Blacksmith Equipment 1775 - 1812

Robert wrote:

> Have a quick question for you to ponder. What is available as regards to
> Blacksmithing history? The time I am interested is around the American
> Revolutionary War Period say between 1775 and 1812. My wife and I have
> joined the Kings Royal Regiment of New York and they have need of some
> blacksmith work and this has led to the question above. My interest
> would be in the tools used and what the smith had available to him as
> regards a forge etc.

The answer to exactly what equipment would have been used by a given blacksmith in a specific period of history often depends on WHERE as much as WHEN. This is particularly true of the Settlement Era here in North America. (The principle applies to other eras as well.) Although you may not realize it, your specific reference (english / military / New York / 1775 - 1812) has a LOT of variables attached to it. These can drastically effect the equipment used by an individual blacksmith.

The majority of Settlers into 'the Colonies' would have been from the British Isles, and generally you should look to patterns used by blacksmiths there during the 1700's. Looking at what was common:
• Coal was the primary fuel.
• Air was directed into the * bottom * of the fire box. The fire box itself was set with some type of ash / clinker breaker at the bottom, with a T shaped fitting to pass this air while directing ash away past the flow.
• Bellows were of the 'Great Bellows' type. This is two large chambers set one on top of each other, hinged at one end. The lower bag was attached to the lever, with air from the lower bag being pushed into the second upper bag. This second bag would in turn be attached to the forge inlet tuyere.
• The normal set up for an English bellows is for the bellows to be set on the floor with the outlet pipe to be short and straight into the tuyere. The operating lever is set high, attached by a length of chain to the lower bellows plate. It hangs around head high, so as to be moved with the left hand.
• The standard blacksmith's shop was as a large, permanent facility. Typically the frame of the forge was made of brick or stone, with a similarly constructed chimney.
• Anvils of this time period are * just starting * to assume the shape that we consider the traditional form.
In 1750 an anvil is most likely to be a rectangular block, either with no horn at all or at best a very small one. This horn is sometimes mounted to the front side of the anvil, rather than the left end as came to be standard latter. Without a horn, curves were created by using a second forming surface, a large T shaped 'stake anvil'.
By 1810 - 20, the introduction of steam power is resulting in a drastic change in the mechanics of forming anvils. The much heavier steam hammers allowed ever larger masses of metal to be formed. Anvils will first adopt the pattern we are familiar with today - a horn and tail drawn (or welded to) a rectangular body. With passing years and ever heavier powered hammers, the horn especially will come to be more slender. ( This in fact is a rough guide for judging the age of an anvil - the chunkier the body the earlier it is likely to be.)

So the first variable from this initial description will be the influence of LOCATION.

Coal is widely available in all of the United Kingdom. Not only just coal, but the wide range of both grades and qualities of coal suited for specific applications. Ideal blacksmithing coal is softer bituminous coal, hopefully with as low a sulphur content as possible. Hard anthracite coal is great for steam engines or home heating, but not really useful in the forge.
The situation in North America is quite different. By the mid 1750's, coal had been discovered in both the 13 Colonies and the Canadas, transportation was extremely difficult. So much so that coal used in forges here was more likely to be transported from England via ship than dug on this side of the Atlantic. This of course means that only areas with easy water transport are likely to have any access to blacksmithing coal.
Fortunately for the growing colonies, there was a more ancient fuel available in abundance, charcoal. Charcoal can be made 'easily' (at the expense of labour) any place there were trees. A supply of wood was hardly a problem, especially into the interior (and farther away from the transportation network). It should be realized however, that the English trained blacksmith had been using coal as the primary fuel since about the 1400's. A charcoal forge works quite differently than a coal one, in terms of how it heats and how it effects the metal. One large difference is that a charcoal forge is most commonly set up with a SIDE blast of air. Typically the tuyere is positioned 2 - 4" above the bottom of the fire pot, to prevent the accumulation of ash from blocking the air flow.

(As a side note here, you can often see the mark of the charcoal forge on Settlement Era forge work. A typical charcoal forge heats only 4" of metal length, where in coal a heat of 6" or more is standard. Often twisted bars will show this distinctive short heat zone.)

Now the next variable to influence our hypothetical historic blacksmith is the description as being involved with the MILITARY, and the English Army specifically.

