Items Tagged with 'blacksmithing'

Blacksmithing continues to be a very practical field with the farrier, a specialty smith who makes horse shoes. This blog describes blacksmith-like metalworking for very practical purposes while creating works of art. Before we get there, let’s quickly review the history of the trade.

Did you know that Paul Revere was an early metallurgist? Revere’s early education was sufficient to enable him to later read the difficult metallurgical books of his day. His early training was by his father, who was a Boston silversmith. At 19 – upon the death of his father in 1754 – Revere took over the family silver shop. A perfectionist throughout his life, he went on to become one of America’s greatest artists in silver.

While not his first invention, the hammer – and in particular the hammer head – has helped man expand his universe like no other invention until the advent of the personal computer. Through the centuries, the hammer head has kept up with the times, evolving from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age and through the Industrial Revolution (the Steel Age).

In April 2006, this column described the origins of the iron industry in America. Then, in April 2018, Industrial Heating’s cover story was about blacksmithing.

Once again, our readers weigh in on the best articles in 2018. This time it is in the melting/forming/joining category. Interested in what they have to say? Check out the list that follows.

Pocono Mountains Forge is the brainchild of husband and wife Bill and Jenny. The duo combines their efforts to hand-forge knives that feature dried flowers and leaves enclosed inside the handles.

As touched on in one of our April feature articles, blacksmithing is increasing in popularity. If you want proof, Reptile Toolworks has created a compact portable blacksmithing forge that is small enough to fit in a bucket … and anyone can buy one.

When Scott Kirko needed a better knife, he decided to do something about it. No, he didn’t go out and buy the best one he could find. Instead, he founded Howling Wind Forge and began making hunting and tactical knives.

In the lab, David Sapiro studies the properties of corrosion in austenitic stainless steels. But in his garage, you’ll often find him leaning over a blacksmith’s anvil, hammering hot steel bars into new shapes, crafting tools and blades from red-hot metals.