So I went to our blacksmith meeting today. Here is a quick plug for the organization: HABA (http://www.habairon.org). If you are down Houston-way, drop by and watch the smiths at work.
At the blacksmith event some of the more experienced smiths introduced us to three techniques for fastening metal together. The first technique was riveting (a piece of metal shoved through aligned holes in a couple other pieces of metal and both ends are smashed so that the whole contraption won't come apart). Next collaring (or banding) was demonstrated where a flat strip of metal (sort of like an aluminum bubblegum wrapper but thicker) is heated up and wrapped around 2 other pieces of other metal so that when it cools all the parts stay in place.
Finally we saw a mortise & tenon ( a hole - i think this is the mortise - is cut in one piece of metal, a rod - I think this is the tenon - with a hole in its end is shoved through the first hole, and finally a pin or wedge is shoved through the rod in the tenon to hold the whole thing together). I was amazed at the simplicity of the techniques, but what fascinated me more was that I could now see the lineage of our modern bolts and nuts, nails and cotter pins. Once you see handmade rivets that look almost like any off-the-shelf bolt or nail at Home Depot, it doesn't take much more imagination to realize that smithing (and by extension metalwork) is one of the fundaments of our modern society.I was intrigued by the show today, and asked myself "If smithing is so important, where is all that metal coming from and why is it so cheap (relatively)? Could I "make" iron for my own forge and anvil? With a little research I found that the answer is yes!
So what is iron and where do I get it? Iron (ingots) are just blocks of iron made from smelting (heating to a really hot temperature so that it melts) iron ore.
So the follow up question is: where do I get iron ore? Hrm, where DOES one get iron ore? It must be pretty plentiful, or all those cars and steel I-beams and appliances and any number of things would be too expensive to get your hands on. After checking into it, I found that "Iron Ore" could be one of about 4 types, but the most common and purest is also not that difficult to find. When I was younger, I made a bracelet out of this shiny black stuff (was cheap but pretty) from a bead store. The stuff was called Hematite (imagine shiny black metal). What I found out today was that Hematite IS iron ore (iron with the impurities still in it). For jewelry, they just polish the stuff up and the iron makes it shiny (though it can rust..heh).
To conclude, with some Hematite and a big fire, I can "smelt" some iron. Once I smelt the iron, I can forge it into something, say a bolt, and that just shows that even though we feel quite 'advanced' in the 21st century, all we've really done is dress-up the process of turning iron ore into useful metal bits.
To create true art, I think an artist needs to understand his materials. I'm not an artist yet, but at least I'm on the path to understanding the art.
