Even 150 years ago blacksmithing was at the peak of its popularity. In almost every village there was a workshop where various things were made and repaired. For example, in Moscow in the middle of the 19th century there were about 300 forges. And in centers such as Kyiv or Donetsk, there were schools on, where entire directions in blacksmithing were developed.

With the advent and development of machine metalworking, the development of such a craft began to decline. However, in the industry, many components and blanks are still processed by forging. In the 21st century, small-scale forgings are most often of an artistic nature.

How has blacksmithing evolved over the course of human history, and how has technology changed?

The first metals that people began to process were gold, silver and copper. Later appeared more durable alloy- bronze. However, for a long time, casting remained the main method of metalworking. This was due to the properties of materials, it was easier to cast the desired item in the form. Yes, and it was impossible to harden such a metal, since during heating and rapid cooling, a lowering process took place. The product became too soft. The only techniques similar in technology to forging were used after casting. When, in order to give uniformity, the product was forged, removing voids and shells in the metal in this way.

The first attempts were made in ancient China. To do this, the rod was initially made of a softer material, and the cutting parts were forged along the edges of a stronger, but brittle metal. However, further development This technology has not received due to its complexity.

But, along with this, such a technique as cold forging appeared. When a piece of native copper was shaped without preheating.

A striking example of cold forging is a dagger found in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Long before its spread, it was made from meteoric iron. The blade is cold forged without heating the workpiece.

A real breakthrough in blacksmithing was the appearance of iron. It became clear that such a material required different processing methods than bronze and copper.

Initially, the so-called meteoric iron was used, then they began to smelt it from ore. Like the first metals, iron was originally used to make knives and weapons. However, even here attempts to forge such metal were not crowned with particular success.

The real impetus in the development of blacksmithing was the invention of steel and its adaptation for the manufacture of weapons and agricultural implements. Various objects began to be forged from steel and iron: chains, rings, armor and others.

Steel forging began in various parts of the world. For example, Celtic craftsmen are often credited with the invention of "harlug" steel. When several rods of steel of different carbon composition were twisted and forged, getting quite strong swords. The same method of layer-by-layer welding and forging was also used by Japanese gunsmiths.

In the Middle Ages, iron deposits were discovered on the European continent in Gaul (modern France), which led to the invention of phosphorite steel, as a cheaper analogue of imported crucible. Centers began to appear blacksmith craft, where weapons and armor were primarily produced.

In ancient times and the Early Middle Ages, the forge was a simple hut or even a dugout, built, as a rule, on the shore of a reservoir. All work was carried out manually with hammers and anvil.

In the 16th century, the medieval forge received the first mechanisms to simplify work - lever hammers driven by water power.

For the period of the late Middle Ages, blacksmiths made almost all steel products, from complex closed armor to ordinary horseshoes. There was such a thing as a blacksmith shop, when many apprentices took part in the manufacturing process. Production has become more massive.

Blacksmithing reached its peak of development in the 18th century, many samples of the products of the masters of that time have survived to our time. The blacksmith shop began to turn into a factory.

In the 19th century, with the advent steam engines the forge arrangement became even more complex. Steam-powered equipment appeared, hydraulic hammers, rolling mills. The manufacture of things and weapons was put on a mass flow.

At the beginning of the 20th century, welding and machine production technologies appeared, and hand forging faded into the background. However, blacksmithing techniques are widely used in industry and modern metallurgy.

Russian blacksmithing

In Rus', as in Western Europe, blacksmithing occupied a place of honor. Moreover, the art of blacksmithing received its own directions and styles, distinguishable from foreign samples.

Due to the peculiarities of iron mining, metallurgy separated from metalworking in the early Middle Ages. Earlier than in Europe, Russian blacksmiths also began to process carbon steel. All cutting edges of tools and weapons were made using this material.

Blacksmith skills of artisans produced all household items, from sickles and scythes to needles and fishhooks. A separate isolated group in Rus' was occupied by gunsmiths producing high-quality weapons.

A huge impetus to the development of blacksmithing was given by the reforms of Peter the Great, who rapidly began to develop industry in the country. The workshops turned into entire factories using metal forging technologies. From ordinary crafts, forges switched to mass production.

At the beginning of the 20th century in Russian empire there was a forge in almost every settlement. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and others became centers.

Industrialization in the USSR practically destroyed some blacksmith workshops, but forging received a new round of its development.

Forging in modern production

Forging at metalworking enterprises and in mechanical engineering today remains one of the main processes in the technological chain. It is with the help of powerful that multi-ton parts and their elements are processed. Also, one of the varieties of forging (stamping) made it possible to make the release of many things massive and cheap.

Modern forging production uses the following technologies.

• Hot and cold stamping.
• Pressing and crimping.
• Drawing.
• Rolling.

