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Frontier blacksmithing
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Booshway
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Lads -

OK, I am embarking on research into just what the frontier blacksmith may have had insofar as tools to work with. In research to date I now know what was available at an established shop - say at a fort, or larger settlement. Surprising, but even in 1770 they had a power hammer (water power), a post vise that looked almost identical to those we use today, an anvil - some of which are very familiar in shape - and a forge with a bellows. Hammers and tongs, of course.

BUT - If we think of a shop at, say, Boonesborough in 1776 - Ranck tells us that "a small but all important blacksmith shop was in operation early on". And, in a 1776 sketch plan of the fort, done by Moses Boone, Squires 11 yr old son, he shows his father's shop.

This begs the question, what sort of tools might one see in such a shop? We do read that folks had a bellows along with them, but no word of an anvil, nor a post vise. Clearly, a forge, if you had the bellows, could be very easily fabricated from local stone (we see many of these at historic sites), but what about the really heavy stuff?

I have not seen (so far) one single citation indicating that either an anvil or a post vise was brought in. Heck, a 100 lb anvil (which is kinda small) is a good load for a horse, and add to that the vise and you got one loaded animal.

So, have any of you run across any citations, letters, journals or such in which the transport of the larger blacksmith tools is mentioned?

Any leads would be greatly appreciated!

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Josh Crain
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That poses a good question, Boone. I never considered documentation that they had that stuff, and I now can't think of one thing I've read indicating such. As to your comment on the 100 lb anvil being small, Even a small anvil when firmly bolted can serve almost as well as one twice it's size. I'll have to look around for some info. I'll letya know if I find anything.


"Return unto me, and I will return unto you," saith the Lord of hosts.
~Malachi 3:7b
 
Posts: 297 | Location: MI | Registered: 18 August 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Josh Crain
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Boone, I haven't had time to really look at this, but you might want to check this link out. It's another forum called BladeForums

.http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/969508-A-bunch-of-public-domain-blacksmith-books-on-PDF


"Return unto me, and I will return unto you," saith the Lord of hosts.
~Malachi 3:7b
 
Posts: 297 | Location: MI | Registered: 18 August 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Free Trapper
Picture of LeeRoy
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Col.Boone

There is a Blacksmithing site called( iforgeiron )that is a very informed on the subject of blacksmithing. It will take some surfing on that site, but there is a lot of people interested in the early blacksmithing aera.

LeeRoy


Keep your powder dry.
 
Posts: 171 | Location: Southern Nevada | Registered: 14 January 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Beware of the conjecture of historic smith sites that conclude without evidence that folks must've used a smooth boulder to smith upon.

If one is not doing a reproduction of smithing in the Dark Ages..., that's almost certainly wrong. You do need a rather smooth, level surface upon which to smith, and you don't need that much either, while said boulders are an unknown quality..., so spending lots of time and energy to lug a chunk of granite to the smith site (and they are heavy too) only to discover that there is an unseen flaw, and the rock breaks after a few hammer blows..., well "blows". The idea that one would be able to find a proper rock near a proper wood supply (charcoal was more the fuel than coal folks) is a process with the odds stacked against it.

So they could find a rock, set up a shop, and then lug the wood in and make charcoal...., but if you are lugging that much wood you'd have the resources to lug a proper anvil...

The problem one gets with the antique anvils, is their fabrication. Too small an anvil vs. too large a hammer and you will have huge problems in a short period of time. The iron breaks down and you get a sway back or you fracture the steel face..., or both. Modern steel casting science has eliminated this, but back then the anvil face was a thin piece of steel, supported by a chunk of iron, hence such styles of antique anvils as "church window" and "five footed".

But Don't Fret!

You may be confusing what made a "shop" on the frontier with what was a shop in say... Lancaster. The demands of a smith on the frontier are different than that of the town or city.

The anvil need not be an anvil, as several styles of "stump" and "stake" anvils were in use in those days, and in some parts of the world, never progressed. Asia, home of some of the best wrought steel and swords ever made, did a great deal of smithing on what we would call a stump or stake anvil. If you check out The Last Samurai movie, you get some shots of a smith working a sword..., he is actually an authentic sword smith who was asked to do some work in the movie and was using the actual techniques that he uses to make actual katana. A European smith of the 18th century might look at him crouching next to a tiny anvil set in the ground as a "crude" smith...,

Ask yourself what the smith was doing most of his work on in Boonesboro in 1776? Was he mostly a farrier? You need a hammer or two, tongs, a swage block, and a stake anvil or a stump and stake anvil. You need some files, and a leg vice, and some punches, and a cutter of some sort.

Here is one type of stump anvil made from a modern splitting wedge. Here is a stake anvil. Now we are talking say 60 lbs. total for both anvils, giving you plenty of cargo capacity to lug a swage block, vice, hammers, punches, cutter, tongs, etc. Use two horses and you have a basic shop. You're not making fine cabinet hardware, but you can shoe horses, and make basic tools.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Loyal Dave - Well,Sir,as usual your response is both informative and full of great ideas.

As I have thought of this the notion of a stump or stake anvil did come to mind and I begin to suspect that this may be what was practical to haul by pack animal to the early frontier shops.
One of those, at say 45 pounds, a leg vise of somewhat less weight, hammers, tongs, files and punches and you are set up to do most all the tasks that are within reason for that setting.

Indeed, the images I have now been collecting show us very well equipped shops - much more so than one might at first think - but they are all in settlements, forts and other established locations. So, much of that we can discount in this study.

So far, at least, this gives me a pretty good mental image of what Squire's shop may have been like. He is making his own charcoal, has perhaps brought, or made on site, his bellows, has a vise of some nature, and the usual hand tools. With this he can just about handle anything within reason.

Thanks to all for your thoughts and ideas - much appreciated.

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
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100 lbs is nothing for a horse. Horses can carry roughly 20% of their body weight and stay healthy, a donkey around 30%. A blacksmith could carry his essentials on 2 horses and go better equipped with 3. Draft horse are another consideration, but they were expensive and mules while ancient in origin weren't common outside of Spanish controlled areas until Geo. Washington brought them into prominence.
 
Posts: 30 | Location: Floyd Co. Indiana | Registered: 29 July 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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