It has its pros and cons, restrictions related to time, the ability to move to study, and so on, if you are interested in institutions, follow the following link.

Option 2 - get a job as a blacksmith's apprentice

I recently received a letter from a site visitor about blacksmithing, it concerned training to be a blacksmith. Or rather, where to learn blacksmithing. It is clear that people are interested in forging and there are people who want to work as blacksmiths. So I decided to write this post about where to find blacksmithing training. I think that my answer to the letter can help not only Andrey, but also everyone who wants to become a blacksmith.

I don’t have much time to write, so I’m quoting the correspondence.

Hello, Alexey Valerievich.

I really like working with metal, but unfortunately, it is very difficult to master this craft.

We have a big request for you - can you tell me where I can study to become a blacksmith and master artistic forging? Do they accept students in this specialty?

Thanks in advance, best regards.

I'm glad that there are people who want to become blacksmiths. Answered:

Hello Andrei!

I received a letter from you with a question and am happy to answer.

Regarding training to become a blacksmith, if you are interested in a specific educational institution, then I can hardly help you, since I don’t even know where you live or in what region. But I’ll tell you a more practical way: find a forge in your area and try to get a job as a blacksmith’s apprentice. Even if it’s for a low salary. This is what I did 12 years ago and I don’t regret it. It's much more practical than learning theory. You can work with masters of their craft and learn various subtleties not only from their lips, but also by observing how they work.

And if there are no forges in your area (although then even more so, there are no educational institutions in forging) - then learn it yourself, for example, with me on my website. After all, I myself am mastering artistic forging at home, having some experience as an industrial blacksmith and very little experience in artistic blacksmithing. I write about my business on a blog, and skilled blacksmiths often come to my website and also share their experience.

Option 3 - self-taught

If the first and second options do not suit you, are undesirable or impossible, then there is a third option - learn yourself from books and the Internet.

In fact, making a forge is not difficult. If you wish, you can forge something by setting up a place in the garage, shed, or under a canopy. See. If you have a summer house or a private house, then you can do forging in the yard. , get a hammer and go ahead. The blacksmith makes many devices himself, and you can make them with the help of and. If you have questions or doubts, ask, we will help with advice.

There is a lot of material on this topic on our website:

• The "" section contains a lot of materials on the theory and practice of blacksmithing.
• The “” section examines in detail the production of specific forged products (tools and artistic forging).
• The “” section teaches the basics of blacksmithing from simple to complex.

If you want to learn forging yourself, equip a forge with your own hands, but are experiencing difficulties and uncertainty, then you can

Blacksmithing has been known to people since ancient times. Forging is one of the oldest methods of metal processing. The technique of cold forging of native iron and copper was known to ancient people. So the blacksmiths of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Iran in the 4th millennium BC beat cold sponge iron with mallets to remove impurities. And among the American Indians, cold forging was used until the 16th century.

