1. The blacksmith operates in wrought iron and steel, and, from these
materials, he fabricates a great variety of articles, essential to
domestic convenience, and to the arts generally.
2. This business is one of those trades essential in the rudest state
of society. Even the American Indians are so sensible of its
importance, that they cause to be inserted in the treaties which they
make with the United States, an article stipulating for a blacksmith
to be settled among them, and for a supply of iron.
3. The utility of this trade will be further manifest by the
consideration, that almost every other business is carried on by its
aid. The agriculturist is dependent on it for forming utensils, and
mechanics and artists of every description, for the tools with which
they operate; in short, we can scarcely fix upon a single utensil,
vehicle, or instrument, which does not owe its origin, either directly
or indirectly, to the blacksmith.
4. This business being thus extensive in its application, it cannot be
presumed that any one person can be capable of executing every species
of work. This, however, is not necessary, since the demand for
particular articles is frequently so great, that the whole attention
may be directed to the multiplication of individuals of the same kind.
Some smiths make only anchors, axes, scythes, hoes, or shovels.
5. In such cases, the workmen acquire great skill and expedition in
the manufacture. A tilt hammer is often used in forging large masses
of iron, and even in making utensils as small as the hoe, the axe, and
the sword; but the hammer which may be employed bears a due proportion
in its weight to the mass of iron to be wrought. In all cases in which
a tilt hammer is used, the bellows from which the blast proceeds is
moved by water or steam power.
6. In the shop represented at the head of this article, sledges and
hammers are used as forging instruments, and these are wielded by the
workmen themselves. The head workman has hold of a piece of iron with
a pair of tongs, and he, with a hammer, and two others, with each a
sledge, are forging it upon an anvil. The two men are guided in their
disposition of the strokes chiefly by the hammer of the
master-workman.
7. In ordinary blacksmith shops, two persons commonly work at one
forge, one of whom takes the lead in the operations, and the other
works the bellows, and uses the sledge. From the part which the latter
takes in the labor, he is called the _blower_ and _striker_. A man or
youth, who understands but little of the business, can, in many cases,
act in this capacity tolerably well.
8. The iron is rendered malleable by heating it with charcoal or with
stone coal, which is ignited intensely by means of a blast from a
bellows. The iron is heated more or less, according to the particular
object of the workman. When he wishes to reduce it into form, he
raises it to a _white heat_. The _welding heat_ is less intense, and
is used when two pieces are to be united by _welding_. At a red heat,
and at lower temperatures, the iron is rendered more compact in its
internal texture, and more smooth upon its surface.
9. The joint action of the heat and air, while the temperature is
rising, tends to produce a rapid oxydation of the surface. This result
is measurably prevented by immersing the iron in sand and common salt,
which, uniting, form a vitreous coating for its protection. This
coating is no inconvenience in the forging, as its fluidity causes it
to escape immediately under the action of the hammer.
10. Steel is combined with iron in the manufacture of cutting
instruments, and other implements, as well as articles requiring, at
certain parts, a great degree of hardness. This substance possesses
the remarkable property of changing its degree of hardness by the
influence of certain degrees of temperature. No other substance is
known to possess this property; but it is the peculiar treatment which
it receives from the workman that renders it available.
11. If steel is heated to redness, and suddenly plunged into cold
water, it is rendered extremely hard, but, at the same time, too
brittle for use. On the other hand, if it is suffered to cool
gradually, it becomes too soft and ductile. The great object of the
operator is to give to the steel a quality equally distant from
brittleness and ductility. The treatment by which this is effected is
called _tempering_, which will be more particularly treated in the
article on the cutler, whose employment is a refined branch of this
business.