Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing of old a useful profession now enjoying resurgence among Montana artisans
The iconic image of the village blacksmith pounding out plowshares is part of American lore. Many don’t realize, however, how the craft has blossomed in the hands of his contemporary counterparts.
Every day forges are fired up and metal heated, twisted, bent, stretched and hammered into objects as beautiful and artistic as they are functional.
Montana is home to dozens of these skilled artisans. According to Jim Bolinger, president of the Northern Rockies Blacksmith Association, per capita, Montana boasts a huge number of top-level blacksmiths.
“We have an immense file cabinet of blacksmith brainpower,” he said.
Elegant chandeliers, lanterns and sconces; intricately designed gates; decorative balustrades; spectacular fireplaces and grilles; and unique furniture are just some of the items created by these artist-blacksmiths.
Many got their start the time-honored way — making horseshoes.
“I know a lot of blacksmiths like me who cut their teeth as farriers,” said Scott Espelin of Butte.
Espelin began small, making branding irons, steak forks and other trinkets. Twenty-four years later, he’s a full-time blacksmith operating the Wild West Ironworks.
“I just don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t blacksmith,” he said.
Were it not for a young generation eager to revive his time-worn trade, the blacksmith would be frozen in time, forever hammering iron beneath Longfellow’s chestnut tree.
“Two hundred years ago every village had a blacksmith who’d make whatever was necessary,” said Morris Hallowell, a Livingston blacksmith. “Then came the industrial revolution, Eli Whitney and interchangeable parts for the Model T or tractor. Hand forging fell into decline and virtually disappeared.”
The blacksmith renaissance began in the 1960s and ’70s when white-collar youth began returning to earthy endeavors like carpentry, farming and other hands-on work. By then, books or information about forging were nonexistent and only a handful of blacksmiths were still in business.
Rather than simply fashioning horseshoes and farm equipment, these young metal workers turned to creating architectural and ornamental objects. And as the ranks of blacksmiths grew, so did a culture of openness among them, a willingness to share information less common in other artistic circles.
“We’re not secretive about what we know,” said Joel Machler, who operates the Beaver Creek Forge in Bozeman. “We really enjoy passing on what we’ve learned.”
No blacksmith is without his or her trademark forge, anvil and hammer. Although many prefer the practicality of propane-fired forges, others still fuel their forges with low-sulfur coal, charcoal or coke.
All serve the same purpose, to heat the raw stock to temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees until it glows with a bright yellow orange hue indicating it’s soft enough to manipulate.
Old-time blacksmiths worked primarily with wrought iron, which came from iron ore. The ore required smelting to separate the iron from the ore. Although the term “wrought iron” once described that specific ferrous material, it is now used to describe any decorative ironwork.
Steel is now the predominant raw stock, although artist-blacksmiths also incorporate materials such as bronze, copper or brass in their products.
Blacksmiths not only design and hand-forge ironwork, they also often make the tools, or jigs.
Tony Stewart’s Iron Thistle Forge in Whitefish is littered with piles of metal bars in various configurations, each one designed for a specific
purpose.
“I’ve made literally hundreds of tools,” said Stewart, “some of which I’ll only use once.”
Stewart’s workshop, typical of his trade, is a melange of old and new — a coal-fired forge, assorted anvils, hand-built tools and a treadle hammer share the crowded space with two propane-fired forges, pneumatic hammers, a plasma torch and other equipment he’s designed.
“The point is to create something uniquely made from your shop,” said Stewart, “by using traditional equipment and techniques that give a job a certain aesthetic quality as well as new ones that make it easier on your body.”
“Everything had to be rediscovered,” Hallowell said.
The love of the medium — the metal itself — and the creative outlet of manipulating it into something functional, decorative, or both draw blacksmiths to the trade.
“You develop an intimate connection with metal,” said Stewart, “and you can anticipate how it will behave just by looking at it.”
Hallowell describes how he felt “smitten” the first time he entered a forge some 10 years ago.
“I like metal because it doesn’t talk back,” he said, “and with enough heat and force, it’s like modeling clay that you can stretch, shrink, expand and bend to your will.”
The forging process is a source of endless fascination for diehard blacksmiths. Espelin was mesmerized by the transformative nature of steel when, as a youngster in 1970, he watched his dad repair a piece of equipment on their Helena Valley farm.
“I still remember the old Kirby vacuum cleaner that was used as the blower for the handmade forge of bricks and concrete,” he said. “Seeing Dad heat up the piece until it was red-hot then hammering it straight was amazing — and the process still amazes me to this day.”
Blacksmiths can attest to the physical demands of the trade, but that doesn’t preclude those who lack bulging biceps, including many women such as Lyndel Meikle.
A park ranger at the Grant Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, Meikle caught the blacksmithing bug when she began giving interpretive demonstrations in 1985.
In addition to introducing thousands of visitors yearly to traditional forging methods of the late 1800s, she also has been teaching basic blacksmithing at the local high school for the past 18 years.
Meikle admits that strength is important, but isn’t averse to asking for help.
“As a female, you can think things through, or you can muscle them through,” she said, “but they get done either way.”
More than just physical prowess, blacksmithing requires mental focus and technical expertise.
“While it doesn’t require much skill to start forging, it takes an artistic sense of line, balance and proportion as well as a vision of design to become truly skilled,” Hallowell said.
Stewart recently completed an impressive gated entrance to a private residence that was custom-designed to conform to the slope and contour of the land.
“A large job like this can be incredibly nerve-racking because of its scale and need for total precision,” he said, “Even the slightest discrepancy becomes massive across the span of the panels.”
In an age when most household items are manufactured in bulk, a durable, handmade object has lasting beauty and value, Stewart said.
“When a lot of work and time has been invested in creating an artisanal product it has more intrinsic as well as aesthetic value than something made in a fabrication shop,” he said. “It’s truly a labor of love.”
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