Here is a VERY cool video of a Samburu Blacksmith at work, VERY INTERESTING! Look at the young kid working the bellows, ground forge, anvil and hammer setup!!


YouTube - Samburu Blacksmith

Very interesting indeed Sam! Those bellows are just as described in Harries & Heer. Anvil looks like a partially buried length of rail track. A week to make a spear? Wow. I expect that's from bloom to trading for 2 goats. Captive market too; nice work if you can get it! :D

he must do very good for himself to have 8 kids

Kinda makes me feel guilty for letting 2 good anvils rust along with 30 something hammers and tongs while people like this guy use such primitive tools.

I bet we would make very good work with our amount of resources.. .

I still don;t get how the bellows work exactly.

The bellows are basically bags with a large opening at one end fastened to the two sticks.

They way they work is you pull back and inflate them while holding the sticks open, then close the sticks together and push to deflate them pushing the air into the fire through a smaller opening fastened to a tube leading into the fire.

The kid has great hand coordination---he must have been doing it for years!

There used to be a picture on the net of a fellow in asia that used a monky to crank a blower for him.

The video was very enlightening. I do this because I enjoy it. I do not need it to provide an income to feed my family. I am wanting more and better tools. Kind of makes one feel selfish. Maybe thankful.

Yeah, exactly.

It made me want to start trading my work for goats.. I wonder where I could find an interested party...

In Hollywood we say . .There's no business like show business.
In Baghdad we say . . There's no business like goat business.

It humbles you a bit, doesn't it? We have so much & yet want more. He has very little & makes do. ( And 8 children yet !! )

Heck, it looked like he couldn't even afford a hammer handle! :o

how many Lb's do you think his hammer is? my guess is 6Lb's

so how many people out there use hammers without handles?
haha, rather strange, considering they put handles on all there garden tools, but not on hammers

I can't see it too well in the video but I'm not sure that's a hammer as you or I would go to the store and see (and think: I should make one...)

so how many people out there use hammers without handles?
haha, rather strange, considering they put handles on all there garden tools, but not on hammers

My dad tells me stories about German POWs that we put to work in their various trades during the war. The machinists were issued tool boxes and many would immediately cut the handles off the hammers. I asked why and Dad said it was so they wouldn't be tempted to use them. Supposedly, they felt that if they couldn't perform their craft without using a hammer, they were doing something wrong.

Sam's video reminds me of the Dogon tribe in Africa. The blacksmith makes religious idols for the tribe. He is also the tribe wood carver and as you might imagine, makes his own carving tools. He primarily carves large masks, also for the religious ceremonies.

Heck, it looked like he couldn't even afford a hammer handle!

Its amzing he didnt burn himself!

using his hands as a poker was incredible. i liked it when he asked how much for the bracelet, the guy said to much and began bargaining. i would have just paid him, just to hope he can afford a hammer with a handle and maybe get a bit better anvil

It's amazing this blacksmith doesn't burn himself.

Erm... wow...

Mrs Matt says: 'that is sick!'

Nope just never wore shoes. I had a friend like that in college and he used to scuff his callouses on the side walk and walk on broken glass with no problem.

True. ..if you go barefoot for like a week. ..you could have no problem with glass or pebbles.. but if you go barefoot your whole life.. .well. .you can easily do that