Forging technology was steadily improved. To give metal the required form they began to heat it up. Hot forging was used in ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome, in Europe, Asia and Africa. Since the demand for metal products has always been high, the blacksmith profession has become one of the most revered. At first, blacksmiths themselves melted and forged metal. For iron smelting and forging work, they used a forge, poker, crowbar, anvil, hammer and tongs. With the help of these tools, a blacksmith could single-handedly produce ordinary household items, such as knives, nails, sickles, shovels, scythes and the like, which did not require complex technological techniques. However, for the manufacture of more complex products (chains, bits, lights, iron rings) an assistant was required, so experienced blacksmiths began to work with apprentices.
The first forged objects were primitive and crude, but further development blacksmithing led to the creation of real masterpieces that still amaze with their craftsmanship.
Blacksmithing reached a special development in the Middle Ages. In Europe and Russia, craftsmen handcrafted weapons and armor, agricultural implements, craft tools, lamps, grilles, chests and many other metal products. Often Forged Products decorated with gold leaf, the finest notch, perforated or relief pattern. In the 11th-13th centuries, the production of bladed weapons and combat armor for knights and nobility developed especially successfully. The manufacture of weapons required special skill and great care in metal processing from the master gunsmith. The most labor-intensive part was making chain mail: it was necessary to forge iron wire, connect, weld and rivet hundreds of small rings.
The hardening of steel weapons had a special place. Even the ancient Romans knew about the hardness and flexibility of steel, as well as the extraordinary properties that it acquired after hardening.
Urban blacksmithing differed from rural blacksmithing in its greater complexity and variety of forging techniques. Already in the 13th century, blacksmiths in cities worked for mass production. In the cities there were house makers, iron smiths, gunsmiths, armor makers, locksmiths, etc.
Medieval blacksmithing is reflected in folk art and architecture. From the 15th to the 19th centuries, skillful forged lights, hooks, candlesticks, and lanterns have survived to this day. And most castles and palaces were decorated with wonderful forged grilles and fences, examples of which can be seen in Paris, St. Petersburg, Prague, Vienna, etc. Some cities had narrow specialization blacksmith shops. For example, Herat was famous for household utensils, Damascus and Tula for weapons, and Nottingham for knives.
IN early XIX century, the Tula blacksmith Pastukhov was the first to use stamping. And half a century later steam hammers appeared. At the beginning of the 20th century, hand forging was almost completely replaced by casting and stamping. However, in Lately we are seeing a revival of interest in artistic forging due to the rapid development individual construction and new trends in architecture and design.

Copper Age

The first metals mastered by people were gold, silver, copper and its alloys. This is due to the existence of these metals in native form, chemical resistance and ease of cold processing. The fusibility of copper made it the first metal smelted by man. The oldest finds of copper products date back to the 7th millennium BC. e.

It is not entirely correct to talk about blacksmiths of the “Copper Age”. Forging itself was rarely used for processing; more often the product was cast.

Actually, forging (impact) technologies for copper products in that period mainly concerned finishing - chasing, engraving, polishing or coating products (fragments) with blackening, gold or silver.

Iron Age

Around 1200 BC, the “Iron Age” began - man crossed the temperature barrier and learned to obtain iron from ores. An open fire (bonfire flame) can produce a temperature of 600–700˚C.

In a closed pottery furnace, temperatures reach 800–1000˚C, and there is already a possibility of obtaining grains of pure metal. Only in a cheese-blowing oven can temperatures reach 1100˚–1300˚С. and confidently receive reduced iron.

Furnaces of a special design (with intense pressurization) are needed; the metal melts and flows into the lower part of the hearth, so that the slag floats on it. Unfortunately, this technology leads to carburization of the iron and the production of cast iron, which cannot be forged.

Forging

Forging is the main technical action of a blacksmith. It is produced exclusively with heated metal, which fundamentally distinguishes blacksmiths from mechanics and cold metal workers.

A large number of identical shaped metal products can be produced by stamping, which can be hot or cold. This method is also referred to as blacksmithing and metalworking.

Tools

In the forge you can find a lot of equipment, tools and devices. Basic (mandatory) equipment includes:

• Horn (device for heating workpieces)
• Container with water (for cooling).
• Large (main) anvil.
• Blacksmith tools and accessories for hand forging various types and appointments.

Only the main tools, equipment and devices are named and classified. In addition to them, there are many others, with the help of which blacksmiths used to perform a lot of specific operations, which are now fully automated in industrial enterprises.

Products

Blacksmiths made great amount items necessary for human existence:

• tools
• weapon
• horseshoes
• building elements
• decorations, etc.

With the advent of industrialization handmade was replaced by factory production. Modern blacksmiths, as a rule, engage in hand-made artistic forging and produce piece goods.

Currently, the term is also used to mean a worker in a forging shop (for example, “a blacksmith-puncher”)

Nowadays, blacksmithing is also in great demand. Forged furniture, fences, interior and household items. People probably won’t be able to do without this profession for a very long time. Even technical progress will not replace manual labor blacksmith - artisan.

Shoeing a horse, forging a horseshoe, making a complex figure for the interior - this is only manual work.

Surnames

Due to the fact that blacksmiths stood out from the general mass of the people earlier than others, and due to the fact that the blacksmith was usually a respected, fairly wealthy person.