Hot and cold stamping

This is the process of shaping blanks according to a finished standard sample. That is, all those operations that a blacksmith used to perform to give the desired configuration and volume of a part are now performed at enterprises by stamping machines.

There are the following types of industrial stamping - sheet and.

In the first case, for example, holes are punched in sheets of metal, obtaining perforated surfaces.

In the second option - the production of any volumetric parts and elements, both cold and hot.

The use of this technology has reduced the cost of materials and time spent on manufacturing.

Pressing and crimping

Pressing also comes from forging technology, although today it has completely separated from this process.

Previously, before the advent of mechanization, the blacksmith carried out compaction and reshaping of the part manually by the so-called crimping technique. When the entire surface of the metal was forged.

An example of the operation of a hydraulic press can be viewed in the video:

Today, at metalworking enterprises, this is done by multi-ton presses, which are capable of molding and compacting a multi-ton element in a short period of time.

Small blacksmith shops also use pressing technology using mechanical or hydraulic equipment.

Drawing

A technology that also originated from blacksmithing metalworking methods. It allows the method of pulling round parts through the hole to make its diameter smaller.

Also, the molding of round elements occurs in the forging method. For this, various machines (rotary) are used, where the process is practically automated.

With the help of this technique, various pipes and rolled products of a round or shaped shape are obtained. As well as blanks for further production of shafts.

Rolling

This method allows you to produce the so-called rolled metal, the list of items of which is quite large, ranging from fittings to steel pipes.

What the blacksmith once did is now done by the rolling mill, producing standardized products for further processing and construction.

Technologically, this is done by dragging heated metal blanks through the shafts of rolling equipment.

As with forging, this method of metalworking allows you to obtain the desired shape and the desired structure of the material.

Forging

Forging in industry takes place using various equipment and forging machines.

At the same time, the dimensions of the processed parts sometimes reach significant sizes and weights.

Modern hand forging

Despite the emergence of various modern methods of manufacturing metal elements, hand forging has not lost its relevance and popularity. They are in special demand, which I use in the interior and landscape design.

Modern hand forging uses both old technological methods and new ones, using machines.

In private forges, hydraulic hammers are installed to speed up the processing process, as well as equipment for cutting, drilling and pressing parts.

A vivid example of modern hand forging is the products installed in the Donetsk park of forged figures. More than 200 figures made by blacksmithing are installed here.

There are three main ways to learn the modern art of forging.

• Enter a specialized educational institution.
• Settle as an apprentice to the master.
• Learn on your own.

There are educational institutions in many cities of Russia: Moscow, Kovrov, Chebarkul, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg, Barnaul and others. In Ukraine, the centers of blacksmithing have traditionally remained: Kyiv, Donetsk and Lvov. Also, working with a master will be a good option for training. On your own, you can quite well study the basics of blacksmithing, there is a lot of information today, but the main thing is constant practice.

Blacksmithing has gone through a long evolutionary path over the millennia, from the simplest methods of forming cold metal to the most complex machine tools and machines. However, hand forging is still relevant.

What can you add to this material? Share your opinion in the discussion block for this article.

Hello dear readers! Blacksmithing is one of the oldest crafts in Belarus. In the village forge, true masters of their craft made nails and horseshoes, scythes and sickles, shovels and knives. Among the Slavic peoples, blacksmithing was considered a mysterious occupation, and the patron of blacksmiths in their mythology was the fire god Svarog. The most common product made by blacksmiths was a horseshoe, which is still considered by the people as an amulet and a talisman. Moreover, in different places of the house, a horseshoe protects against various misfortunes: nailed with the ends up above the door will not let evil into the house, above the bed it will save you from a bad dream, and placed in the chimney will not let the witch fly in.

History of blacksmithing

The origin of the blacksmith's craft dates back to ancient times, and to be more precise, the first blacksmiths appeared in the Iron Age. Even then, people noticed that when a certain rock is heated, it begins to melt. Gradually mastered the skills of metal processing, built the first forge. Already in the III millennium BC. e., in the ancient Sumerian civilization, the profession of a blacksmith was very common. On the territory of Belarus, blacksmithing began to be practiced from the 7th-6th centuries BC. e.

Forges were widely in demand until the middle of the twentieth century, until they were completely replaced by plants and factories. However, blacksmiths and forges have survived to this day. Forging is now exclusive and inimitable, and products forged in forges are a single unique product.

Forge and its equipment

In most cases, this is a small room made of logs without a ceiling and with an earthen floor. To increase fire safety, the walls of the forge could be plastered. The main place in the forge belongs to forge, since it is in it that the metal becomes a soft and pliable material. A fire (wood, charcoal or coal) burns on the working surface of the forge, into which metal blanks are placed for heating. Air is usually forced into the combustion zone by blacksmith bellows, which have a manual or foot drive.

