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I Forge Iron

The Blacksmith's Image


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Hello.
This is a rant about people's perceptions of blacksmiths.
I had a usual experience the other day: I was steaching my art class, and one of the students had learned that I am a blacksmith so he asked me, "You're blacksmith, so you make swords right?"
To which I replied "No." and explained how I make functional items like door knockers and wall hooks, but they do look cool and people can actually have them in their lives. He then went down a list of weapons to see if I make those. I would consider the child pathetic and an idiot, but it has happened to me a ton recently.
Why do people love or at least go immediately to the idea that blacksmiths make only things that kill people or have limited uses today? Once I made a 17th century floral wall-hook at a demo and people started assuming I was making a throwing knife, what's up with that??????

How do we cope with the image of blacksmith as maker of death and horseshoes?

Merry being,
a pensive Archie Zietman

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I get the same type of questions. I recently took a silversmithing class, and when it came out in class that I also did blacksmith work the first thing brought up was did I make swords or knives.

Since I never make either, I described some of the projects I actually do, but the kids (college students) lost interest until I mentioned that I did make an occasional tomahawk.

Steve

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I think there is a major fascination with swords and knives. My girlfriends sons room is loaded with cheap junk swords and knives. He actually has a display case that's a large wooden cube with plexi panels full of stuff that says made in Pakistan. But he loves it. So I think when someone finds out that you have ability to make them they get excited but they have no idea about all the other incredible things that can be made.

BTW nothing against Pakistan but some of the stuff he has is made with plastic guards etc.

Rob.

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When I do public demos, I almost always get that question. so this thread fired my brain up a bit. On my next demo I'll take one of those cheap swords with me and forge it into something useful. So when posed the question again, I can say "Yes, I do make swords.................... into something useful." I could make a variety of useful items. What would you make?

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Not sure if I read in a book or here or I heard it explained somewhere else, (maybe ThomasPowers?) But if you will take notice it is the male gender that inquires about knives/swords or other weapons and not the women.(OK, maybe once in a while:) ) Anyway, here's they reason (short version), men had to hunt and protect/defend those in his charge, hence he made the weapons. Women were in charge of the home and crops so they concentrated on these types of tools. Women forged their tools, men forged their weapons.

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Although I'm still new at this, I'm going to add my two cents worth. I would have to go along with MooseRidge in that most people's idea of a blacksmith comes from movies & TV. Most kids today don't remember the old westerns that showed blacksmiths doing more "traditional" work. Horse shoes, tools, wagons, etc, etc..... I think that the key might be educating those that you see & talk with. Most of the examples today seem to come from movies depicting blacksmiths making weapons, etc. That's probably because most movies today action based with violence in them......... I think it will take patience & education from those who are out there showing their craft to the public........... Just my thoughts.

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Most that I talk to when I mention that I Blacksmith immediately they think farrier as well.

I know when I was young, swords and knives where very cool to me and back then is when I first got the hankering to trying blacksmith so that I could make swords and knives.
I didn't get the opportunity to actually get into smithing till just a few years ago. Now swords and knives are still cool but they are not what I'm interested in making right now. Once my skills are up to the task, I may try my hand at bladesmithing though.

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We do demonstrations at two of our local county fairs so the vast number of people we encounter each year with those misconceptions is immense.

We decided to tackle the problem by hanging a banner on all 4 sides of the smithy that read "Blacksmiths DON'T shoe horses. Surprised? Stop in and learn more." At the other venue we hung "No Horseshoes" signs like the "No 'U' Turn" signs but with a horseshoe under the "No" symbol.

Additionally, when we describe the difference between a blacksmith and a farrier we use the analogy of "mistaking your family doctor for a dentist. Both are doctors but one is a specialist." If the person seems interested we then list off some of the other "specialist smiths" (nailers, cutlers, etc). Finally, when the inevitable question "so then, what DO you make?" comes up we often say "Blacksmiths were the 'Home Depot' of the iron age. Every metal piece of hardware was made by the smith".

Has it worked? Well, the signs did seem to have an effect. Either people stopped themselves from telling their kids "oh they make horseshoes" OR they would ask "Why?". The latter was fantastic, since part of our reason for doing the demo was to educate the public.

