A few days ago i recived an email from a student at la “Transilvania” Universitaty Brasov,  and i was asked to prezent some info about how the iron is forged and what tools are used, in order for the student to write a project about this topic. What i can say is that a blacksmith has to be able to forge any element, iron picket under a hammer… and i know about some blacksmiths that don’t even use the file to finish the iron because that is removing material not moving it. Any tool that is removing material and is creating splinters is normally not involved into blacksmithing work and is not ”allowed”. That was the way the blacksmith craft was learned long time ago and this is how the old wrought iron gates and railings where created. This is the reason why they have such a grate value this days, because not many blacksmithing shops are working in the old way, with the hand hammer and anvil. Of course this days because of the costs the blacksmiths are ,,cheating” and they don’t necessary forge the iron. They have presses and power tools and most of the time the fastest method is used. There are only a hand full of clients that are really interested how the forged iron element was made, mass produce in china under special tools or hand formed, forged using an anvil and the hammer. Normally a client want’s his iron gate or iron railing finished as soon as possible and as cheap as possible, and that is pushing the blacksmith out of work and he is slowly transforming  in a welder that is buying cheap chinese elements and electricaly welds them together. If we are strictly interested into the blacksmithing work than we have limited tools : anvil, hammer, wire brush, tongues, a few chisels, and a  forge. Instead if we are interested into mass production than we have presses, rollers, and many other types of tools.The main disadvantage when using this tools to create the so called forged iron elements is that the finished product loses it’s originality. The same element is identticaly repeated hundreds of times both on my iron fence and my neighbour iron fence and if u look closely u will see the next neighbour has the same too, but when a blacksmith is forging every picket in the traditional method and only by hand than every element is unique .This will make my fence have character and every element in it will be different than the other.The differences will probably go unseen by an untrained eye but those small dettailes are making the job unique, and my fence won’t be the same as my neighbour’ s fence. I think that when u what to speak about the blacksmit you need to speak how he used to do his job hundred’s of years not how he is doing it in the past 20 years or so.  A press is just a press but a blacksmith is/was everything.

This is the reason why i chose to present this 3 movies so that everybody can see how a blacksmith is supouse to bend iron , how to make a leaf, how to weld it without having to grind afterward. I hope that i was able to help and i hope that you will present the blacksmith not the press in your writings. For me it;s obvious. A work made by a carver’s hand is perfect while the work made on a numerical controled mill… well that’s just to perfect.