The heated metal blank is held with tongs or tongs, and the desired shape is given to it with a hammer. The metal remains hot enough to work for only one or two minutes, so for a blacksmith it is very important quality is a knack. The anvil, mounted on a massive wooden block, is usually located in the center of the room, not far from the hearth. This is the blacksmith's main tool. Near the anvil place a vessel filled with water or vegetable oil in which the blacksmith tempers his products.

Blacksmith work

In the process of work, blacksmiths made a large number of items that people need. This and such simple products like knives, horseshoes, hoops, nails, sickles, scythes, which did not require special techniques in the manufacture. Each blacksmith could make them alone. For more complex products: chains, bladed weapons, arrowheads, chain mail, helmets, special working techniques and outside help were required. The assistants of a professional blacksmith were also his students. They learned the basics of the craft over a long period of 3 to 10 years. Only then did the apprentice become an apprentice. To get the status of a master, some more time was required to work with other artisans.

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Presentation on the topic: blacksmith craft

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History of blacksmithing Blacksmithing appeared in ancient times, when people began to make iron tools and weapons. They noticed that when a certain rock is heated to a high temperature, iron is obtained. For a very long time blacksmithing was the main way of making tools. The development of blacksmithing directly depended on iron ore and fuel. Actually early stage used iron contained in meteorites. Then people found out that iron is found in rocks red color and marsh ore. Empirically, it was found that the richer the red color, the more iron in the ore. The most common fuel used was charcoal.

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Mining swamp ore This is how swamp iron looks like. There were plenty of sources of "bog ore" in Rus'. In swamps, the iron ore layer is located, unlike other types of terrain, very close to the surface, so iron deposits there can be dug literally with a shovel, only by removing a thin layer of marsh vegetation. Bog iron deposits themselves are classic placers.

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Old Russian blacksmiths Old Russian blacksmiths supplied plowmen with coulters, sickles, scythes, and warriors with swords, spears, arrows, battle axes. Everything that was necessary for the economy - knives, needles, chisels, awls, staples, fish hooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - were made by talented craftsmen. Old Russian blacksmiths achieved special art in the production of weapons.

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Blacksmith's Tools (Tools) Hammers of all kinds and sizes: huge sledgehammers, smaller hammers, cleavers used instead of chisels for cutting workpieces, punch hammers. The blacksmith also used tongs large and small, simple or with hooks, vise, grindstones, punches and many other tools.

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Blacksmiths competed among themselves in the manufacture of swords, sabers, chain mail and helmets, trying to offer customers not only reliable, but also beautiful products. For the manufacture of armor and weapons, only the highest quality metal was used, the smelting technology of which was kept by the master in the strictest confidence. Forging steel weapons and armor required the knowledge of special techniques and methods, vast experience and skill from the blacksmith. The blacksmith's ability to forge strong and at the same time beautiful chain mail was considered the pinnacle of blacksmithing art, bringing together all the forged elements in the form of rings. Blacksmiths - gunsmiths

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Forging The oldest method of metal processing was forging. In each forge, as a rule, two blacksmiths worked - a master and an apprentice. Simple forged products were made with a chisel. The technology of using an insert and welding a steel blade was also used. The simplest forged products include: knives, hoops and buds for tubs, nails, sickles, braids, chisels, awls, shovels and pans, i.e. items that do not require special techniques.

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Forging technology More complex forged products: chains, door breaks, iron rings from belts and harnesses, bits, lighters, spears - already required welding, which was carried out by experienced blacksmiths with the help of an apprentice, because he needed to hold a red-hot piece of iron with tongs, which, when the small size of the anvils of that time was not easy, to hold and guide the chisel, to hit the chisel with a hammer. Masters welded iron, heating it to a temperature of 1500 degrees C, the achievement of which was determined by sparks of white-hot metal. Holes were punched with a chisel in ears for tubs, plowshares for plows, hoes. The puncher made holes in scissors, tongs, keys, boat rivets, on spears (for fastening to the pole), on the shrouds of shovels.

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Combination of crafts In addition to blacksmithing, they owned locksmith and weapons. All these crafts have some similarities in the ways of working iron and steel. Therefore, quite often artisans engaged in one of these crafts combined it with others. In the cities, the technique of smelting iron was more perfect than in the countryside. City forges, as well as domnitsa, were usually located on the outskirts of the city. The equipment of urban forges differed from the village ones - by greater complexity. Domnica - a furnace in which ore was boiled to obtain iron from it

Ancient Rus' in the medieval world was widely famous for its craftsmen. At first, among the ancient Slavs, the craft was domestic in nature - everyone dressed skins for themselves, tanned leather, weaved linen, sculpted pottery, made weapons and tools. Then the artisans began to engage only in a certain craft, prepared the products of their labor for the entire community, and the rest of its members provided them with food. Agriculture, furs, fish, beast. And already in the period of the early Middle Ages, the production of products on the market began. At first it was custom-made, and then the goods began to go on free sale.

