Traditional is a strange word. The only traditional things I see in blacksmithing is lighting the fir, having an anvil shaped like it is, and using a hammer...you could almost open your shop in the morn with a tradition of lighting the forge. working with out electric is a cool novel thing..however, if you wanna make a living and you are good enuff to do it, then you need tools! i did an order for a guy a while ago for 200 hooks, wont sell that order again unless I have access to a pwr hmmr..the old guys arent any different than you...I think that thought that we are different now than we were then is foolish...we are people. True new techniques and tools have been developed but I am sure if there was availability of these tools in the old day they would have used them...no doubt! I just read an article about how autos are almost completely recyclable and the recycled stuff is as good as the original product...it used to be recycled didnt have the reliability and consistancy that it does now...so metal is better. PA Dutch country offers a real visable difference....the amish dont use electric...they do in their shops. If they can get it thru their elders that this is not overdevelopement and determined not to be the devils work... there will be progress and they use the new stuff.
Wanting to reproduce old iron work using old tech is fine but it isnt any better than if u used a angle grinder or piece of stone or another piece of metal or whatever to accomplish the same thing, save for finishes and the like.
Thomas' statement of "we shouldnt share our knowledge" is true. The old timers I used to work in the mill wouldnt tell ya nothing about how to do a piece. Used to annoy me. They figured out little tricks to put them on top of the pile when piecework was how they got paid, so if they could do something a little quicker for them this was worth something. You used to have to show up early for work to learn what the guy was doing to get your production up with the guy who has been doing it for years. You couldnt tell management of these shortcuts cause they would change the rate. You would have to work harder to get the same pay..Then there was the union sitting there saying you didnt get paid for this time and you are doing this for your own benefit, really?? I thought i was working for the company and should know these "shortcuts" or efficiencies after all it is their product. Well in that lies the rub. Guilds were different. They were way more secretive. Some of the things they did and what we do would scare people. The operations would resemble some of their myths and relate to their religions. Also if you were in a guild thats all you did. You didnt have the social organization we have today..good or bad
So simpler times only seem simpler...it just looks that way from your standpoint.
Some of us have old bridgeport milling machines...in a hundred years ..do you think that a bridgeport will be commonly found anywhere? Do you think you will be able to read these files in a hundred years??
Now think ....do you think they willstill be machining?
If so will they be machinists?