[Illustration: FORGE.]
In the building and fitting of the house a large portion of the iron work
will have to be furnished by the Smith, and as we have already given some
description of iron founding, it will be necessary to say something about
the Blacksmith, or the worker in iron or black metal, whose business is
different from that of the whitesmith, which has to do more particularly
with white or yellow metal.
The way in which malleable iron, that is, iron fit for the hammer, is
produced has been mentioned in connexion with the trade of the iron
founder, who in fact supplies the Blacksmith with the raw material. It
is not very easy to tell you much about the way in which the Blacksmith
makes the great variety of articles which his trade furnishes, for there
is no business the success of which depends more upon personal skill. As
the trade of the Smith, or at all events the worker in metal, is one of
the most ancient, and existed in times when there were few tools,—as, in
fact, it is the Smith who has to make tools,—so at the present day, he
has to depend chiefly on his own ability in the use of the hammer and a
few other simple instruments to fashion the articles that come out of his
workshop.
It is he who supplies the various articles of wrought iron work used in
a building; as pileshoes, straps, screw bolts, dog-irons, chimney-bars,
gratings, and wrought-iron railings and balustrades for staircases.
Wrought iron was formerly much used for many purposes for which cast iron
is now generally employed; the improvements made in casting during the
present century having caused a great alteration in this respect. It is
not only for building purposes that the Blacksmith is employed, however,
since there is scarcely anything constructed of iron in which his aid
is not required, from important portions of machinery to the rough
horse-shoes which have to be finished and fitted by the farrier. In the
forge, where the great bellows suspended to the ceiling make the furnace
roar, and the sparks fly, the clinking of hammers is heard all day long.
[Illustration: Hammer. Sledge Hammer. Set Hammers. Vice. Anvil. Tongs.
File.]
The _anvil_, on which the iron is beaten into shape, the bench, fitted
with a _vice_ for holding such portions of the work as require the
_file_, the _tongs_, with which the red hot metal is held, the _sledge
hammer_, and the _set hammers_, are the principal tools.
[Illustration: Callipers. Compasses. Heading Tools. Gauges. Square.
Bottom Tool.]
The sledge hammer is used for beating the metal until it is tempered and
easily formed into shape, and it is in the tempering of the metal by
beating that the great skill of the Smith is often displayed. The set
hammers are used for setting out the work, and have heads of different
shapes, according to the form which the metal is required to assume.
The various _gauges_ are placed upon the anvil for the similar purpose
of shaping the work, and the _callipers_, _compasses_, and _square_,
measuring and adjusting it. The _heading tools_ consist of cutting,
punching, and stamping instruments, and are probably so called, because
they are furnished with heads to receive the blows of the heavy hammer,
by which they are forced into the hot metal on the anvil.
[Illustration: Double Hooks. Punch. Slice. Fire Irons.]
These heading tools are held, not by handles of their own, which would
break off with the concussion of the hammer, but by a sort of withe of
birch, or some other tree fastened loosely round them at their heads,
and bound by a ring to keep them from parting. The _punch_ is used in
making bolts or rivets, the _slice_ and _fire irons_ for arranging the
fuel in the furnace, and removing small articles after they are heated,
the _double hooks_ for removing or suspending bars, and for some other
purposes.