One of the most common surnames in the world is based on this profession - the all-Russian surname Kuznetsov, as well as Koval, Kovalev, Kovalchuk, Kovalenko (Ukrainian), Kowalski, Kovalchik (Polish), Smith (English) Schmidt (German), Lefebvre, Ferrand (French), Herrero (Spanish), Darbinyan (Armenian), Mchedlidze (cargo.), Chkadua (megr.), Azhiba (abh.), Sepp (est.), Seppenen (Finnish) and so on.

Blacksmith in mythology, religion and literature

In the myths of ancient civilizations, the blacksmith god appears as a demiurge, the organizer of world order, and the initiator of the emergence of crafts. Often he is either a thunderer, or is associated with him (for example, he forges lightning), and also with the Sun.

He may be characterized by lameness, crookedness, hunchback, etc. - in ancient tribes, handicapped boys who could not become full-fledged hunters or warriors were given as apprentices to blacksmiths.

In ancient times, blacksmiths might have their legs damaged on purpose so that they would not be able to run away and join another tribe. As a result, they became “master-priests” associated with secret knowledge, not only crafts, but also religious (hence the special mind of the blacksmith heroes).

In some tribes, blacksmiths associate with kings. Mastery of the blacksmith's craft was also attributed to mythical dwarfs, gnomes, cyclops, etc. In myths, the blacksmith is often a cultural hero.

Photo gallery

Helpful information

A blacksmith is a craftsman who processes metal.

Blacksmithing

The main material for a blacksmith’s work is metals: iron (steel), as well as copper and its alloys (bronze...), lead, precious metals. Blacksmithing includes: free forging, forge welding, casting, copper forge soldering, heat treatment products and so on.

"Metal of the Sky"

Man knew iron (Fe) for a very long time, but it was meteorite iron. Ancient chronicles speak of weapons made from “metal of the sky” that belonged to heroes or generals. Products made from meteorite iron are easily distinguished by their high nickel content. But this resource did not satisfy the needs of humanity.

A locksmith is not a blacksmith

Originally, the word locksmith meant "lockmaker", from the German castle (Schloss) or key (Schlüssel). Later, before the advent of master machine operators, this was the name given to all craftsmen who processed cold metal. For example, blacksmiths and mechanics can connect individual parts into a single product using one technique - riveting, but forging (forge welding) is an exclusively blacksmith technique, just as soldering is a metalsmith's technique.

About drawing

Previously, such operations were performed manually, but now they have been completely replaced by machines. Drawing boards were used to draw (manufacture) wire. These are steel plates with a number of calibrated holes, the diameter of which increases with a given step. The blacksmith took the workpiece (rod), heated it along its entire length, processed (narrowed) one of the edges with a handbrake, inserted it into the hole of the board, grabbed the end with pliers on the other side and pulled the workpiece through the hole. Thus, he uniformly reduced the diameter of the workpiece and lengthened it (drawing). Then the workpiece was released in the forge and pulled through the next hole of a smaller diameter.

Archetypal blacksmith

Blacksmithing is one of the oldest crafts. The blacksmith, earlier than other craftsmen, had to stop doing other things (for example, simultaneously plowing, weaving, doing subsistence farming and so on) and fully concentrate on your task, which requires quite complex technological processes. This was not always clear to other peasants (or nomads) and seemed mysterious. In addition, due to the danger of fire, blacksmiths usually settled on the outskirts, which gave rise to additional mystery. Therefore, blacksmiths were often considered shamans, and later - sorcerers associated with the devil and dark forces.

Etymology of the word "blacksmith"

“cunning” (same root with the word “forge”; cf. Czech. kovářstvo = blacksmithing and “wiles” (same root with the word “smith”). In Russian villages it was believed that a blacksmith could not only forge a plow or a sword, but also heal diseases , arrange weddings, bewitch, drive away evil spirits from the village. In epic tales, it was the blacksmith who defeated the Serpent Gorynych by chaining him by the tongue.

