Hello from Germany

[Bta]

Hi all

I´m a hobby knifemaker and knife entousiast from saarland, germany.

I found the forum via the Introduction to blacksmiths tools -> what a great post!

Currently I´m writing my diploma thesis on the subject of blacksmithing terminology, comparing german and english.

My subject centers around the Blacksmithing tools (excluding machines) since the hole terminology of forging would rather be a subject for a doctor thesis.

I still have some work left and some questions for Blacksmithing experts:

Is there a difference between the terms forging and smithing? most of the time they are used as synonyms, but i need to know if there is even a small difference.

if you had to classify blacksmithing tools (means forming groups and sub-groups) how would you arrange them? (anvils, hammers, swages, fullers, drifts, punches, anvil tools, tongs, top tools.. etc...)

The aim is to make a kind of mind map to show how the tools are related.

How would categorize a forge (coal or gas)? would it be a blacksmith´s tool or a (heating) device, an appliance, equipement... ?


If anyone could help me I would be glad to share my results with the forum adding stuff to the tools/ID section.



Best regards,


Robert (Bta)

[Miss Rocky]

my dad is awsome for teaching me to blacksmith.but i'm new to it.

[ThomasPowers]

For a different way to look at things: the smith has the anvil and hammer as their main tools and things like hardy tooling, top tools, drifts, chisels, etc are things that are used *between* the anvil and the hammer.

You can also break it down into tools that work by pushing metal around and tools that cleave/shear metal.

The postvise is another category of tool as it's not used with the anvil; but is used to hold items and so goes along with tongs.

Smithing vs Forging is a tricky one; *I* generally think of forging as dealing with larger changes in cross section by application of force where smithing can be delicate through large amounts of work.

Smithing is also used with other tasks: "word smithing", "Lock smithing" I've even seen the term "wood smith" used.

[Bta]

hi Thomas,

Thank you for your response.
interesting approach, you seem to forge with Power hammers :-)
I ´m currently thinking that one could classify them in top, bottom, striking and holding tools; but how can the forges be included?
maybe as part of a higher category called Blacksmithing equipment ( including forges and tools)?

I also have to dig deeper in the subcategories of top and bottom tools to elaborate a so called concept system by putting all the Blacksmithing related words in a kind of mind map.

I like your idea of the pushing/cutting category, but it seems to me that it would be digging in another direction, and it would be difficult to draw a clear separation line.