Blacksmithing: The Basics of Iron Craft

Blacksmithing dates back to the Iron Age. It is an ancient profession along with being a rewarding and useful craft. Iron craft, no doubt, is tough to do as it requires much of physical toil and hard work but to see beautiful iron decoratives or useful items made with own hands gives an extreme satisfaction to a crafter. If you are also among those people who are fascinated towards this majestic craft done through iron, here are its basics. However, this article only contains an introduction to the iron craft. To learn this craft of blacksmithing, one requires expert guidance under a skillful blacksmith or iron sculptor.


Classification of Iron Properties
Different types of iron have varying quantities of carbon. The amount of carbon has significant effects on the properties of iron. Charcoal is almost pure carbon. Cast iron has over 2% of carbon content. It has comparatively low melting point and can be easily cast. However, as it is quite brittle, cast iron is not used for blacksmithing. Tool steel has carbon content between 0.25% and 2% and as such it can be given appropriate heat treatment. Wrought iron or mild steel has carbon content lesser than 0.25%. This proves that wrought iron has very low carbon content, and also has up to 5% of glassy slag. This slag content makes wrought iron very tough, gives it substantial resistance against rusting, and also allows easy forge welding. In forge welding, two pieces of iron, or a piece of iron and a piece of steel are permanently joined by heating them nearly to a white heat and hammering them together. Forge welding is very tough to do with modern mild steel. Modern steel is produced through blast furnace and therefore true wrought iron is now difficult to find. Therefore, old scrap wrought iron is used by blacksmiths and recycled for making such items as iron craft, architectural railings, wrought iron furniture etc.

Categorization of Iron work
In the modern times, Iron work can be divided into three categories

• Traditional ironwork
• Architectural ironwork
• Iron Sculpture

Traditional ironwork refers to the making of horseshoeing and iron artware by blacksmiths mostly using primitive tools and production methods. These professional blacksmiths adopting traditional methods have a good stand in the fine crafts market with a huge demand for their iron craft. Architectural ironwork is also popular in the market, generally in the custom housing industry that requires hand-forged iron work or fabricated pieces containing hand-forged elements.


Tools For Iron Craft

The most basic equipment required for blacksmithing is the forge. Iron needs extreme heat so that it can be given required shape when it becomes somewhat soft through melting. This heat is given by the forge. There are the traditional coal-fired forge and the modern gas forges. Gas forges can be easily controlled. However, the iron craft lovers like to work with traditional coal forge which needs continuous attention right from the stage when it is first lighted up. The firepot changes the coal into coke, a solid carbon fuel that burns with intense heat giving out little smoke. The temperature of the forge is adjusted by the airflow from bellows or from a hand-cranked or electric blower.
 
The other tools for iron craft includes the anvil and different types of hammers, hardy tools, punches, tongs and fullers. This list is only basic as the comprehensive list includes many other tools. The traditional anvil has a large flat work surface known as the face, a step which is used for certain forming techniques and a horn that is used for rounding the metal for giving circular shapes, like that of horseshoes. There is also a square hardy hole and a round hole. The hardy hole is used for the square shank of a hardy tool used for cutting. The round hole is used for punching, where the hot metal is pierced with a punch. This avoids any type of drilling.


Basic Technique of Iron Craft
The solid iron can be given various creative forms. The forge is used for heating the metal just to the right temperature. The hot metal is then quickly drawn to a sharp point with angled hammer blows on the face of the anvil. Sometimes, the metal is given shape by twisting so as to give decorative forms. The only requirement is that of imagination and the right strike at the right time. Iron craft is not only for making bigger furniture items or for making iron sculpture. With the basic shaping of iron, one can make useful household articles too such as iron drawer pull, curtain hooks and other such iron hardware.

 

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