A lot has been said about the physical strength thought to be necessary to forge steel, however it isn't really necessary. Traditional methods actually work with the natural properties of the metal, and can move it with relative ease. However you must spend the time to learn the finer points, because the medium will not give up its secrets easily.

I believe that forged steel does not have to be dominated by masculine elements. My work uses shapes that are suggested by the natural properties of the metal,shapes that are inspired by nature but not an attempt to copy nature. Forged steel can have masculine and feminine elements in balance if you are paying attention to what it is telling you instead of trying to impose your will on it.

It is said that the pressure in the center of stars can compress lighter elements into heavier ones. The heaviest one that can be made this way is iron; beyond that the force of the big bang is necessary. Contrary to popular belief it is not possible to compress metal by forging it. I heat the metal in a coal fire as hot as I dare. This causes the bonds between the crystals to loosen so they will slide across each other when I hit the steel.

If I hit it lying flat on the anvil it will get thinner, wider and longer, like a fish tail, if I turn it while I hit it ,it will get longer and thinner like a taper. If I hit it back on itself it will get shorter and thicker, like the head of a bolt. I can make a hole by slitting it with a chisel, then opening up the slit.

I also use joinery such as wraps, rivets or mortice and tenons as design elements, whereas in some traditional work these would be hidden.

I can weld with the forge and anvil because steel doesn't melt at an exact temperature, but rather over a range of temperatures. It has a sticky in between stage. You can actually see it sweat. This method worked better with very old iron because they had a different chemistry, and it cannot be compared to the strength of modern welding, but I do get some wonderful organic shapes with forge welding.

The material that I use is called "mild steel". It relates to iron or wrought iron in much the same way that a CD relates to a record or an LP. It is considered "new" material, but it contains mostly recycled material.

Electric welding is so much faster and stronger then most traditional methods of joinery that it cannot be ignored. I often add electric welds if I can keep them out of sight. I use the welder as an "electric clamp" when I am working mostly because it frees me from having to find a helper to hold the parts.

I see myself as a craftsman first in that I enjoy the process as much as anything. I get satisfaction from making tools. I have seen tools that demonstrated as much creativity as some art work. It should be remembered that we are not far removed from the time when access to education was governed by accident of birth rather then merit.

Where possible I use freeform bending instead of jigs. A lot of what I do is a reaction to what the metal is doing, or a decision when to stop playing with the shape. A side effect of this is that I stumble across some really interesting shapes that will not do for that job and I would like to keep them but I would soon run out of space.

The master smith that I work with keeps chastising me, he says "its all been done before and better". He is not being cynical, it is true, with the enormous volume of work that has been done before, very little is truly new. He is reminding me that I am part of a much larger continuum, he is helping me keep my perspective.

I do however feel that my work is new in the sense that I am still playing and I do not take photos or samples of other smiths' work in with me when I work. Some of the graduates of apprenticeship programs available in Europe have argued that those programs served bureaucratic needs rather then the needs of the apprentice. I can't make a fair comment because no programs were available in Canada when I was starting out. But I do think that some of the repetitive tasks given to apprentices were not just pointless exercises or an attempt by the master to impose some of the misery of their own apprenticeships on their charges. They were intended to see if the student could discover the nuances of the process.

 

Even after seven years of professional work I am still discovering nuances, and understanding them promotes a fearlessness in the work.