I though I would share this video i found. The beginning is brick making, a little later is the wagon tire making, and fitting.

 

Enjoy

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGLAjp96ji8

I enjoyed the film, thanks for posting....mb

Thanks for sharing. I enjoy watching the masters work.

great film thanks

great film, not much wasted motion there

thanks very much I loved the slim anvil and speed /efficiency of action.

A great film, thnks for the heads up.

I love to see stuff like this - at what they are able to achieve with so little.....

Some more up to date Finns  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSoS5LhATgI

What the heck did they make!? they don't show a finished product, and i can't figure out what would possibly made from something that thick.

I believe they made the face they are standing behind at about the 2 min. mark.

Watch the full video, it shows them fitting the tire to the wheel.

I mean in the second video, the wheel rim was pretty cool to watch, and surprisingly fast. It was the second video where i could not figure out what they were making.  

they were baking the bricks.also they had to heat up the rim to expand it to get a tight fit.the rim holds all the  pieces together.felloes,spokes hub.1st time I

have seen it done.heard how ,but never got to see it.the smiths I got to see growin up were in their 70's an 80's an wagons were phased out by then

What the heck did they make!? they don't show a finished product, and i can't figure out what would possibly made from something that thick.

If I'm not mistaken, the smith is Jesse Sipola. He forges human faces. Here is his promotional video :

http://vimeo.com/32786485.

If I'm not mistaken, the smith is Jesse Sipola. He forges human faces. Here is his promotional video :

http://vimeo.com/32786485.

I do not think so. These videos were filmed in the late 30's to early 60's. Jesse does not seem to be over 45 years old.

I do not think so. These videos were filmed in the late 30's to early 60's. Jesse does not seem to be over 45 years old.

in the second video. See post # 8 up here.

i love this.

in the second video. See post # 8 up here.

Sorry, i thought you were referencing the original video.

There was a film on youtube from Jack Hargreaves' series 'Out of Town' that showed a more modern version of this in the UK in the 1970s. I've tried to find a link but it seems to have gone.

Sorry, i thought you were referencing the original video.

No prob.

Ok, how about some fun?

 

Of the two videos, who is the proper blacksmith? :P

Ok, how about some fun?

Of the two videos, who is the proper blacksmith? :P

Proper? 

We always seem to have a discussion every so often about what is a blacksmith, so I was asking if we could get a cencus between these two videos - one where and old craftsman is producing work with next to no tooling or the younger smith using all the tools at his finger tips.

Wayne,

 

I'm a tradiitonal woodworker with hand cut dovetails to hold drawers together and even blind dovetails no one will ever see, the whole lot. I am an admirer of the work accompished by the Shakers, no superfluous decorations, all business and all hand work.

 

However, one must remember that the bench saw (hope it's the correct english expression) was born in a Shaker community. In 1840 or so they designed and built a mortising machine which was improved upon in 1860. In 1828, the Shakers at Lebanon New York invented a tongue and groove machine.

 

The simplicity and elegance of Shaker furniture and architecture, before they had access to such machines or invented them was not compromised by there existence and their use. They used the tools available and like us blacksmiths, they invented the tools they needed. They kept the same sparse design, the same simplicity, the same high end crafstmanship.

 

Jesse Sipola in the second video and in his promotional one uses the tools available to him in his day, in his world. So do the blacksmiths of the first video refered to in this thread. The tools available to one and to the other are different. The tools the Shakers used were not short cuts. Even when he is using pneumatic hammers, Sipola does not seem to me to be taking short cuts.

 

And what realy is the difference between Sipola's use of the pneumatic hammers and the use of a Little Giant by somebody else or the use of a treadle hammer for that matter?  The guys in the first video used the tools they had and knew about. Sipola does the same thing.

Ok, how about some fun?

 

Of the two videos, who is the proper blacksmith? :P

 

Chestnuts, anyone?