Welding cheats in forged work

[Strine]

Hopefully someone will gaze at their navel and think gee, wouldn't it be a shame if the skill of the old smith is lost and set up some sort of a group either on line or in their local village to revive said old skills. Sadly though this group will succumb to the mighty dollar and start to introduce the mig or the plasma cutter to their work. Those old skills just take too long to learn don't they. The learning curve sure makes a mockery of the bottom line and the average mug punter doesn't know the difference anyway. Who are we to try and convince him otherwise. Just hide the mig or stick weld and call it wrought iron. We'll all make a killing. All hail the bottom line. Fortunately there will be enough proponents of 'traditional' stuff (bore me with a definition of traditional...that'd be fun) and so the term "Blacksmith" will remain. This will just enhance the bottom line which is the main thing isn't it?
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Is there anyone out there who couldn't give a tinker's cuss about how much money can be made by reshaping metal or joining bits of metal together? Is there anyone out there who is intent only on learning and honing the skills for the sake of his own satisfaction and hopefully for the sake of the craft?
Or are these just ridiculous ideals that need to be mocked and derided and put out of one's mind. Forget all that carp about tradition! It's carp, money's what we're here for, nothing else. OK, I'd rather be somewhere else then.

I look forward to when this argument arises again.

[jeremy k]

Strine - I wouldn't have gotten so involved with blacksmithing if it wasn't for the want to do things the "OLD" way. Sure, I do have modern tools and use modern methods(only because that's what's required for my business). I set up for doing blacksmithing (still working on that - never ends it seems) so that I may be able to make some things for myself - THE OLD WAY by hammer and anvil. As to preserving the craft - most of you know that I have been rebuilding a couple power hammers for my own use and also a usable piece of nostalgia(early 1900's). As I move metal on the anvil with a hammer - it always amazes me that it can be moved just like working with clay although there are some challenges due to the heat of course. Thats what's interesting to me - the challenge of working hot metal to get the shape you want. I do what I can to show people that stop by how things are and were done. Yes there are lots of things I haven't mastered, like everyone...... I'm still learning and having a great time doing it. The work I do, I try to make it the best possible with the capabilities I have at hand. - I wouldn't trade my doing blacksmithing and or experiences with other smiths for nothing. - JK

[tbrforge]

If any word of my previous post implied that I was in the business for money alone then all I can say is I have probably made a bad choice. I have learned cnc programming and autocad, mills and lathes, drills and welders, hand tools and principles of metalworking because I love working with metal. I have a family to feed. They support my efforts to be an independent business man, but could care less with how I go about it, just as my customers feel. No matter what age of blacksmithing is involved no matter what period of history we revisit or imitate, results are what matters. Our sense of satisfaction is what drags our asses out of bed to continue each day.

I do not disparage anyone who chooses period work and eschews new techniques. But I doubt that they survive solely on that premise. I do not apologize for my mixed bag of tricks. In the end I hope for two things, a happy customer and a small margin of profit.

And now I must fire up my forge, my welder, my machines, all in an attempt to please myself, feed my family and hopefully make someone smile when they look at my work. By whatever means I do that, so be it.

[HWooldridge]

When I first started in this craft almost 25 years ago, I was visiting a smith who had already been in business for 10 or so years. We talked many times about blacksmithing in general, techniques, power hammers, etc. but the one thing that stuck with me is that he correctly stated that both of us "just liked to hit hot iron" (which is so true). Putting a piece of steel in a fire and making it into a form based solely on my will is why I keep stepping up to the anvil every day and will continue to do so until I am either dead or incapacitated. Working out of the fire is what makes a blacksmith - the rest is fabrication.

The miscellaneous and modern techniques that orbit the basic skills are necessary in some shops and not so much in others. If it's necessary to keep body and soul together then by all means, do it - just don't misrepresent it to anyone.

[ThomasPowers]

Well Strine having smelted my own wrought iron from ore using Y1K methods and forged Wrought iron using Y1K equipment I can truthfully say that I prefer using the modern double chambered bellows (Renaissance) and London pattern anvil (1820's)! I still like wrought iron over mild steel though...but the change over for that was just recent---around the 1880's to 1890's here in the USA.

I do realize I enjoy it much more as a hobby than as a job to support my family; few people are willing to pay for the time it takes to go Y1K in the smithy.

[Dan P.]

Whatever the preferences of individuals and their work habits, I think that to be able to stand in front of a group of your peers and call yourself a blacksmith, you must have mastered the skills of a blacksmith. I am not saying everyone here, or everyone who uses a hammer and an anvil is claiming to be a blacksmith, but I do believe that blacksmithing is a more-or-less defined and self-contained craft with set of skills required of practitioners. As such, I would argue against defining any blacksmithing process as "traditional" or "period".

[mcraigl]

So maybe none of us get to call ourselves blacksmiths, but only get to be called blacksmith by others who deem us worthy? We don't have all the worshipful company type stuff over here. My club has three levels of curriculum, and I've passed the first and have also been asked to instruct the first level. I'm working on the second level, but all three of our levels are called "basic" (ie. basic 1, basic 2, basic 3). I enjoy this stuff so much that it really don't matter to me what it's called. I have the benefit of not having to rely on my art to make a living. The other side of that coin is that I don't get to spend as much time in the shop as I'd like. Dan, thanks for sharing your thoughts. We did manage to rabbit trail Don A's original post a bit, and I'm sorry for that. I really do enjoy the discussion. I'd love to be able to visit europe some day and see how a real blacksmith would do some of the things I've been cheating to get done. Hey, I did punch the hole for the last pair of tongs I made rather than drilling, that ought to count for something shouldn't it?

[Strine]

Mcraigl,

If the "Fire is King" what is the fuel? What is the person who collects the fuel, and, knows what fuel to collect. What is the person who is able to stack the fuel in such a way as to make it burn in a way befitting a King? What is the person who has the power, skill and experience to extinguish the King before the King reeks havoc among the kingdom? What is the person who is able to harness the King's ferocity for good not evil? No suggestions from this end just pondering out loud!

I do suggest however, the "bush telly" is a lot more entertaining that the lounge room telly:D