Blacksmithing dissertation

[Iron Asylum]

i am a student at university and am currently writing my dissertation on blacksmithing as i have recently started forging last year after working with my dad in his steel fabrication business for a few years. i am finding it difficult to find useful information on blacksmithing, such as the history of it and useful facts. I was wondering if anyone had written anything themselves they wouldn't ind sharing or pointing me in the right direction. My tutor has told me to look at the 'crafts council' but i cant seem to find any information to extract or find any of the old copies of the magazine.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thought i would post this at the top so people didnt have to read through all the comments -

Dear all,

Thank you all for your comments and help, i have taken them all in to account and had a discussion with my tutor. I explained my problems finding the information i wanted and what i wanted to write about. We have come to the conclusion it would be best for me to write about contempory forging and blacksmithing. I am UK based so would really be writing about things that would be relevant to me. But things that did not occur in the UK but are relevant would also be considered. The questions my tutor and I came up with are - Who is doing what? Who is the best out there?...Who do you as blacksmiths look to for inspiration...Who are your idols and why do you like / appreciate there work so much? And how and when are they doing it?

i hope this doesn't make things too confusing as i myself am feeling a little confused at this point in time, but i think i will be starting my dissertation again after writing 1700 words, because as a lot of you have mentioned, my question is too vague.

Thanks again for all your help, it is very much appreciated!

Edited March 3, 2009 by Iron Asylum

[Dale Russell]

Iron Asylum , what type of info are you after , that mite give us an idea where ta point you . Also IFI has a wealth of smithing info ,, do a search , u'll be surprized as ta what'll come up


Dale Russell

[Iron Asylum]

i am looking for some of the history of blacksmithing to start off with to be honest, then maybe where it is going, or gone over the years, with power tools ect. By IFI i presume u mean I forge iron, where can i find relevant info here? Thanks Dale

[David Einhorn]

The history of blacksmithing tends to be the history of technology, and the history of technology tends to be the history of war. Blacksmiths worked metal in forges and on anvils with hammer, tongs and other tools. While we can point you to the evolution of a blacksmith's tools, but his life, his work, and his role in society did not change all that much. He went to work, worked all day at the forge, went home, slept.

One thing that I learned from three college degrees was to choose the topics of my papers based on how much information was available for a given topic, and how easy it was to acquire the information necessary to write a paper. Free advice.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard, glad to have you.

Your question is so broad as to be virtually unanswerable. Where it began is lost in the mists of history and where it's going is anybody's guess except to say it'll continue as long as humanity needs to work metal.

I'm not being obtuse, blacksmithing is not something that can even be well summarized in a dissertation. A weighty tome maybe, a doctorial thesis no.

Another thing that makes a difference is location. For instance if you live in downtown Boston Blacksmithing will mean one thing but if you live in a Turkish village it'll mean something else entirely.

So, if you can narrow your question(s) to something manageable and if you'll click "User CP" at the top of the page and edit your profile to show your location we'll try to be as helpful as possible.

Even if we have to make something up.

Frosty

[dablacksmith]

might try alex bealers book the art of blacksmithing... it was the first book i had on blacksmithing and if i remember right it had a lot of info on history... of course there a TON of books on blacksmithing out there that might help...good luck!

[Archie Zietman]

Blacksmithing where in the world? Europe? You could look at the shift from blacksmithing to fabrication and the slow fade of the blacksmith into marine-chainwork and such to todays novelty artist blacksmiths. How did the industrial revolution affect views of local household craft?Was it preserved in some ways? Where? How did some crafts fit into modern industry? (Glassblowing is still there, we still drop forge and use power hammers etc.)
Lots of anthropological work about the cultural role of blacksmithing and religious significance of metals among tribes in various parts of Africa. In some cultures blacksmiths are considered supernatural beings, and some use iron instead of our abstract concept of money because it can actually be turned into a tool which has worth to the farmer or hunter.
In China you get the technology of casting iron vessels, in the middle ages they were the world superpower, but then stagnated despite their incredible technology in ironwork and oil drilling and whatnot. In Japan you can find plenty of philosophizing and waxing poetical about the reflection of nature through hamons and pattern welding, and the honing of toolmaking to very specific crafts in japan (chef knifesmiths, katanasmiths, chiselsmiths axesmiths) etc. What made blacksmithing become so specialized and compartmentalized?

Narrow down. For papers narrow is the word. Gives you a direction to go. The entirety of the history of blacksmithing over the entire world is a lot to cover in any length.

