are a bit obscure since the grill hasn't been cleaned yrt. I post this here rather thab Historical Blades since this isn't a blade. Maybe we need a Historic Ironwork topic. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I had the pleasure of spending a few hours at the Welsh national slate museum this weekend. I didn't expect to see such a fantastic forge there, as well as a remarkable foundry (no longer in use), wood yard, and all the other crafts needed for a fully functional slate quarry & factory to be self sufficient over 100 years ago. This included a shop to repair their own small gauge trains. I only got a few pics, but thought a few of you here may be interested. I've put the main pic up there as a reference; The large rectangular tower with the red tank is the water wheel - this drives a jack shaft that powers everything in the entire complex. the sha…