Heating a piece of iron until it’s piping hot, over a bed of fiery coals, is the first stage of the creation process in any blacksmith shop.
Students of a two-day blacksmithing course at the Boundary Museum will learn some of the history behind a trade that was once in the epicentre of every town, as the blacksmith was responsible for making tools and hardware necessary to keep farms flourishing and industry growing. The majority of the course, which is being offered from July 5 to 6, will focus around the basic techniques and principles required to turn a piece of wrought iron or steel into a hanging hook or handle.
“The students will start to learn hammer control, techniques on how to use a fire properly, different uses of the fire, how you would place irons in the fire, how to look for good fire – as opposed to bad fire – hammering techniques and correct stance at the anvil,” said Henry Hamilton, a blacksmith from the town of Fort Steele (B.C.) who will be conducting the course.
“We will do a hook and then the mounting of the hook on a back plate and show how to make a decorative plate and then I will describe some of the artistic focus on how we approach looking at ironwork,” he said.
Inspiration for bringing blacksmithing to the museum came after the Boundary Museum and the Boundary Woodworkers Guild found two forges (hearth used for heating metals) in the Doukhobor village at Hardy Mountain last summer.
“When I stumbled upon these two (forges) I thought I had died and gone to heaven,” said Bob McTavish, member of the museum society and the woodworkers’ guild.
Museum members and woodworkers built a partially open blacksmith shop last fall at the Fructova School site.
The traditional shop will be used not only as an interactive display for the museum but also as a functioning workspace, where museum members or woodwork guild members could use the space for their own personal projects.
McTavish told the Gazette that there is a lot of interest in the introductory blacksmith course.
“Three quarters of the class has already been filled,” he said.
Hamilton has been a blacksmith for 10 years and an instructor for the past two; he said that there has been a recent resurgence in the trade.
“People don’t associate that there is a blacksmith in their region when typically there is, he said. “I live in a fairly small valley but there are five professional shops within an hour of the valley.”
McTavish already took the introductory course last year in Fort Steele and he hopes to take the advanced course, where he would learn how to make blacksmithing tools.
Priority is being offered to members of the Boundary Museum and Boundary Woodworkers Guild and if there is additional space, they will be offered to the public.
Call 250-442-3737 for more details.