Good luck!
Archie

Edited March 3, 2009 by Archie Zietman

[Avadon]

I like this advice. If you try to be overly broad you'll probably lose the focus of your reader. Why don't you pick out a few key moments in the history of metalworking that are icons of blacksmithing. For example early bronze age work of spears, swords, helmets, religious artifacts, etc. and then cite another reference or two of blacksmithing uses in the iron age and then cite some historic occurrences that blacksmiths did in the early 20'th century (Industrializing America), and then so on up until modern day. The best way to cover a really broad topic in my mind is to pick out some key snapshots that encompass the theme. This way your bringing together say 4-6 snapshots of history that will give the reader an understanding of a paradigm with a great longevity.

*Plus it's easier to write 5-10 pages per snapshot of history then it is trying to chronicle all of blacksmithing by 50 year increments from Mesopotamia to present. lol

[David Einhorn]

The ABA Guild has posted a history:
Blacksmith History, Part 1

[matt87]

might try alex bealers book the art of blacksmithing... it was the first book i had on blacksmithing and if i remember right it had a lot of info on history... of course there a TON of books on blacksmithing out there that might help...good luck!

Bealer's view of history is... suppositional in many places and downright wrong in others.

If you can find a copy, the book Iron for the Eagles by David Sims and Isabella Routledge (1994 I think) is very interesting, as it combines studies of extant artefacts, iconography, documental evidence and experiments by Sims to try and reconstruct a particular aspect of blacksmithing (i.e. iron production, manufacture and maintenance in/for the Roman Army). It's out of print unfortunately and changes hands for a small fortune but it's available through better-stocked libraries, especially academic ones. I'd like to see more of these sorts of books, not just on blacksmithing but on all aspects of ancient material culture.

I've found that there is little in the way of a proper book on the general history of blacksmithing. Sure there are a few web-pages (often un-referenced). There are chapters and asides in books on blacksmithing or archaeometallurgy or other subjects but these are often imprecise and authored by those not very familiar with both blacksmithing and historical and/or archaeological technique. Basically there is little middle-ground between the 'they used use charcoal and bellows but it's better to use coal and a blower' and 'a study on 9th-century seaxes from Wessex' or 'a series of smelting experiments using a replica late British iron-age furnace'. I think it's quite a gap, and something I'd like to fill or help to fill at some point.

[Gobae]

Just like many "blacksmithing histories", that ABA history glosses over the early beginnings of blacksmithing and jumps straight to the 18th century. I would assume this is because that's the time period the author was most familiar with. Of course everyone has their favorite and studied area and mine is the Iron Age Celts. With that in mind here are some resources that will give you information about Iron Age Europe at least.

"Early Irish Ironworking" by B.G. Scott
"Pagan Celtic Ireland" by Barry Raftery
"The Celtic Sword" by Radomir Pleiner
"Iron for the Eagles" by David Sim ISBN 0752419005

You may also consider contacting the curators of these living history museums since they have reproduction smithies dating back to 400BC.

Aspan an der Zaya, Austria
Castell Henllys, Wales

Now, that should get you headed in the right direction for Mid-Late Iron Age European information.

To get some different regions and time periods, here's a documentary made on African smelting/iron working, that claims this particular process dates back to 1000BC YouTube - Inagina: The Last House of Iron - PREVIEW

Don't forget wootz production and use in India around 50BC.

To go further back in time check out Egyptian grave goods. Some rulers were buried with iron artifacts dating back to 2400BC and earlier. I've never really bothered to study Egyptian history, so I've got virtually no resources there. But, I imagine that with some digging you should be able to locate someone who's written about it because it's some of the earliest iron working known to exist.

Of course you'll want to check out what other cultures are doing (even for the same time period) to get the bigger picture. It'd be a mistake to research one or two geographical areas and extrapolate it out to all iron working civilizations. Iron working wasn't even close to being a uniformly advancing technology. Not only were some civilizations behind/ahead of others but some cultures tried "more advanced" processes and discarded them simply because they didn't have the material resources to make them work and instead developed other processes that did.

Yes, it is a big topic that you should probably narrow down because there really is a lot of info out there.

Oh, I almost forgot! Check out the "Arch Metals" Elist

Edited March 3, 2009 by Gobae

[Gobae]

Hear! Hear! Well said! I couldn't agree more on all your points.

Bealer's view of history is... suppositional in many places and downright wrong in others.