A blacksmith directly attached to the Royal Army would have access to imported coal. Supplies of proper smiting coal would have been shipped in with all the rest of the support materials for the unit.
Most importantly, a military blacksmith, especially one working 'on campaign' during a war, would be utilizing a MOBILE forge set up. During the War of 1812 (for which I have seen better references) there was a normal piece of equipment used by these traveling military blacksmiths. An old to wheeled ammunition cart was converted into a purpose built forge. The bellows was slung under the frame (more to the tongue end). Back between the wheels, either a metal basket or a frame to hold some bricks supported the actual fire pot itself. The small anvil and stub would be set on the wagon frame to transport, otherwise set on the ground close at hand to the forge in use. A good reproduction of such a rig, researched and build by Lloyd Johnson, is at Historic Fort York in downtown Toronto.

I have seen another interpretation of a mobile forge, this one built by a Virginian blacksmith/re-enactor ( Military Through the Ages at Jamestown Historic Settlement in Virginia). The fellow described the forge as being based on early American Colonial types. There the whole unit was roughly cube shaped, with two removable light cart wheels and pair of pushing handles. The bellows was an accordion style that fit under the lower part of the frame. The fire box sat directly above this, a fairly simple box of fire brick inside the wooden frame. The forge was more suitable for light work or repair - but this is the type of work most common to the military blacksmith on campaign anyway. The smith told me he was able to use either charcoal or coal with the setup.

One thing I should mention to those concerned with historical accuracy:
The small bowl furnaces with attached rotary blowers are definitely NOT CORRECT for anything before the American Civil War. The first of these units was introduced into the 1870's. If you can find one with the lever and ratchet mechanism, these are the oldest type. (Although I will tell you this is my * least * favorite system - of any historic type!). A bowl forge with a straight rotary hand cranked blower is closer to the 1880's or latter. The heavy rectangular table forges with large rotary blower even later still.

What you have here first a problem with survival of the historical samples. The type of traveling forges used by military blacksmiths' during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 were of necessity of wooden construction. The pairing of wood frames and forge temperatures is a bad mix for durability! As well these were deliberately 'temporary' pieces of equipment, never intended for long term use. They were easily cast aside, and the intervening two centuries has meant few have survived.

Any re-enactor concerned with strict authenticity is facing a serious undertaking if they wish to research and construct the correct replica equipment that would have been actually used by a late 1700's military blacksmith.

Comments - Iron Raven

If you check the comment left on my last entry, you will see something from Bill Flemming. Bill is being a bit shy too - check:
www.ironravenmetalwork.ca

I had known that there had been a local smith 'on site' during the construction of the Outlander 'viking village' set. Bill is the man!

For those wondering what Bill is talking about latter, I took a team from DARC to the Canadian national blacksmiths conference CANIRON V, which took place at Annapolis Royal NS just before Labour Day in 2005. We mounted a demonstration iron smelt using all Viking Age tools. One feature of that smelt was the use of a theoretical solution to an air delivery problem . Team member Kevin Jarbeau had constructed an extremely large version of what is considered the standard Norse double bellows. For the CANIRON demo, it was only our second use of this equipment. As with the first attempt with it, the smelt suffered a major air flow problem and resulting crash in temperatures about two hours into the sequence.

Our CANIRON host, Brad Allen, had tore off and ran back with a mile of electrical cord and this motor powered blower. This allowed us to swap out the historic bellows and get the smelt temperature back before the whole furnace froze up solid. I never did know who had loaned us the blower in al the confusion.

So thanks for the loan Bill!

***********

For readers who wanted some more background on this particular sequence of 'all Norse' smelts:
First attempt and demo rehearsal (June 2005)
CANIRON demo attempt (August 2005)
Bonfield demo attempt (September 2006)
Check under the archive of this BLOG for:
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Viking Age Smelt - September 2

To date we have not gotten this large bellows to perform correctly. For two 2005 smelts, we had to switch over to electric blowers at about the 2 hour mark. In June we did get a very nice VA styled bloom at about 7 lbs. The CANIRON smelt produced an unweighed lump of cast iron (latter stolen - but thats another story!).
At the Bonfield smelt we were able (just barely) to employ the 'UbberBellows' for the entire sequence. Again the smelt product was cast iron.

For the first two smelts, the problem was with the internal valving system (or lack thereof) in the bellows. For the last smelt, at least a partial fix of the valves had been been made. At the Bonfield smelt, we allowed as many members of the crowd watching to take at hand at the bellows. In the end the variation in operators, coupled with a basic weakness in construction, resulted in breakage at the bellows hinges.

