Blacksmithing

Jonathan Manning harnesses the power of fire and steel on an introductory blacksmithing course

Jonathan tries his hand at an ancient art

Humans have been using intense heat to shape metal into useful tools for centuries. In fact the skill of blacksmithing stretches back to around 1500BC, when iron smelting at high temperatures began in Turkey. My fascination with this ancient art draws me to IAStudios, just outside Hereford, where there are three Club campsites within an hour’s drive. It’s a characterful workshop, state-of-the-art forges sitting side-by-side with timeless anvils and Victorian presses.

Hammers and tongs hang from wall racks, and in a warehouse outside are lengths of mild steel bars, waiting to be transformed into items that combine practicality with rugged, industrial charm.

Participants on this four-hour beginner’s course can make objects such as letter openers and fireside pokers. It seems entirely fitting to be using the craftsmanship of yesteryear to produce items with yesteryear appeal. The most popular courses involve making knives, but they’re a full day, or two days for a ‘Damascus’ knife, and consequently are more expensive.

Regardless of the product, this hot, noisy, and occasionally smoky atmosphere demands a modern approach to health and safety. The pre-course notes advise us to wear robust footwear and natural fabrics such as denim – synthetics might melt if a spark lands on them.

Dan, our instructor and the founder of IAStudios, explains that temperatures in the hottest part of the forge can reach 2,000˚ C, while we’ll be working with metal heated to between 900˚ C and 1,200˚ C. Under no circumstances are we to rest our foreheads against the forge hoods or pick up anything that is spat out from the flames.

“And you’ll basically be hitting something soft between two hard things – the hammer and the anvil – so don’t put anything fleshy in between,” warns Dan.

Forging ahead

He continues with a quick demonstration of the first step in poker making, before we get the chance to have a go. This is my favourite type of course: clear instruction followed by heaps of hands-on experience.

Opening the throttle on the forge drives up the temperature of the coke until the heart of the oven glows like the surface of the sun. I slide one end of the square-profile metal bar into the furnace and watch as it slowly changes colour. There’s minimal heat transfer down the bar so I am able to grasp the cold end with a bare hand.

I move the red-hot end to the anvil and start hitting opposite sides in turn with a hammer, to create a pyramidal point.

Within a few seconds the metal has cooled to a point at which it is no longer malleable, so I repeat the process, pushing it back into the forge, opening the throttle, and watching it turn from black to cherry red, sunrise orange then retina-challenging yellow.

It’s utterly absorbing and strangely mindful, despite the sparks and clanging of hammer on steel. The combination of ferociously hot metal and quick cooling time demands complete attention, and the process of shaping a material as intractable as steel is exhilarating.

Blacksmithing may be a craft, but in the right hands it’s an art, too. Traditionally blacksmiths were masters of metal farm implements, as well as craftsmen of swords and armour, and their work was famously celebrated in Henry Longfellow’s 1842 poem, The Village Blacksmith:

“The smith, a mighty man is he,

With large and sinewy hands,

And the muscles of his brawny arms

Are strong as iron bands.”

These days, gates, railings and window frames provide the bulk of blacksmithing work, commissions that demand the utmost skill and precision.

Watching Dan and his colleague Elliott strike the molten steel as they demonstrate the ‘toothpaste tube’ technique – using overlapping hammer strikes to squeeze and lengthen the end of the poker – is mesmerising. The effortless accuracy of each blow is a skill learned over years rather than a morning, and the next stage of the process requires even more deft technique.

Gallery

Dan shapes the poker with a series of hammer blows

Hot and cold

This time, we’re heating, thinning, and curling the other end of the poker, so it scrolls back on itself like an ornamental kiss curl. The poker hisses venomously as I plunge it into a bucket of water to cool the metal, before I reheat it and wind it around a circular mould to create the shape of a shepherd’s crook. Watching the heated steel yield so smoothly is mind-blowing.

Even more extraordinary is adding a twist to the shaft of the tool. Having applied diabolical levels of heat, I clamp the poker in a vertical leg vice, then twist it with the aid of a pair of horizontal clamps. The steel is as compliant as a cheese string as I turn it one-and-a-half times to create a spiral along the shaft of the poker. More rotations are possible but, as with ice dancing, each turn adds risk. At some stage there’s the danger of snapping the tool altogether.

Several minutes later, the poker is still hot enough to burn holes in the cloth I’m using to coat it with wax and turps. The treatment adds a protective finish to an object that now looks as though it will last for ever.

With time left, we practise the same skills with a thin rod of steel, narrower than a pencil. This time the objective is to make a hook – it’s useful, decorative, and every time I subsequently hang my coat on it, I think back to the magic of mastering metal.

Information

A four-hour blacksmith experience day at IAStudios in Pontrilas, Hereford costs £85.

Contact: iastudios.co.uk, 07494 765531.

Stay: Pandy Club Campsite, Moorhampton Hereford Club Campsite, Brecon Beacons Club Campsite

Three more blacksmithing courses near Club campsites

• Red Anvil Forge, Halwell, Devon

Learn the basics of blacksmithing on this six-hour course (£125) with Richard Bent, Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths Silver medal holder.

Info: redanvilschoolofblacksmithing.com

Stay: Steamer Quay Club Campsite

• Aardvark Blacksmithing, Cragg Vale, West Yorkshire

Get to grips with a coke-fired forge, hammer and anvil on this seven-hour course (£135), and take away the fruits of your labour.

Info: craftcourses.com

Stay: Hebden Bridge Club Campsite

• Found & Seek, St Clears

This one-day (£130) course in south-west Wales teaches the basics of blacksmithing, giving participants the chance to make two items.

Info: foundandseek.co.uk

Stay: Pembrey Country Park Club Campsite