Blacksmith History

The first formed and shaped pieces of metal discovered at archeological digs dates back almost 5000 years. Early man lived by hunting and eating wild crops. The hunting was done using rocks, wooden clubs, large bones and sharpened wooden poles. The problem was that rocks, clubs and bones required both brute strength and close contact with the prey. The sharp pole cold be thrown from a distance but the point would often not be strong enough to pierce the hide of the animal. Farming was an unknown concept because sharpened bones and wood would break in the ground. All this changed with the discovery of metal and the development of the skill of shaping it. The persons who knew how to heat and shape metal into arrow and spear heads and also to make iron implements for tilling the soil were the first technicians of the human race. With the ability to hunt more efficiently and also to farm land for food, life became easier and blacksmiths were in great demand.

The main focus of the first blacksmiths was to make weapons of death. From weapons for hunting it was an easy step to produce weapons of war – the same arrow and spear heads would be used for both animals and humans. In times of peace, when the demand for weapons of war dropped, blacksmiths had to find other products from which to earn their livelihood. It was during these periods in the ancient past that blacksmiths learned the more sophisticated aspects of their trade and began to make items of everyday use like vases, urns, goblets and the like. Blacksmiths were forced to keep refining their skills to meet the demands of the increasingly more demanding clientele. Of course, through the ages, blacksmiths continued to produce ever more sophisticated weapons from knives and swords to iron bolts for crossbows to shields and armor and then to cannons along with farming equipment ranging from ploughs to horse shoes.

With the coming of the industrial age, the blacksmith found himself to be the lynchpin of progress. It was he who created the components and parts that were assembled to make the machine that powered the Industrial Revolution. As the machines became bigger and more sophisticated, so did the blacksmith skills in producing the parts needed for them. Sadly the machines the blacksmith has helping to build would soon replace him. By the end of the 19th century factories could produce metal work in larger numbers and more economically that the blacksmith could. The trade suffered a huge decline and by the time of World War II, the few blacksmiths left were only producing decorative wrought iron work.

However, in the 1960s metal started to be used more and more in architecture and furniture. The demand for artistic iron work also began to grow and the industry underwent a revival and today, while it is no longer a lynchpin of industry, is a viable and growing business.

Through the ages, the tools and equipment used by blacksmiths have undergone immense change. The first blacksmiths would not know what to make of a modern forge with its electric forges and furnaces and mechanical presses and hammers. But the basics of forging have not changed – heat metal and then shape it. Perhaps if the ghost from the past saw this, he would feel a kinship with the present.