I want you to imagine yourself in the early medieval ages for a moment. Chances are you are a peasant, but for this thought experiment we will say you are a tenant farmer. The world is a dark and mysterious place, but you work hard to allow your family to be safe and fed. Your Lord is gracious, and one day you go to visit him, intending to ask a favor. The iron axe which was made by your grandfather had recently broken after more than 80 years of constant use. You need to build a new pen for your pigs, which was damaged by a storm about a fortnight ago. Without a good axe the pen will be much more difficult to build. You explain your situation to your Lord who listens intently. He expresses appreciation for the contributions you and your family have made over the years, and offers to loan you enough money to purchase a fine Axe from the local Blacksmith. This Axe would be an heirloom to your family, and would symbolize the bond between your family and your Lord. You are surprised and humbled by your Lord's generosity, and though the gift will leave you heavily indebted to your Lord, it is also an immense sign of favor, and you cannot in good conscience turn it down. The next day you travel back into the town to visit the Blacksmith, a dark smokey shop on the edge of the village Green nearest the stockaded keep which your Lord called home. The Blacksmith is a large genial man, and quite wealthy despite his simple clothes and soot-smeared complexion. This man is highly regarded in the community, for he knows the secrets of Iron. People say that working iron iron magic, a process shrouded in mystery. People said that a Blacksmith took rocks from the ground and burned wood, and somehow changed it into Iron, a material thought to be the bones of the Earth itself.
In talking to the Blacksmith he insists with a twinkle in his eye that it is not magic until you have to harden the metal. Magic would be much easier and less backbreaking. He does, however, admit that there is much about iron that is not understood, and that all the elements are involved in it's making. Earth of course, for that is where the metal hides. Fire, to draw the metal from the rock. Air, to stoke the fire hot enough to touch the iron, and water to give the metal a soul.
The Blacksmith instructs you to return in two day's time to collect the new axe. The product he presented you was truly a thing of beauty, silver and smooth, cold despite the summer heat. The keen edge would cut through any wood as long as he sharpened it regularly. Looking at the axe, you marvel how such a pure material could be coaxed from simple rocks, akin to the alchemy you hear whispered about from time to time; and you thank God for giving the Blacksmith such magical knowledge.
The scenario above is fiction, but to me it illustrates how blacksmithing must have looked to the people of the dark ages. Of course there was much known of a more scientific nature than I have included in this little story. For instance it was known fairly early that the addition of carbon to the smelting process would create a much harder and more resilient metal, and most of the iron created in the dark ages was really a very low carbon steel. There are even some medieval metalworking processes that we still do not fully understand, even if we can replicate the effect, such as the natural patterning in "wootz" steel.
It is safe to say that iron and steel have shaped our journey as a species in much the same way as a smith works steel with heat and hammer. It has allowed up to do almost everything more effectively; from farming to fighting, from commerce to engineering. Steel brought us out of the life of the hunter/gatherer and has allowed us to literally touch the sky with our buildings. However despite the advanced and exact science metallurgy has become in modern times, and for how much of our society is built upon a foundation if steel, I feel people outside the metallurgical industries know very little about it. In fact for me prior to the start of my blacksmithing career, it may as well have been magic. This blog is a journey, my journey, for I know very little about steel and metallurgy. I need to learn about it because about six months ago I completely and utterly fell in love with blacksmithing. I did not expect to fall in love with this ancient craft; I had a feeling that I would think it was cool, something to have been tried and talked about. However from the moment I struck hot steel with a hammer I felt a connection to that craft that frankly shocked me with its intensity. That story is the first step in my journey. A journey for which I have no clear idea of the destination, but one I intend to take s far as life will allow me. Join me, and together we will travel through history and explore the magic, the art, and the science of Blacksmithing.
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