Special positions

In “pre-Petrine” Russia, state-owned blacksmiths were service people “by appointment” and received cash salaries from the state treasury. In the suburban Cossack regiments, the blacksmiths were non-combatant Cossack “assistants” and took part in campaigns. In the cavalry units and horse artillery of the Russian army and the Red Army, until the middle of the 20th century, they also existed staff positions blacksmiths

Antique characters

• Hephaestus - the ancient Greek god of blacksmithing, the first god-master
• Vulcan - the ancient Roman god of blacksmithing, identified with Hephaestus
• Seflans - Etruscan deity of underground fire, blacksmith god, corresponds to the Roman Vulcan
• Telkhins

Celtic and Scandinavian characters

• Goibniu is a Celtic blacksmith god whose name even comes from the word "smith".
• Gofannon - analogue of Goibniu among the Welsh
• Thor - Scandinavian god of thunder
• Volund (Völund, Weyland) is a blacksmith in Scandinavian mythology, a character in the “Song of Volund” in the Elder Edda. In the Arthurian cycle of legends, he is credited with creating the sword Excalibur. In German legends, with the advent of Christianity, he ceased to be a deity and became the name of Satan (in German pronunciation “Woland”) - see the character of Goethe’s “Faust,” from where he migrated to Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” Satan's lameness has the same roots as Hephaestus' lameness
• Mimir - a dwarven blacksmith who taught Siegfried (also the blacksmith's son)
• Irish blacksmith Culann, whose dog was killed by Cuchulainn
• Kalvis is the blacksmith god of Baltic mythology, who “forged” the Sun, like the Finnish god Ilmarinen (see “Kalevala”), the Finno-Ugric Ilmarine, the Karelian Ilmoyllin and the Udmurt god Inmar, also Telyavel

Slavic characters

• V East Slavic cue
• Perun - ancient Slavic thunder god
• Svarog - ancient Slavic blacksmith god

Biblical, Christian, folklore and literary characters

• The biblical Cain, the killer of the shepherd Abel, was, according to one apocryphal version, a blacksmith. Has a physical disability - the so-called. " Cain's seal”, with which God marked him.
• Jewish Tubal-Cain (Tubalkain, Fovel), kabir, “father of all blacksmiths,” 7th generation from Cain. In addition, this name is used in the ritual of the third degree of Freemasonry. Descendant of Cain in the 6th generation.
• blacksmith St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, (c. 588-660) - patron of gold and silver craftsmen and minters.
• St. Dunstan, who shod Satan - patron of blacksmiths and jewelers
• Ilmarinen is a character from the Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala.
• folk hero Kosmodemyan (Kuzmodemyan)
• blacksmith Vakula, a character from Gogol’s “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” - is the son of the witch Solokha and tames the devil
• cunning Lefty, Leskov's hero
• The Blacksmith of Great Wootton is the hero of Tolkien's work of the same name.
• Aule - according to Tolkien, the third most powerful of the Valar, the blacksmith of Arda, his competence includes solid matter and crafts; creator of gnomes; teacher of the Noldor, husband of Yavanna Kementari.
• Jason Ogg, son of Nanny Ogg, is a minor character in Terry Pratchett's books. For several generations, members of his family, blacksmiths, have been shoeing Death's horse.
• Bear-blacksmith from “The Pit” by Andrei Platonov.
• Cossack blacksmith Ippolit Shaly from Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “Virgin Soil Upturned.”

Forging - Living metal, forged into eternity!

And cannot be compared with the wealth of Croesus,
Elements of flames of fire,
When plain iron
Suddenly, he turns into a horse.
Or the openwork of the parapet,
There is a ringing sound on the anvil...
And Juliet leans
Hand on the wrought iron balcony.