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I think that most peoples images of blacksmiths come from movies & TV. So if they see westerns then blacksmiths shoe horses or if it is a fantasy movie or some show based on historical events then the blacksmith is a sword maker or armorer. It is the same for me also when people find out I am a blacksmith & fabricator they always ask what type of knives I make. I let them know I have made some knives but I make more hardware and art elements then anything else. The archery pro shop I work at part time has a large knife department, I am amazed at how many people are fasinated by knives. It is not just young men, it is everyone women, men, boys, girls old and young people love knives and swords. I guess they make people feel safe and a little dangerous like a outlaw or rebel. To me they are tools and works of art.

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Bill Moran and other blade-smiths were largely responsible for the blacksmith's revival so to speak in the '60s,70s and eighties, although the general public ,I don't think was aware of this. So probably movies and TV.

Pre internet had quite a few bladesmithing books'70s '80s.

Just my .02

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well you are right about blacksmiths = farriers in most peoples minds but with the kids it is more than movies ... its video games! a lot of the role playing games have blacksmiths makeing armor and weapons ! I had a kid ask me the other day " where are your ingots! " I explaned that in real life blacksmiths use bar stock not ingots and turning ore into iron is usually done by a specialist in big furnaces and not at the forge like a game! he took it well and i do make swords once in a wile so he got to see a " real" sword so he was happy and got to learn something new! it is a constant teaching job when you demonstrate and we need as many people doing it as possable to teach the public the truth !

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Sorry i had to jump in here, i just got back from a demo at a local history museums blacksmith shop, two tours of 4th graders, in teh first tour i ask teh croud if they knew what blacksmiths did.... a kid raised his hand and said "they make all the weapons and swords....." and on he went. in the second tour, a cute little girl ask me if i had ever seen the movie Pirates of the Caribbean "because there was a cool scene when the aprentice jackwhatever goes into a blacksmith shop and starts fighting with johnny depp and it was really cool... i wanted to throw my hammer at her right then. ok i'll stop now

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It is up to us to change the perception of the Blacksmith in the publics eye. I enjoy doing demo's and interacting with the public. I have recently started teaching blacksmithing to 4H young adults. I am amazed by their interest and desire to learn.
I am sure there are alot of things in this world we don't comprehend as well as others do. I have gone into a time warp shock the few times in the past ten years that I have went to the "mall". I don't understand the people there young or old and I'm sure they don't understand me. That doesn't make any of us stupid it just means we are from different backgrounds.
Have patients and remember there are several here who started out wanting to make swords.
Anytime we are in the public eye we are ambassadors of the craft.

John Bennett

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I might also add that when I'm set up someplace I have several items displayed( from tripods to ladles/spatulas/spoons/firegrates/trammels yada yada yada) and folks still ask what I make sometimes. I make stuff from take-off shoes and try and explain ( especially to kids ) what can be done with stuff that used to be something else. I normally have a board with a brand on it that I made and hooks for many different needs. My wife was once cooking supper at Old Threshers and I sold a spatula out of her hand. The image of the smith should be honest, sincere and reliable.

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I always get a kick out of this discussion

What's it matter what someone thinks before they ask you a question?
If you're in a position to provide some insight into our world then by all means share the knowledge, but why be offended if they have a misperception of what it is we do? There's no shortage of that - you'll find it in every profession.

Myself, I'm awfully glad that there are some quality folk willing to crawl under my horses and do the really difficult job of keeping their feet healthy - if somebody makes a mistake in distinction and thinks that's what I do - I take it as a compliment.

I worked with a farrier at the Ft Vancouver Natl Historic site and he said something I'll always remember - " Farriers at least know something about blacksmithing - blacksmith's don't know squat about shoeing horses" (of course he didn't use the word squat). He happened to be one of the most talented smiths there.

I think we need to be a little more concerned that some kids don't know where milk or vegetables really come from . . .

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What's it matter what someone thinks before they ask you a question?


Because it shows the ignorance and misinformation rampant in the general population.