Talented and skilled metallurgists, blacksmiths, jewelers, potters, weavers, stone-cutters, shoemakers, tailors, representatives of dozens of other professions lived and worked in Russian cities and large villages. These simple people made an invaluable contribution to the creation of the economic power of Rus', its high material and spiritual culture.

The names of the ancient artisans, with few exceptions, are unknown to us. Objects preserved from those distant times speak for them. These are both rare masterpieces and everyday things, in which talent and experience, skill and ingenuity are invested.

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

Old Russian blacksmiths supplied plowmen with coulters, sickles, scythes, and warriors with swords, spears, arrows, battle axes. Everything that was necessary for the economy - knives, needles, chisels, awls, staples, fish hooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - were made by talented craftsmen.

Old Russian blacksmiths achieved special art in the production of weapons. Items found in the burials of Chernaya Mohyla in Chernigov, necropolises in Kyiv and other cities are unique examples of ancient Russian crafts of the 10th century.

A necessary part of the costume and attire of an ancient Russian person, 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 that, an ornament in the form of dots, cloves, circles was applied to the finished product. Various pendants, belt plaques, bracelets, chains, temporal rings, rings, neck torcs - these are the main types of products of ancient Russian jewelers. For jewelry, jewelers used various techniques- niello, granulation, filigree filigree, embossing, enamel.

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

Graining required completely different methods of work: small silver grains, each of which was 5-6 times smaller than a pinhead, were soldered to the smooth surface of the product. What labor and patience, for example, was worth soldering 5,000 such grains to each of the kolts that were found during excavations in Kyiv! Most often, granulation is found on typical Russian jewelry - lunnitsa, which were pendants in the form of a crescent.

If instead of grains of silver, patterns of the finest silver, gold wires or strips were soldered onto the product, then a filigree was obtained. From such threads-wires, sometimes an incredibly intricate pattern was created.

The technique of embossing on thin gold or silver sheets was also used. They were pressed hard against a bronze matrix with desired image, and it passed to the metal sheet. Embossing performed images of animals on kolts. Usually it is a lion or a leopard with a raised paw and a flower in its mouth. Cloisonne enamel became the pinnacle of ancient Russian jewelry craftsmanship.

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

And in Staraya Ladoga, in the 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 wastes, fragments of foundry molds were found on it. Scientists believe that a metal-smelting furnace once stood here. The richest treasure trove of handicraft tools, found here, is apparently associated with this workshop. The hoard contains twenty-six items. These are seven small and large pliers - they were used in jewelry and iron processing. A miniature anvil was used to make jewelry. An ancient locksmith actively used chisels - three of them were found here. Sheets of metal were cut with jewelry scissors. Drills made holes in the tree. Iron objects with holes were used to draw wire in the production of nails and rook rivets. Jewelry hammers, anvils for chasing and embossing ornaments on silver and bronze jewelry were also found. Also found here finished goods an ancient craftsman - a bronze ring with images of a human head and birds, rook rivets, nails, an arrow, knife blades.

Finds at the settlement 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 was gradually separated from agriculture. This circumstance had importance in the process of class formation and the creation of the state.

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

In the ancient Russian settlements of the 9th-10th centuries, archaeologists have unearthed workshops for the production of pottery, foundry, jewelry, bone carving and others. The improvement of labor tools, the invention of new technology made it possible for individual members of the community to produce alone various things necessary for the household, in such quantities that they could be sold.

The development of agriculture and the separation of crafts from it, the weakening of tribal ties within communities, the growth of property inequality, and then the emergence private property- enrichment of some at the expense of others - all this formed new way production - feudal. Together with him, the early feudal state gradually arose in Rus'.

Forging metal in Rus'

In Rus', iron was known to the early Slavs. The oldest method of metal processing is forging. At first, ancient people beat spongy iron with mallets in a cold state in order to "squeeze the juice out of it", i.e. remove impurities. Then they guessed to heat the metal and give it desired shape. In the X-XI centuries, thanks to the development of metallurgy and other crafts, the Slavs had a plow and a plow with an iron plowshare. On the territory of ancient Kyiv, archaeologists find sickles, door locks and other things made by blacksmiths, gunsmiths and jewelers.

In the 11th century, metallurgical production was already widespread, both in the city and in the countryside. The Russian principalities were located in the zone of ore deposits, and blacksmiths were almost everywhere provided with raw materials. Small factories with a semi-mechanized blowing process, a mill drive, worked on it. The first chimney was an ordinary hearth in a dwelling. Special bugles appeared later. In order to fire safety they were located at the edge of the settlements. The early kilns were round pits one meter in diameter thickly covered with clay, dug into the ground. Their popular name is "wolf pits". In the 10th century, above-ground stoves appeared, the air was pumped into them with the help of leather bellows.

