Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by "forging" the metal; i.e., by using hand tools to hammer, bend, cut, and otherwise shape it in its non-liquid form. Usually the metal is heated until it glows red or orange as part of the forging process. more...

Home
*Best Sellers
Advertising
Animals
Animation Art, Characters
Arcade, Jukeboxes & Pinball
Autographs
Banks, Registers & Vending
Barware
Bottles & Insulators
Breweriana, Beer
Casino
Clocks
Comics
Cultures, Ethnicities
Decorative Collectibles
Disneyana
Fantasy, Mythical & Magic
Furniture, Appliances & Fans
Historical Memorabilia
Holiday, Seasonal
Housewares & Kitchenware
Knives, Swords & Blades
Lamps, Lighting
Linens, Fabric & Textiles
Metalware
Militaria
Most Popular
Pens & Writing Instruments
Pez, Keychains, Promo...
Photographic Images
Pinbacks, Nodders,...
Postcards & Paper
Radio, Phonograph, TV, Phone
Religions, Spirituality
Rocks, Fossils, Minerals
Science Fiction
Science, Medical
Tobacciana
Tools, Hardware & Locks
Anvil
Blacksmith
Craftsman
Hammer
Preston
Saw
Snap on
Stanley
Tools
Winchester
Trading Cards
Transportation
Vanity, Perfume & Shaving
Vintage Sewing
Wholesale Lots

Blacksmiths create such products as wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. A skilled blacksmith can, with minimal effort, make a sophisticated product that looks good and demonstrates ingenuity.

A blacksmith who works primarily with horses, especially making and fitting horseshoes, is called a farrier.

The process of blacksmithing

Blacksmiths work with "black" metals, especially iron. The black color comes from a layer of oxides that form on the surface of the metal during heating (called fire scale).

The term "smith" originates from the word "smite", which means to hit. Thus, a blacksmith is a person who smites black metal.

Blacksmiths work by heating pieces of wrought iron or steel in a forge until the metal becomes soft enough to be shaped with hand tools, such as a hammer and chisel. Heating is accomplished by the use of a forge fueled by propane, natural gas, coal, charcoal, or coke.

Modern blacksmiths may also employ an oxyacetylene or similar blowtorch for more localized heating. Color is important for indicating the temperature and workability of the metal: As iron is heated to increasing temperatures, it first glows red, then orange, yellow, and finally white; then it melts. The ideal heat for most forging is the yellow-orange color appropriately known as a "forging heat." Because they must be able to see the glowing color of the metal, many blacksmiths work in dim, low-light conditions.

The techniques of blacksmithing may be roughly divided into forging (sometimes called "sculpting"), welding, heat treating, and finishing.

Forging

Forging is also referred to as sculpting because it is the process of shaping metal. Forging is different from machining in that material is not removed by these processes (with the exception of punching and cutting); rather the iron is hammered into shape. There are five basic operations or techniques employed in forging: drawing, shrinking, bending, upsetting and punching.

These operations generally employ hammer and anvil at a minimum, but smiths will also make use of other tools and techniques to accommodate odd-sized or repetitive jobs.

Upsetting

Upsetting is the process of thickening the metal by reducing one dimension and increasing another. It can be described as pushing the metal back into itself to thicken it. For example in preparation for making a bolt head, a smith will hammer the end of a rod, thickening the end of the rod and shortening its overall length. The heated end of the rod is placed pointing down on an anvil. The cool end is then struck repeatedly, which produces a bulge at the hot end of the metal.

Read more at Wikipedia.org