....but why be offended if they have a misperception of what it is we do?


It's not the so much that any one person is ignorant of what we do, but the extent to which it is pervasive in our society. Add to that the fact that some people will argue with us about what it is that we do, just so they can hang on to their illusions; sometimes it makes you concerned for the survival of our species.

No one can be knowledgeable in all areas, but we should all be willing to learn when corrected.

blacksmith's don't know squat about shoeing horses


Of course some of us have taken the time to learn about that too. Since it is such a common misconception I specifically bought "Shoeing Right - Advice to a Horse Owner from a Working Farrier" so I could understand what they do, and pass along a comparison/contrast to the public.
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I love it when people come to you to fix things for them and then they want to tell you how to do it. A friend of mine bent the guides on a wood spliter and asked if I could make them right again. So later that day him and his boy (10yo) come over to watch me work. First the kid starts to tell me that I am burning the steel. Then when I started working it with the hammer he starts telling me that I am hiting it wrong And where I should be hitting it. As I returned the steel to the fire I asked him how old he was. When I told him that I have been working metal longer then he has been alive his responce was "your burning the metal again". At this point his father told him to shut up and let me work. I have run into adults that are the same way as that kid.

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I have also been a farrier for to long. I noticed that there are a number of us listed in what is your other job. I think in the USA most of our blacksmiths 100 years ago were also farriers and did a lot more with plowshares than what we might think of as art. If you look at our iron art a lot of it is cast.
To get on my hobby horse just this once. I have noticed that if a demo is done making a horse shoe the vast majority of blacksmiths don't want to watch it as they think that it has nothing to do with them. Yet they might see someone 1 forge weld,2 upset a specific amount of steel 3 measure and know how much that steel will grow, 4 forge a clip which could be used for other purposes, 5 forge an arc to within 1/16 inch of the right size, 6 punch 6 or more holes in a piece of steel rather rapidly of a very precise size, 7 put a grove around the edge of the arced bar uniformly and match it on the other side 8 make a short square corner, 9 make a bevel with enough hammer control that you see no hammer marks. I could add more but that would get into double digits far to complicated for me. Now that blacksmith who won't watch this will gladly watch another person warm up for his demo if he is making a nail after all he is drawing and upsetting steel.:)

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I understand that it can be frustrating, but I try not to blame someone for not knowing, but instead I tech them the truth. Most of the time when I tell people I am a Blacksmith they think I am a farrier and it takes a while for them to understand what I really do. Next time I am going to use the idea of a Blacksmith being the Home Depot of a hundred years ago.

If a Farrier was demonstrating ANYTHING, I would be there in a heartbeat with eyes and ears open.

One thing that does push my buttons is when kids want to learn how to make a sword to run around in the woods and hack up trees, but refuse to learn the basics like drawing a taper. Last time a checked, drawing was fairly important when forging a blade - not to mention just good hammer control.

A few months ago some younger (maybe 19) kids came to our Tuesday night open forge and immediately asked about making swords. I was forging something and he said "Are you any good at making swords?" and I said with a grin on my face "well, I'm not sure since I have never made one, but I'm going to say that if I were to make one I'd make a good one." Well, that's not the answer he was looking for. He was looking to have a custom one made or forge one himself. I told him that he should try and get some basic hammer control down if he wanted to make swords and that custom swords are not cheap. He then turned and talked to one of the other guys there that had made some weapons for a rather popular Pirate movie. We did get them to forge a simple leaf before they left but I think they lost interest completely somewhere between when we told them the sword they wanted to buy from a swordsmith to hack trees in the woods would cost over $2000 and when Steve (he owns the shop) told them that nobody was allowed to make knives and blades in his shop for a few different reasons (well, we were allowed but rarely ever did) Needless to say, they have not been back since and we were as understanding and polite as possible. I have no problem with kids wanting to make swords, but find it rather pathetic or maybe just sad when they give up after finding out how much work is really involved in making their fantasy weapon with gold inlay and embedded jewels (just to hack up some trees). I know a lot of bladesmiths that know very little or nothing about blacksmithing, but they do know the basics and have learned good hammer control.

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