The furs were inflated by hand. And this work made the cooking process very difficult. Archaeologists still find signs of local metal production on the settlements - waste from the cheese-making process in the form of slag. At the end of the “cooking” of iron, the domnitsa was broken, foreign impurities were removed, and the kritsa was removed from the furnace with a crowbar. The hot cry was captured by pincers and carefully forged. Forging removed slag particles from the surface of the crown and eliminated the porosity of the metal. After forging, the kritsa was again heated and again placed under the hammer. This operation was repeated several times. For a new smelting, the upper part of the house was restored or rebuilt. In later domnitsa, the front part was no longer broken, but disassembled, and the molten metal flowed into clay containers.

But, despite the wide distribution of raw materials, iron smelting was carried out by far not in every settlement. The complexity of the process singled out blacksmiths from the community and made them the first artisans. In ancient times, blacksmiths themselves smelted the metal and then forged it. Necessary accessories for a blacksmith - a forge (smelting furnace) for heating a cracker, a poker, a crowbar (pick), an iron shovel, an anvil, a hammer (sledgehammer), a variety of tongs for extracting red-hot iron from a furnace and working with it - a set of tools necessary for smelting and forging works. The hand forging technique remained almost unchanged until the 19th century, but even fewer authentic ancient forges of history are known than domnits, although archaeologists periodically discover many forged iron products in ancient settlements and mounds, and their tools in the burials of blacksmiths: pincers, hammer, anvil, casting accessories .

Written sources have not preserved to us the forging technique and the basic techniques of ancient Russian blacksmiths. But the study of ancient forged products allows historians to say that the ancient Russian blacksmiths knew all the most important techniques: welding, punching holes, torsion, riveting plates, welding steel blades and hardening steel. In each forge, as a rule, two blacksmiths worked - a master and an apprentice. In the XI-XIII centuries. the foundry partly became isolated, and the blacksmiths took up the direct forging of iron products. IN Ancient Rus' a blacksmith was any metal worker: "blacksmith of iron", "blacksmith of copper", "blacksmith of silver".

Simple forged products were made with a chisel. The technology of using an insert and welding a steel blade was also used. The simplest forged products include: knives, hoops and buds for tubs, nails, sickles, braids, chisels, awls, shovels and pans, i.e. items that do not require special techniques. Any blacksmith alone could make them. More complex forged products: chains, door breaks, iron rings from belts and harnesses, bits, lighters, spears - already required welding, which was carried out by experienced blacksmiths with the help of an apprentice.

Masters welded iron, heating it to a temperature of 1500 degrees C, the achievement of which was determined by sparks of white-hot metal. Holes were punched with a chisel in ears for tubs, plowshares for plows, hoes. The puncher made holes in scissors, tongs, keys, boat rivets, on spears (for fastening to the pole), on the shrouds of shovels. The blacksmith could carry out these techniques only with the help of an assistant. After all, he needed to hold a red-hot piece of iron with tongs, which was not easy with the small size of the anvils of that time, to hold and guide the chisel, to hit the chisel with a hammer.

It was difficult to make axes, spears, hammers and locks. The ax was forged using iron inserts and welding strips of metal. Spears were forged from a large triangular piece of iron. The base of the triangle was twisted into a tube, a conical iron insert was inserted into it, and then the spear bushing was welded and a rampage was forged. Iron cauldrons were made from several large plates, the edges of which were riveted with iron rivets. The iron twisting operation was used to create screws from tetrahedral rods. The above range of blacksmith products exhausts all the peasant inventory needed for building a house, agriculture, hunting and defense. Old Russian blacksmiths X-XIII centuries. mastered all the basic techniques of iron processing and determined the technical level of the village forges for centuries.

The basic form of sickle and short-handled scythe were found in the 9th-11th centuries. Old Russian axes have undergone a significant change in the X-XIII centuries. acquired a form close to modern. The saw was not used in rural architecture. Iron nails were widely used for carpentry work. They are almost always found in every burial with a coffin. The nails had a tetrahedral shape with a bent top. By the 9th-10th centuries, patrimonial, rural and urban crafts already existed in Kievan Rus. Russian urban craft entered the 11th century with a rich stock of technical skills. Village and city were still completely separated until that time. Served by artisans, the village lived in a small closed world. The sales area was extremely small: 10-15 kilometers in radius.

The city blacksmiths were more skilled craftsmen than the village blacksmiths. During the excavations of ancient Russian cities, it turned out that almost every city house was the dwelling of an artisan. From the beginning of the existence of the Kievan state, they showed great skill in forging iron and steel of a wide variety of objects - from a heavy plowshare and a helmet with patterned iron lace to thin needles; arrows and chain mail rings riveted with miniature rivets; weapons and household implements from barrows of the 9th-10th centuries. In addition to blacksmithing, they owned metalwork and weapons. All these crafts have some similarities in the ways of working iron and steel. Therefore, quite often artisans engaged in one of these crafts combined it with others. In the cities, the technique of smelting iron was more perfect than in the countryside. City forges, as well as domnitsa, were usually located on the outskirts of the city. The equipment of urban forges differed from the village ones - by greater complexity.

