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Survival Blacksmithing
John Roman
During the Advanced Standard Class held at Buck Creek, we got
to playing around with my forge and anvil. We started out by making a striking
tool for starting fires, with a piece of flint for Frank. We made a crooked
(bent) knife from an old file. The crooked knife is used for carving items such
as wooden bowls.
We went through some of the basic blacksmithing procedures --
how to cut a piece of iron in two, how to draw out, or point a metal rod; punch
a square or round hole in a metal rod; how to make a rivet with just a hammer;
one of the ways you might prepare a rivet joint where you have to join two rods.
Mainly, we were interested in making simple tools with the
basic blacksmith equipment: hammer, tongs, punch, a hardy, a file, forge, anvil,
and poker for the fire. We discussed the type of coal you should burn in the
forge, how to get a fire going in the forge and keep it going, and knowing when
you have a dirty fire. We talked about and demonstrated how to work your fire,
coking the raw coal on the outside of the firepot getting it ready to go down in
the fire pit where the iron is heated.
In a survival situation you never know what you are going to
have to work with. So, I think, it would be a good idea to keep it simple and
work with simple tools for the time being.
Tom would like to offer blacksmithing as part of his course or
in conjunction with his course. If nothing else, demonstrate some blacksmithing
so you can see how to work iron in a forge. Anything to get people back, to the
earth or closer to the earth.
It would be difficult to offer a blacksmith course in the
short time available during Tom's courses. If we do decide to put a course
together, we would only go into making some of the basic tools. You would get an
idea of how to work hot metal. It would start you out. The only way to become
good is through practice and that takes time. It is a skill you can improve on
with practice. You have the basics down.
I have spent a lot of time squaring a piece of round stock and
rounding a piece of square stock just to get the feel of the way the hot metal
moves.
I've been involved with blacksmithing for 20 years and
horseshoeing for 16 years. I learn something new every time I take on a job..
The way I look at blacksmithing, you learn a few basics, then you have to apply
them to many different things. No two jobs will be the same or the job could be
the same, but you can't find two pieces of iron the same to start the job.
I've worked in some remote places in Alaska where we had to
make do with what we had on hand. Under survival conditions, equipment and
materials may not always be the best, so you will have to think, improvise,
experiment for yourself. What I can show you is what worked for me -- working
the fire and the basic tools and what kind of anvil to get is just a start.
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