A modern blacksmith generally works with mild steel. I can also work with wrought iron for restoration projects. Other materials can be incorporated into a design to add colour, texture, contrast, reflect light/images or to help the function of the piece. Other materials include coloured and plain glass, wood, stone, mosaic tiling, copper, stainless steel, brass and bronze.

Over the past 3000 years, blacksmiths have invented various techniques to work the material in different ways. The techniques are performed when the material is hot and malleable and include forging [spreading, drawing down and upsetting], splitting, punching, twisting, bending, dishing, fire welding, heat treating [normalising, annealing, case hardening, hardening and tempering] and joining [rivets, collars, fire welding and mortise and tenon joints]. These techniques can be used individually or combined to create a wide variety of functional and decorative items. Using the techniques and the heat from the fire, the iron becomes malleable, and the blacksmith becomes free to do what he likes and, more importantly, what the client likes.

Upsetting - squashing down the bar to add more material for the feathers

 

Spreading - moving the material [that has been upset] to the sides with the cross pein

 

Marking patterns with the chisel and O punch

 

Bending the bar in preparation for fire welding the beak

 

Fire welding the fold together by heating the bar up to its melting point and tapping it together so it joins into one piece - amazing metal!

 

The bird after fire welding and marking the eye with the O punch

 

Bending the head round over the edge of the anvil and using the hardie wrench/pegs

 

Cutting on my curved cut-off hardie tool

 

Spreading and shaping the end once it has been cut off

 

Punching the holes in by hitting an impression on one side, then turning it over to pop a hole through.

 

Other techniques

 

Twisting flat bar. Simply turn with the wrench, and the corners or grooves create the pattern

 

Twisting square bar

 

Drawing down - a forging technique [along with spreading and upsetting], where I am changing the section of the metal between the hammer and anvil

 

Splitting the metal with a chisel

 

Drawing down/Forging the split into a point/taper, then bending over the bic

 

Dishing the copper on the swage block. The swage block is handy for dishing as I can use all the hollow areas to hit the sheet down into. It also accepts my tin smithing tools so I can planish it [hit the bumps down and smooth it off]

 

This bit of sheet metal has been fullered, dished and bent