The city anvil made it possible, firstly, to forge things that had a void inside, for example, a tribe, spear bushings, rings, and most importantly, it allowed the use of an assortment of figured linings for forgings of a complex profile. Such linings are widely used in modern blacksmithing when forging curved surfaces. Some forged products, starting from the 9th-10th centuries, bear traces of processing with the help of such linings. In those cases where two-sided processing was required, both the lining and the chisel-stamp of the same profile were obviously used to make the forging symmetrical. Linings and stamps were also used in the manufacture of battle axes.

The assortment of hammers, blacksmith tongs and chisels of urban blacksmiths was more diverse than that of their village counterparts: from small to huge. Starting from the IX-X centuries. Russian craftsmen used files to process iron. Old Russian city forges, metalwork and weapons workshops in the X-XIII centuries. had: forges, furs, simple anvils, anvils with a spur and a notch, inserts into the anvil (of various profiles), sledgehammer hammers, handbrake hammers, billhook hammers (for cutting) or chisels, punch hammers (beards), hand chisels, manual punches, simple tongs, tongs with hooks, small tongs, vise (primitive type), files, circular sharpeners. With the help of this diverse tool, which does not differ from the equipment of modern forges, Russian craftsmen prepared many different things.

Among them are agricultural implements (massive plowshares and coulters, plow knives, scythes, sickles, axes, honey cutters); tools for artisans (knives, adzes, chisels, saws, scrapers, spoons, punches and figured hammers of chasers, knives for planes, calipers for ornamenting bones, scissors, etc.); household items (nails, knives, wrought iron reliquaries, door breaks, staples, rings, buckles, needles, steelyards, weights, boilers, hearth chains, locks and keys, ship rivets, flints, bows and hoops of buckets, etc.); weapons, armor and harness (swords, shields, arrows, sabers, spears, battle axes, helmets, chain mail, bits, spurs, stirrups, whips, horseshoes, crossbows). The original complete isolation of artisans is beginning to be broken.

The production of weapons and military armor was especially developed. Swords and battle axes, quivers with arrows, sabers and knives, chain mail and shields were produced by master gunsmiths. The manufacture of weapons and armor was associated with especially careful metal processing, requiring skillful work techniques. Although the swords that existed in Rus' in the 9th-10th centuries are mainly Frankish blades, archaeologists, nevertheless, in their excavations discover the presence of artisans-gunsmiths among Russian townspeople of the 9th-10th centuries. In a number of burials, bundles of forged rings for iron chain mail were found, which are often found in Russian military barrows from the 9th century. The ancient name of chain mail - armor - is often found on the pages of the annals. Making chain mail was labor intensive.

Technological operations included: iron wire forging, welding, joining and riveting of iron rings. Archaeologists discovered the burial of a chain mail master of the 10th century. In the 9th-10th centuries, chain mail became an obligatory accessory of Russian armor. The ancient name of chain mail - armor - is often found on the pages of the annals. True, opinions are expressed about the origin of Russian chain mail about receiving them either from nomads or from the countries of the East. Nevertheless, the Arabs, noting the presence of chain mail among the Slavs, do not mention their import from outside. And the abundance of chain mail in the guard mounds may indicate that chain mail craftsmen worked in Russian cities. The same applies to helmets. Russian historians believe that the Varangian helmets differed too sharply in their conical shape. Russian helmets-shishaks were riveted from iron wedge-shaped strips.

The well-known helmet of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, thrown by him on the battlefield of Lipetsk in 1216, belongs to this type of helmet. It is an excellent example of Russian weapons and jewelry of the XII-XIII centuries. The tradition has affected the overall shape of the helmet, but technically it is very different from the helmets of the 9th-10th centuries. Its entire body is forged from one piece, and not riveted from separate plates. This made the helmet significantly lighter and stronger.

Even more skill was required from the master gunsmith. An example of jewelry work in the weapons technology of the XII-XIII centuries is, as is believed, the light steel hatchet of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. The surface of the metal is covered with notches, and on these notches (in the hot state) sheet silver is stuffed, on top of which an ornament is applied with engraving, gilding and niello. Oval or almond-shaped shields were made of wood with an iron core and iron fittings.

A special place in blacksmithing and weapons business was occupied by steel and hardening of steel products. Even among the village kurgan axes of the 11th-13th centuries, a welded-on steel blade is found. Steel's hardness, flexibility, easy weldability and ability to accept hardening were well known to the Romans. But hardfacing steel has always been considered the most difficult task in all blacksmithing, because. iron and steel have different welding temperatures. Steel hardening, i.e. more or less rapid cooling of a red-hot object in water or in another way is also well known to the ancient blacksmiths of Rus'. Urban blacksmithing was distinguished by a variety of techniques, the complexity of the equipment and the many specialties associated with this production. In the XI-XIII centuries, urban craftsmen worked for a wide market, i.e. production is on the rise.

