Metal, fire, ‘Hitting Stuff Hard’: everyone wants to be a blacksmith now
The amateur blacksmiths were hard at work, heating metal bars and then hammering them into shape. Warming up, some more hammering, twisting and bending, and finally, hours later, making small metal hooks.
It was hot, slow and painful work. It was also exciting for some.
“Metal and fire and hitting things hard? You can’t go too much wrong,” said Chris Doherty, an artist and blacksmith in Brookfield, Conn., as he watched his students work on a recent Saturday morning.
Amateur blacksmithing has gained popularity in recent years. (That includes bladesmithing, the art of making knives and daggers.) Weekend classes can fill up months in advance. “Forged in fire”, a competition program for knife makers on the History Channel that has inspired many hobbyists, is constantly being updated. And as more enthusiasts join the fight, the price of anvils Increased.
“We can’t offer enough introductory classes,” says Matthew Berry, owner Dragon Breath Forge in Wolcott, Conn., with two other champions of “Forged in Fire.” An introductory lesson costs approximately $185 per person.
“I usually book two to four months in advance,” said Brandon Hyner, 25, another blacksmith in Connecticut. He usually works in New London and charges about $275 for a half-day introductory class. “I fill up every time.”
The interest in blacksmithing is part of a broader rise in hobby crafting that began long before the sourdough starter craze during the coronavirus pandemic. Some people have learned to throw clay or make their own suits; others bend iron over an anvil and weld pieces of steel together.
“These are all things that make us use our hands, make us use tools, make us master something that at first seems beyond us,” says Elizabeth Kronfield, director of the School for American Crafts from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Blacksmith work can be more dangerous than other manual work. For some students, that intensity is the appeal. They tap into a historical past – perhaps even a mythical past – where power came from fire and metal.
“Harnessing that fire is something that is beyond the normal, everyday human experience in the United States,” Professor Kronfield said.
“You’re bending steel,” she added. “You’re Superman for today.”
Mr. Doherty teaches in an old wooden forge at the Brookfield Craft Center in Connecticut. It is filled with old metal tools and bars. His course is living history, taught over a weekend, for about $300.
On the first day, his students make a bent and twisted hook and then a green keychain. The next day, they combine the two skills to make a steak flipper, a tool with a long hook and vines that wrap around the handle.
“It’s younger than a lot of other crafts,” he said. “There aren’t many 20-year-olds who want to weave.”
Michael Klimaszewski, 34, was there to celebrate his sixth anniversary, known as the Iron Jubilee. The class was a gift from his wife.
He dusted off his skills from when he was an Eagle Scout. Then he especially enjoyed hitting. Now, he said, “it’s much more intentional.”
Some students said they especially appreciated making something with their own hands that will last.
“I grew up on mass-produced crap, things designed to eventually fall apart and eventually be replaced,” said Jacob Mele, 36, who attended Mr. Doherty’s class with their wife, Dr. Jessica Socha, 36 .The couple was also celebrating their sixth anniversary.
As interest in blacksmithing increases, the craft is also becoming more open.
Professor Kronfield said that a blacksmithing conference she attended about a decade ago was “85 percent white men of a certain age.” Now, she said, there are more women, gays and people of color blacksmithing than ever before.
“We just keep showing up,” said Elizabeth Belz, 36, who serves on the executive committee Association of Inclusive Blacksmithswhich aims to diversify the craft.
Ms. Belz works and teaches in North Carolina.
“Every day it blows my mind that I’m the one running this store,” she said. “It’s like someone comes in and says, ‘Where’s the blacksmith?’ And I’ll say, ‘Here.’ And he says, ‘You little thing?’
Some blacksmiths are “Game of Thrones” or “Lord of the Rings” die-hards who want to bring imaginary worlds to life.
“It’s fantasy stuff, but in real life,” says Taylor Kenefick, 30, a flight instructor and Dungeons & Dragons fan who recently took a weekend class at Dragon’s Breath Forge.
Ms Kenefick, who is transgender, said blacksmithing provided a way to express herself.
“When I first started transitioning, I felt like I had to act or act a certain way,” she said. “Like, ‘I’m a girl, you know, I should wear dresses and do things like this.’”
“But then I think, ‘This isn’t me,’” she continued. “And this is one of the things that helps: sweating and working here.”
She leaned back over her anvil and coaxed metal into a blade. Her hands were blistered as she swung the hammer back and forth, sharpening and shaping the rod into a treasure to be kept.