(Eva Skripnik)

Blacksmithing Once upon a time... blacksmith craft can be called the first craft requiring professional skills and craftsmanship. For ordinary people blacksmith craft it was akin to magic and the bearded blacksmiths were almost gods, like Hephaestus. How could it be otherwise - under the low arches of the forges, mysterious actions took place, similar to rituals: fire was tamed by deftly controlled, liquid metal frightened and bewitched the eye, ore piled in shapeless pieces outside the forge was reborn into unusually skillful things. Becoming an apprentice is the dream of all teenagers who watched through open doors, how blacksmiths deftly handle hot metal, how hammerers knock out sheaves of sparks from strips of metal. The Inquisition, believing that everything in the forge is not without diabolism, did not touch the blacksmiths, because who else would make shackles for prisoners, shoe horses, weld chains. Blacksmith's forging was valued by all segments of the population. Being a skilled blacksmith was very profitable - the richest nobles asked for armor, the cost of which reached the cost of an entire village or even several, priests decorated temples with forged bars and fences, kings and kings needed weapons for their retinue. Blacksmithing was used in all sectors of the economy, in all spheres of life. Weapons, armor, swords and spears protected the warriors; merchants and priests decorated their homes and temples with bindings of forged strips to protect wealth; plowmen straightened scythes and plows, strengthened the rims of cart wheels and shoed horses; merchants came for the safes of that time - heavy forged chests made of solid wood, bound with thick strips of iron with massive locks; the ladies-in-waiting admired themselves in mirrors with wrought-iron frames; craftsmen building houses turned to nails and hardware

Middle Ages, when blacksmith craft reached its peak, wrought iron could be found everywhere, and of the highest level of artistry - on windows and gates, fences and gates, in the interior of castles and temples. The durability of the iron protected by paint allows us to see these works blacksmith art those times, preserved in old cities.
With the advent of the industrial age, when conveyor technologies and new methods of processing materials produced a technical revolution, blacksmith craft began to lose its traditions. Automation of labor led to a reduction in the cost of most goods; mechanical forging hammers appeared, which managed to eliminate the labor of the hammer hammer, automated forges with blower. It became unprofitable to be a blacksmith, apprentices left for factories and the traditions of blacksmithing began to be forgotten. The secret of making ancient damask steel has been forgotten, the legends of Damascus steel remain in literature and in museums. However, the satiation of mass-produced products in our time has stirred up the demand for blacksmith works and a new wave of blacksmiths has appeared, devoting time to finding new recipes for making patterned steels, new damask steel and new ways of processing artistic metal.

Blacksmith craft. New wave.

Blacksmithing, reborn from the ashes industrial enterprises, can be divided according to levels of blacksmithing skill and methods of metal processing. Low skill level. Small companies, organized with the aim of making money on the demand for forging that has appeared recently, rent garages and hangars with leaking ceilings and do not strive to maintain the level of quality at the proper level, because the fashion for forging may pass, why invest. Average level of quality. This is the most rational option - companies with an established team of blacksmiths and welders, with good workshops, fight for the good name of the company and maintain the required level of quality acceptable to the client. The highest level of quality is provided only by blacksmiths working alone, renowned blacksmiths who are independently responsible for their work, proud of their name and perform the most complex species forging Of course, the biggest money comes from a name.

The article uses drawings and photographs from materials from the company " Korolevskaya forging" Reprinting and quoting in any publications or on any websites is prohibited.

Date of publication: 2008-04-15 (8553 Read)

Other materials in the section

The first ancient Russian professional artisans were blacksmiths. In epics, legends and fairy tales, the blacksmith is the personification of strength and courage, goodness and invincibility. Iron was then smelted from swamp ores. Ore mining was carried out in autumn and spring. It was dried, fired and taken to metal smelting workshops, where metal was produced in special furnaces. During excavations of ancient Russian settlements, slags are often found - waste from the metal smelting process - and pieces of ferruginous iron, which, after vigorous forging, became iron masses. The remains of blacksmith workshops were also discovered, where parts of forges were found. There are known burials of ancient blacksmiths, who had their production tools - anvils, hammers, pincers, chisels - placed in their graves.

Old Russian blacksmiths They supplied the farmers with ploughshares, sickles, and scythes, and the warriors with swords, spears, arrows, and battle axes. Everything that was needed for the household - knives, needles, chisels, awls, staples, fishhooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - was made by talented craftsmen.