If you can find a copy, the book Iron for the Eagles by David Sims and Isabella Routledge (1994 I think) is very interesting, as it combines studies of extant artefacts, iconography, documental evidence and experiments by Sims to try and reconstruct a particular aspect of blacksmithing (i.e. iron production, manufacture and maintenance in/for the Roman Army). It's out of print unfortunately and changes hands for a small fortune but it's available through better-stocked libraries, especially academic ones. I'd like to see more of these sorts of books, not just on blacksmithing but on all aspects of ancient material culture.

I've found that there is little in the way of a proper book on the general history of blacksmithing. Sure there are a few web-pages (often un-referenced). There are chapters and asides in books on blacksmithing or archaeometallurgy or other subjects but these are often imprecise and authored by those not very familiar with both blacksmithing and historical and/or archaeological technique. Basically there is little middle-ground between the 'they used use charcoal and bellows but it's better to use coal and a blower' and 'a study on 9th-century seaxes from Wessex' or 'a series of smelting experiments using a replica late British iron-age furnace'. I think it's quite a gap, and something I'd like to fill or help to fill at some point.

[Dave Budd]

Which university department are you writing for? Archaeology, engineering, English, art? the source material will vary wildly

I wrote my MA Experimental Archaeology thesis on pre-industrial blacksmithing fuels and carburisation of iron to steel in the forge if that's of use?

If you are looking into the ancient side of things I will try and dig out my bibliography for you

I would also suggest contacting some of these for bibliographies/their own libraries (some are onliune others have reference collections that you can look at): BABA, ABANA, Society of Historical Metallurgy, Tools and Trade History Society (TATHS)

[ThomasPowers]

Sorry this is a rough memory dump as I'm quite busy at work right now---

Look at the making of files and gravers and tempering of steel in "Divers Arts", Theophilus, written in 1120 AD by a german monk.

Look at De Re Metallica for use of powered equipment used in basic forging or newly refined material. (and hundreds of GREAT woodcuts) mid 16th century

Look at greek vase painings for ancient greek sources and Shire put out a book on Egyptian Metalwork

Rehder's "The Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity" is tangential to metalwork at that time.

Moxon's "Mechanic Exercises" published in 1703 but written several decades earlier has a blacksmithing section.

Diderot's Encyclopedia---late 18th century will show a lot of "state of the art" stuff

The Hausbuchs of renaissance germany will have several subsets of smithing in them.

The Roman museum at Bath England has an anvil and several examples of blacksmithing tools shown carved in stone from that period.

"Sources for the history of the Science of Steel" 1539-1786(?) Good book for renaissance quenchants.

"Practical Blacksmithing", Richardson late 1880's early 1890's collection of smithing journal articles

And of course in a tangential way "The Knight and the Blast Furnace" Williams, foremost source on the metallurgy of renaissance armour.

[Iron Asylum]

Dear all,

Thank you all for your comments and help, i have taken them all in to account and had a discussion with my tutor. I explained my problems finding the information i wanted and what i wanted to write about. We have come to the conclusion it would be best for me to write about contempory forging and blacksmithing. I am UK based so would really be writing about things that would be relevant to me. But things that did not occur in the UK but are relevant would also be considered. The questions my tutor and I came up with are - Who is doing what? Who is the best out there?...Who do you as blacksmiths look to for inspiration...Who are your idols and why do you like / appreciate there work so much? And how and when are they doing it?

i hope this doesn't make things too confusing as i myself am feeling a little confused at this point in time, but i think i will be starting my dissertation again after writing 1700 words, because as a lot of you have mentioned, my question is too vague.

Thanks again for all your help, it is very much appreciated!

Note to Dave Budd - I am studying 3D Design and use metal as my chosen material and started blacksmithing last year by doing some courses at the Devon Guild of blacksmiths.

Olly

Edited March 3, 2009 by Iron Asylum

[Mark Aspery]

i am a student at university and am currently writing my dissertation on blacksmithing as i have recently started forging last year after working with my dad in his steel fabrication business for a few years. i am finding it difficult to find useful information on blacksmithing, such as the history of it and useful facts. I was wondering if anyone had written anything themselves they wouldn't ind sharing or pointing me in the right direction. My tutor has told me to look at the 'crafts council' but i cant seem to find any information to extract or find any of the old copies of the magazine.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

I enjoy "The Village Blacksmith" by Ronald Webber -150+ pages

It talks about the UK smiths, some anecdotal as well as formal history, guild halls, folk lore and even a song or two.

The ability to work metal took us out of the stone age.

Perhaps we are the second oldest profession!