The list of urban artisans includes ironsmiths, domniks, gunsmiths, armor makers, shield makers, helmet makers, arrow makers, locksmiths, and nail makers. In the XII century, the development of the craft continues. In metal, Russian masters embodied a bizarre mixture of Christian and archaic pagan images, combining all this with local Russian motifs and plots. Improvements continue in the craft technique aimed at increasing the mass production. Posad craftsmen imitate the products of court craftsmen. In the XIII century, a number of new craft centers were created with their own characteristics in technology and style.

But we do not observe any decline in the craft from the second half of the 12th century, as it is sometimes asserted, either in Kyiv or in other places. On the contrary, culture grows, covering new areas and inventing new techniques. In the second half of the 12th century and in the 13th century, despite the unfavorable conditions of feudal fragmentation, Russian craft reached the most complete technical and artistic flourishing. The development of feudal relations and feudal ownership of land in the XII - the first half of the XIII century. caused a change in the form of the political system, which found its expression in feudal fragmentation, i.e. creation of relatively independent states-principalities. During this period, blacksmithing, plumbing and weapons, forging and stamping continued to develop in all principalities. In rich farms, more and more plows with iron shares began to appear. Masters are looking for new ways of working. Novgorod gunsmiths in the 12th - 13th centuries, using new technology, began to produce blades of sabers of much greater strength, hardness and flexibility.

Do not rely on someone else's opinion, book "truths" or what great people say, know that this is their experience, you have to go through everything on your own.

The history of blacksmithing is an integral part of metal processing. At the very beginning, cold forging appeared. For many centuries, only this method of making weapons, household utensils, and jewelry was used. It is now the jewelry industry that has nothing to do with blacksmiths, and earlier everything related to metalworking belonged to blacksmithing.

Looking at history books that tell about the development of crafts in the Iron and Bronze Ages, you can see photographs of objects made by craftsmen from different parts of the Earth. Blacksmith - this profession is covered with myths and legends. Blacksmithing developed differently in different territories. Only for many centuries the cold method of forging metal was used.

There was also such a name for the profession as "Khytrets". This epithet was brought to us by books dated 1073. By right, the blacksmithing of those times can be called cunning. The blacksmith had to distinguish metals by color, determine their strength by the shade at the break. There was something mystical in the very process of production, when a piece of metal under the influence of strong short hammer blows turned out to be an item of extraordinary beauty or a bizarre shape.

With the help of deformation of the metal, which receives additional density and strength under the influence of strong pressure, the things necessary in everyday life came out from under the hammer of a sly, writhing, iron forging, kovac, kerch, and duck. The first mention of this profession can be found in books that convey the myths of ancient Greece. Prometheus was chained to a rock with nails forged by Hephaestus.

The power of blacksmiths is sung in many literary works from different eras. Blacksmiths were considered healers, healers and people capable of exorcising evil spirits. Based on such beliefs, Gogol created his blacksmith Vakula. It was rumored that Svarog himself patronizes writhing.

Places in Russia named after blacksmiths

The profession of a blacksmith requires a master of good physical fitness. It has always been so. Not every warrior would dare to measure his strength with a blacksmith. residents Pskov region are still called staplers, bearing in mind that the blacksmiths of these places bent horseshoes with their bare hands.

The profession of a blacksmith has had many names over the years. One of the most common gave the name to the city of Kerch. This name came from the word korchev, which means a blacksmith. Related terms of those times:

• Korchin - blacksmith;
• Crimson - forged.

There is also a place in Moscow, the name of which indicates the proximity to the blacksmith's settlement - this is the Blacksmith's Bridge. There was such a freedom in Novgorod. Mentions of large settlements of blacksmiths in cities date back to the 15th-17th centuries. It was in the cities that the development of this profession received more opportunities, thanks to the demand for forged decorations for the facades of large houses, gardens and parks. As well as in Kievan Rus, edged weapons were made in forges, which were hardened by fire.

famous swords

The damask blade has been sung more than once in books and hussar songs. The classics of Russian literature often used in their works the features of swords to cut through stone. The prototype of magic swords was:

Excalibur is the sword of King Arthur, which, while defending the fortress, was stuck in a stone wall. Popular beliefs endow this sword with magical powers. In Russian culture, the sword "Kladenets" serves as a similar artifact. "Durandale" - the sword of Roland and the nameless blade of the Tuscan knight Galliano Guidotti were also able to pierce the stone. These blades received the ability to cut stone thanks not so much to magical and mystical powers, but to the diligence and skill of the craftsmen who made them.

