Posts Tagged: hand forged iron
Horton Brasses: Ahead Of The Small Trend!
Posted by on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 in - 5 comments
• In The News • Liberty Hardware, a major knob and pull producer, made it into the New York Times a few days ago. Short, to the point, and with a good hook, the story was most likely just a reprint of its own press release. But that’s the way the news machine works. • The gist of the piece …
What is Wrought Iron?
Posted by on Monday, December 12, 2011 in - leave a comment
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, blacksmiths • had a very narrow range of materials to work with under the • hammer. There was wrought iron, wonderfully malleable, and • three types of high carbon steel. • Wrought iron isn’t available to smiths today. What we have …
Interview: Orion Henderson, The Head + The Heart of Horton Brasses
Posted by on Thursday, October 13, 2011 in - 4 comments
• Orion, you bought the company from your mother. What were you doing before taking over your family’s hardware manufacturing business? • I joined the company in 2001 and purchased the company at then end of 2006. Prior to joining the business I was in sales. • If you weren’t running … read more »
A Shop Shaded by Trees
Posted by on Friday, September 9, 2011 in - 1 comment
Under the spreading chestnut tree / The village smithy stands • -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • The blacksmith shop, along with all the other buildings on our • property, is heavily shaded by trees in the summer. We did this • deliberately when we laid out the buildings, orienting them so …
What’s It?
Posted by on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 in - leave a comment
At gatherings of blacksmiths, a frequent feature is the “What’s It?” display. In this display are tools from old shops, many of which were individually made by smiths to perform specific jobs. Sometimes the tool in the “What’s It?” display is so specialized and idiosyncratic that the smiths at the …
Using a Power Hammer
Posted by on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 in - leave a comment
While most of the forge work in the shop is done by hand using a hammer and anvil, we do at times use a power hammer. Ours is used to rough out forgings, the work done in traditional shops by the apprentice, where brute force is more important than precise blows. • Diderot Hammer • Power …
Blacksmith’s Riveting, Brazing and Welding, part 2
Posted by on Friday, June 10, 2011 in - leave a comment
In our previous post we talked about how we use mechanical joints, brazing and electrical welding to fasten metal parts together for tools and jigs in the shop. In the work we do for Horton, we use only riveted fastening: we head pins for hinges much like we’d head a rivet, and in making Suffolk …
Blacksmith’s Riveting, Brazing and Welding, part 1
Posted by on Thursday, June 9, 2011 in - 3 comments
There is a great book by Jeannette Lasansky titled "To Draw, Upset and Weld: The Work of the Pennsylania Rural Blacksmith, 1742-1935" that was published 30 years ago. We’re taking a bit from the title in the next two posts in order to begin to describe how blacksmiths fasten two pieces of metal …
Forging a latch bar
Posted by on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 in - leave a comment
New blacksmithing video is up today. Here are Molly and George forging a traditional Suffolk style latch bar. Suffolk latch sets were commonly used from the 17th century through the early 19th century.
Cutting Steel Hot
Posted by on Friday, May 6, 2011 in - leave a comment
• Blacksmiths cut hot for centuries because it was quick and the tools were more easily accessible. Blacksmiths could make their own. Hacksaw blades were expensive and not easy to obtain and the only shears we’ve seen used in contemporary prints of shops were those used where water power was …