[ThomasPowers]

Look up Bruce Wilcox (sp?) as one of the last of the old school smiths!


Save your previous start---who knows you may someday write a 5 book series on the history of blacksmithing!

Thomas

[myloh67]

Hello i found amina chatwins' "into the new iron age" a good starting point. It hosts a lot of British smiths who initiated BABA. This group of smiths both young and old discussed and debated the fundamentals of modern design within the craft. It's an interesting era that portraits a big change in aesthestics of design within the craft availing of the like David Smith, Benneton, Brancusi ect.. for inspiration.
Those initial members of Baba are still churning out the work..maybe drop them a line,

[John B]

Hi Ollie, sorry I have not got back to you before, but try books by Peter Parkinson, David Hawkins, and others. Look on BABA's website under books and contact Maggie Price she may be able to help you select suitable books for reference, many of these are available to look at at BABA forge ins, at least you can see what they have to offer you.

[Iron Asylum]

Hi Jon

i have got Peter Parkinson books - The artist blacksmith and Forged architectural metal work here with me and i have just ordered The contemporary blacksmith by Dona. Z Meilach which i hope will come in handy. I will look further in to the BABA website, i am just starting to panick as what i sen to you i have now scrappped so iv got 2 months to write the full essay and send it off to the bookmakers, which seems plenty of time, but i am doing my major project at the moment and going home to work on the week ends, so having a hard time fitting it all in. We have a thesis written by David Hawkins in our library but its not allowed to be removed from the library, im going to go and have a look at that tomorrow and see what i can find in that, but it is a huge book. Thanks again

[matt87]

I'm not sure exactly what '3D design' involves, but I wonder if you could look at anvil design. It's one of the core smithing tools and although its principles of operation haven't changed over time consider how it has changed both in form and materials -- especially in the west over the past, say 300 years -- block/stake/single-horn/double-horn/triple-horn; wrought iron/cast iron/cast steel/wrought steel/steel-faced cast iron/steel-faced wrought iron/rock. Is this due to availability, typical work or a pure 'improvement' in design? How is the anvil likely to change in the near future? As the older ones wear out what will replace them? Steel foundries have become rarer over the past decades as it is, what happens when the world's rising population and finite fossil fuels cause energy prices to rise? Will inexpensive welding kit, machine-tools and power grinders cause a change in anvil design?

Similarly but in a slightly different vein perhaps you could look at the smithing hammer. It's also a core tool but involves a lot of ergonomics. Uri Hofi has done a lot of research on this, and I bet the HSE has a lot of information too. How have new technologies and materials changed hammers? Can you design a hammer that is 'better'? Can you investigate the factors which make a hammer 'good' for a particular use? Can you design a hammer that is 'good enough' for a certain range of smithing purposes? Can you evaluate a hammer that is commonly or traditionally used for a particular task and evaluate its efficiency and/or ergonomics scientifically?

You might also be able to consider tongs; we've been using basically the same design for well over a thousand years despite so many new designs (see the number of patents for instance). Have we stagnated or simply reached the crossing point between investment and utility? Can new technologies perhaps be applied to tongs -- electronic servos to change one set of tongs to grip any piece of iron perfectly?

Can forges be improved? How about a gas burner which drives its own blower by a directly linked impeller, like a turbojet -- the best of blown vs. Venturi burners. How about enclosed forges -- can we improve on solid-fuel forge efficiency by enclosing and insulating them? A feedback control for forges, where we set the temperature we want our workpiece and it's maintained at that temperature once it's reached -- no more frazzled workpieces! (The technology exists for 'proper' heat treating, can it be applied or adapted for forges?)

That's off the top of my head considering the essential smithing tools (plus tongs) and having the vaguest of ideas of what a '3D design' course involves. There was an interesting discussion a while back on special tools for disabled smiths -- can you design a tong replacement for a one-handed smith? How about a way for a paraplegic smith to move between forge, anvil and vice quickly and safely without an assistant? How about a way for a smith to control a power-hammer, hold the work and manipulate a top-tool without falling over if they don't have 'normal' mobility?

(Can you tell I wanted to be an engineer? )

[Iron Asylum]

Sorry this reply is brief, im just on my way to bed.

3D design for me at my uni is mainly involving furniture design, but there are a contrast of materials available, i just use steel as my chosen material as i have been brought up using it since i was younger. The reason i have chosen to write on blacksmithing is it is something i am just getting involved with and hope to continue doing so over the years as it links in with my fathers steel fabrication business.

thanks Matt87