The sword of Galliano Guidotti radically changed the fate of its owner. The books tell us the story that this knight was canonized, although he was not a righteous man before meeting with the Archangel Michael. The warrior answered the proposal to go to the monastery to Michael that this would happen only after his sword had cut the stone. The sword entered the cobblestone, and so it remained there. Modern scientists have had the opportunity to examine the stone and the sword. Their conclusion confirmed that the blade pierced the stone precisely at the time described in the annals.

Already in knightly times, blacksmithing had many secrets passed down by craftsmen from generation to generation. One of them was the shape of the blank; for the above swords, a quadrangular rod served as the basis. Blades related to Japanese culture are also widely known. Their names are translated as "the sword that cuts the grass", "the sword that collects the clouds of paradise." They are distinguished by a curved shape, which gives the bladed weapons of Japanese craftsmen aerodynamic properties that are not typical for products of European blacksmiths.

One of the famous swords on display at the Polish Museum in Poznan is the weapon of St. Peter, forged in the 1st century. The blade is famous for the fact that during the arrest of Christ before the crucifixion, Peter managed to cut off the ear of a slave. The sword was transferred to the museum by the Bishop of Jordan.

Milestones in the development of blacksmithing

Hand forging is the oldest method of metal processing, which has become the progenitor of stamping, forging, casting, pressing, rolling, drawing and sheet stamping. Archaeologists found during excavations hardware dating back to several thousand years BC. These products are made of metals found in nature. The first metal finds by archaeologists date back to the 5th-4th centuries BC. The technique of drawing in the manufacture of products from precious metals was discovered in the basins of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Products are made in 3 BC. Blacksmithing in Rus' has a longer history. Swords, helmets, chain mail, ax grips, jewelry and other forged items date back to the 18th century. BC.

From the 10th to the 18th centuries from the birth of Christ, new methods appeared in metalworking:

• metal hardening;
• soldering with copper;
• forge welding;
• multilayer fabrication technique.

XVI century. Under Ivan the Terrible, the Russian army was equipped with forged cannons.
XVII - XVIII - the creation of state arms factories in the Urals and in Tula.

Peter I in every possible way contributes to the development of the metallurgical industry. Water engines are widely used in military factories. At the turn of the century, in 1800, for the first time at the Tula plant, the method of hot stamping of the same type of parts was tested. It was used for mass production by the blacksmith V.A. Shepherds.

At the same time, blacksmiths in Vologda specialized in the production of anchors, and in Murom they produced hardware for the construction of the fleet.
19th century Steam engines are replacing the water drive, which contributes to the development of shipbuilding and the production of artillery equipment for the fleet and army, for the production of which armor, thick plates for gun carriages, and gun barrels were needed. The weight of the falling hammer was up to 50 tons. Such hydraulic presses expanded the possibilities to forging parts of 250 tons.

The same period includes scientific research on the deformation of metals. Armed with a microscope, P.P. Anosov began to study the structure of steels. During the study in 1841, he established the relationship between the structure and properties of metals. This made it possible to create steel with the necessary technical specifications. D.K. Chernov conducted a study of the behavior of metals during heating and cooling, which served as the discovery of structural changes. Books with the research of Chernov and Anosov still serve as a guide for metallurgists.

Introduction to blacksmith skills through exhibitions

In addition to permanent exhibitions in museums, products of decorative blacksmithing can be seen at exhibitions where not weapons or jewelry are presented, but the works of masters for decorating everyday life. Exhibitions are not just a display of beautiful things, they are popularization, which blacksmithing needs so much. For several 10 years, this craft was practically forgotten due to the expanding opportunities in metalworking every year. But other methods are stamping, work on quantity. Only blacksmithing when working with metal will help the master to reveal himself most fully.

The history of the revival of blacksmithing began not so long ago, but the construction of private houses contributes to this. Each owner wants to allocate his home and surrounding area. Exhibitions of masters make it possible to understand how this can be done in an extraordinary way and at the same time not pretentiously. For novice blacksmiths, these exhibitions help to find their own style, to peep some of the techniques that they share from more experienced blacksmiths, holding master classes directly in the walls, where displays of finished decorative products are held.

The exhibitions of blacksmithing skills held in the Art Kremlin became a good start for beginners, for whom the craftsmen staged a demonstration of the possibilities of changing a piece of metal, turning into fully formed figurines for decorating their homes.
A great way to instill in beginners a love for metalworking by forging, giving the first skill lessons right at the exhibition. "Blacksmith's Talisman" is an exhibition where everyone had the opportunity to try their hand, to feel the changes in the material under their own hammer blows.

Exhibitions of blacksmith skills are becoming a good tradition. In September 2015, the Forge of Happiness exhibition was opened for the 4th time as part of the Indian Summer festival. Master classes were also held here.

To master all the subtleties of the science of metal processing will help beginners numerous books that talk about various technologies cold and hot forging, casting, forge welding, technologies for creating decorative elements.

Books can tell a lot, but still blacksmithing, as in junk, is passed from hand to hand by the master to the student.