Blacksmithing

Contributors:

 

Abstract: Interviews: Images and Resources: Bibliography:

 

Abstract:

Introduction:

When the first settlers arrived in Jamestown they had no skilled artisans or tradesmen. They rapidly realized that tradesmen were crucial in the survival of the Colony. One of these artisans was the blacksmith, the man who supplied iron goods for the Colony. The tools that the blacksmith created were used all over Colonial America. Blacksmithing was significant in Colonial America because iron objects were needed to maintain an adequate standard of living. The following research paper explores how the blacksmith’s items were used and how the blacksmith played a key role in Colonial America’s technical uprising.

 

Key points:

What the Blacksmith did

What he did every day

The life of the blacksmith

The smithy (or the blacksmith shop)

What the iron had to got through to be worked with

The blacksmith’s tasks and the tasks difficulty

The blacksmith’s specialties

Learning the trade of blacksmithing

The tools the blacksmith used

The hammer

The tongs

The vise

The anvil

The fire

The bellow

The forge that the blacksmith used to forge iron

The blacksmith’s average business

The blacksmith;s economical and political capacity

 

Conclusion:

Blacksmithing was a trade that left a major mark on history. The blacksmith’s tools were used for practical jobs, such as plowing the field but they were also used for maintaining a standard of everyday living, such as pots and pans for cooking and eating. After the colonists realized that the need for tradesmen was crucial they quickly retrieved artisans from England to fill in the gap. After gathering these tradesmen each colony was finally able to have a better chance of succeeding and surviving all types of challenges. Blacksmithing now is the occupation of manning the machine that does all of the hard work for them. In Colonial America, tools could only be produced by hard labor and through an extensive process. The techniques of blacksmithing have evolved so much in the time period of 200 years, but we still use it for the same purposes as the people in Colonial America did, such as cooking utensils and such, so don’t you think that things evolve but the purpose that is behind the ‘thing’ is not evolving.

 

Interviews:

What are you making right now?

A candle holder

What pieces are made the most often?

Nails, hooks

What is the most simplistic piece that you forged? What is the most advanced?

Nails, Locks and keys

How many pieces would you get done in one day?

sometimes hundreds, somedays not even 1

How fast would it take to forge an object?

simplistic pieces would take as little as 5 seconds, advanced could take a day or even a week

 

Blacksmith at Jamestown, Blacksmith shop Jamestown Virginia, October 25 2007

 

Images and Resources:

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Blacksmith at Jamestown, Blacksmith shop Jamestown Virginia, October 25 2007

http://linc.ca.campusgrid.net/home/curriculum_projects/02_foothill_cohort/jmcpherson/Blacksmith.htm

 

http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron1.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron3.htm

 

http://www.engr.psu.edu/MTAH/timelines/TL-compareTC.pdf

 

http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Fe/key.html

 

Kalman Bobbie, Colonial Crafts the blacksmith, NY, NY, Crabtree publishers

 

www.history.ort/foundation/journal/spring04/women.cfm

www.history.org/history/teaching/blksmith.cfm

 

www.history.org/media/podcasts_transcripts/kschwartz/cfm

 

www.history.org/media/podcasts/_transcripts/preservinghistorictrades.cfm