There is a discussion of WHY the 'UbberBellows' approach is being tested experimentally as part of my paper 'Adventures in Early Iron Smelting'. A version of the paper is available with illustrations ; HERE

'Outlander' - Fan SIte

If any of those reading this have any interest in the 'Outlander' movie still undergoing principle photography apparently:

Vandy was poking around the web yesterday, and has discovered a fan based website at:
http://outlander.solsector.net/
This is obviously not an 'official' movie site, but the author has managed to paste together a fair number of bits and pieces into an information and rumor collection. Of interest may be the photos of both the sets under construction and various props.

A couple of other tid bits I can offer :

A close friend of mine - David Cox, also created a number of historically accurate objects for the background sets. Dave has worked with me both as a historic interpeter and assisting on construction of 'World of the Norse'. He was also contacted by Ian Greig, in this case to make a number of larger wooden objects. Dave built a number of Norse style 'warp weighted' looms, with the associated textile production tools. Again these were all close replicas of known historic artifacts from the period. His wife, Anne Crown, wove texiles on these same looms to they could be seen 'in use'.
Those wanting to see what these kind of looms look like (both detail and historic context) can check the web site of the 'Dark Ages Re-Creation Company' at:
http://www.darkcompany.ca/photos/textiletools.htm
Dave also has provided a bed, based on the one from the Oseburg ship burial. A little digging on any of the DARK web site should get you an image of that exact piece (look for 'Grimmi's Bed').

I also know the leatherwork for 'Outlander' was done by another Canadian craftsman with considerable film experience - Adam Smith. I'm sure Adam supports a web site, one clue I can give you to find him is that he is from Hamilton, Ontario.

Darrell

On Copy - Who Holds the Rights

The genesis of this piece is a recent discussion that came up from my work as the webmaster for the Ontario Artist Blacksmith Association. For those not familure. OABA is a chapter club of a larger organization - Artist Blacksmith Association of North America (ABANA). With a new editor just coming on board for their newsletter (the Iron Trillium), the topic of sharing content between the various chapter club newsletters came to the front. In the past, ABANA had a tradition of freely swapping newsletters and reprinting articles from them between the various individual chapters.

Now those of you who know me are aware that theft of my past written materials has been a MAJOR problem with me. Original writings I had created in conjunction with training programs I was hired to undertake were flat out stolen by other individuals - in clear violation of the contracts that had been signed. Needless to say, the repeated theft of my materials, and the subsequent loss of opportunities this represented (when others signed their own names to the texts and claimed the contents as their own) was a very bitter experience. So its fair to say I'm a LOT more sensitive to the whole area of ownership of 'intellectual property' than most. As a result I have done more research into Copyright than many other artists do.

There has been a revision of Law in the area of Copyrights over the last decade in particular. This largely from development of new technologies and the massive growth of the internet. In the 'old days' it was relatively cumbersome to copy existing writings. The invention of the photocopier, and the eventual drop in price that resulted in easy access to this machinery for direct duplication, changed all that. I'm of an age when I remember that access to the new Xerox machines was strictly controlled, and bulk copying of existing works was just not permitted by those who operated them. Before those days, any attempt to plagiarize someone else's work required tediously hand copying or use of a manual typewriter for duplication. The slowness of the methods limited someone's ability to copy anything wholesale.

But that was then - and this is now. The widespread use of computers has resulted in a trivial amount of effort being required to copy existing works. With a scanner, entire books can be transfered to electronic files, washed through text recognition software, and stored, duplicated, or altered. Anyone reading this could easily 'cut and paste' the content to their own computer, or hit a simple 'save as' button to create a copy. Change the authors name... In the case with my troubles with the Viking Trails Tourism Association, this exactly what was done (without even changing the spelling mistakes - if you can believe it!).

The important thing to remember is this:

The initial creator of any original work retains FULL RIGHTS and ownership of that work - unless specific WRITTEN permission is given to re-assign those rights to another.

This is the DEFAULT legal situation. You do not have to do anything else to enshrine your rights to your own work. This absolutely applies to ANYTHING ON THE WEB. A common misconception is that if someone 'publishes' something (written or image) on the internet that it has automatically become 'public domain'. This is NOT THE CASE.

If any of the readers are interested in learning more about the issues of Copyright, I would suggest you take a look at the excellent article written by Brad Templeton "10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained".
Available on line : www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html