Old Russian blacksmiths achieved special skill in the production of weapons. Unique examples of ancient Russian craft of the 10th century are objects discovered in the burials of the Black Tomb in Chernigov, necropolises in Kyiv and other cities.

A necessary part of the costume and attire of the Old Russian people, both women and men, were various jewelry and amulets made by jewelers from silver and bronze. That is why clay crucibles in which silver, copper, and tin were melted are often found in ancient Russian buildings. Then the molten metal was poured into limestone, clay or stone molds, where the relief of the future decoration was carved. After this, an ornament in the form of dots, teeth, and circles was applied to the finished product. Various pendants, belt plaques, bracelets, chains, temple rings, rings, neck hryvnias - these are the main types of products of ancient Russian jewelers. Jewelers used for jewelry various equipment- niello, granulation, filigree, embossing, enamel.

The blackening technique was quite complex. First, a “black” mass was prepared from a mixture of silver, lead, copper, sulfur and other minerals. Then this composition was applied to the design on bracelets, crosses, rings and other jewelry. Most often they depicted griffins, lions, birds with human heads, and various fantastic beasts.

Grain required completely different methods of work: small silver grains, each 5-6 times smaller than a pin head, were soldered to the flat surface of the product. What labor and patience, for example, it took to solder 5 thousand of these grains onto each of the colts that were found during excavations in Kyiv! Most often, grain is found on typical Russian jewelry - lunnitsa, which were pendants in the shape of a crescent.

If, instead of grains of silver, patterns of the finest silver, gold wires or strips were soldered onto the product, then the result was filigree. Sometimes incredibly intricate designs were created from such wire threads.

The technique of embossing on thin gold or silver sheets was also used. They were pressed tightly against a bronze matrix with the desired image, and it transferred to the metal sheet. Images of animals were embossed on colts. Usually this is a lion or leopard with a raised paw and a flower in its mouth. The pinnacle of ancient Russian jewelry craftsmanship was cloisonné enamel.

The enamel mass was glass with lead and other additives. The enamels were different colors, but in Rus' they especially loved red, blue and green. Jewelry with enamel went through a difficult path before becoming the property of a medieval fashionista or a noble person. First, the entire design was applied to the future decoration. Then the thinnest sheet of gold was placed on it. Partitions were cut from gold, which were soldered to the base along the contours of the design, and the spaces between them were filled with molten enamel. The result was an amazing set of colors that played and shone in different colors and shades under the sun’s rays. The centers for the production of cloisonné enamel jewelry were Kyiv, Ryazan, Vladimir...

And in Staraya Ladoga, in a layer of the 8th century, an entire industrial complex was discovered during excavations! The ancient Ladoga residents built a pavement of stones - iron slags, blanks, production waste, and fragments of foundry molds were found on it. Scientists believe that a metal smelting furnace once stood here. The richest treasure of craft tools found here is apparently connected with this workshop. The treasure contains twenty-six items. These are seven small and large pliers - they were used in jewelry and iron processing. For the manufacture of jewelry a miniature anvil was used. The ancient locksmith actively used chisels - three of them were found here. Sheets of metal were cut using jewelry scissors. Drills were used to make holes in the wood. Iron objects with holes were used to draw wire in the production of nails and boat rivets. Jewelry hammers and anvils for chasing and embossing ornaments on jewelry made of silver and bronze were also found. Here they were also found finished goods ancient craftsman - a bronze ring with images of a human head and birds, rook rivets, nails, an arrow, knife blades.

Findings at the site of Novotroitsky, in Staraya Ladoga and other settlements excavated by archaeologists indicate that already in the 8th century the craft began to become an independent branch of production and gradually separated from Agriculture. This circumstance had important in the process of class formation and state creation.

If for the 8th century we know only a few workshops, and in general the craft was of a domestic nature, then in the next, 9th century, their number increased significantly. Craftsmen now produce products not only for themselves, their families, but also for the entire community. Long-distance trade ties are gradually strengthening, various products sold on the market in exchange for silver, furs, agricultural products and other goods.