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I am not dead! Just severely exhausted. These past few years I've been crunching to grind out my prerequisite classes for my radiology program, and by the end of the year, after a rigorous entrance exam, I may well yet be admitted into the program! So while my posting might be severely delayed or spotty, I haven't forgotten this place.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Normal people say that making swords is easy, 'cause it's just a flat piece of metal with an edge and a handle. Bladesmiths say that making swords is hard, with precise angles and tapering and vibrations and types of grind and balancing and stuff. But it sounds to me like making a sword *at all* is easy and making a good sword is ridiculously difficult. Does that sound right?
If you're talking about a flat bar of metal with an edge and a handle, you might as well be talking about a big butter knife. A broken leaf spring with a boxing glove duct-taped to it could be called an easy sword, by that measurement, akin to Plato's classic "featherless biped" definition of a human being met by a sassy Diogenes yeeting a plucked chicken at him. So in a way, yeah, it all depends on your definition of a sword, and how much money is being offered for it. For all those who ask me to make them a sword for under $20, i usually wind up giving them a teeny 5 inch sword made from a nail, flattened, ground sharp, and wrapped with wire. They usually stop asking eventually.
Did you ever read the Eragon books? The blacksmith from Eragon's home village was always a favorite character of mine. I'm recalling the scene where this village blacksmith makes his way to the Varden (the Rebellion) and they are about as excited to have him as they were the immortal dragon riding warrior mage. Because "they had plenty of sword smiths" and the dwarven stone carvers, but an actual formal Master Blacksmith of a large village?
I remember those books fondly! Bladesmiths and masons are all fine and fair, but their skills do not translate as easily as making nails, horseshoes, clasps, stakes, hinges, cutlery, tools, or hooks. Those are what makes a rebellion succeed, not magic weapons or immortal dragon riders.
Why are blacksmiths called blacksmiths, when other smiths are named after the metals they work with, i.e. silversmith (or so it seems to me)?
Well, colloquially, blacksmiths are called that because of the color of the iron when it's just barely heated, or otherwise the color of the layer of oxidized scale that builds up when heated. It would be more accurate to call it gray rather than black, buuuut. Long story short, the varied smiths are all based off the color of their materials they work, by one interpretation.
An odd question, but any music or lyrics you sing to while forging?
Typically, "we all lift together" fits so nicely for when I'm pounding out plate gear, but otherwise another old standard is "haul away, Joe" or any other shanty. They have a steady rhythm, a good bounce, and really appeal to an escape from confinement and seeing the ones I love again face to face one day soon.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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What's your advice for someone looking to get into smithing? I've always wanted to make nifty trinkets and the like but have no idea where or how to start!
Research what smiths are in your area, or if there are any classes. Online, I'd check out anything by Brian Brazeal, he does a lot of good tutorials. Books are your best friend, and a fair bit of them are modern and don't drag you down with too much terminology and jargon. I hope this helps!
Odd question, but would you say there are any common ideals or beliefs that are commonly head over most if not all blacksmiths?
The biggest one is that as a blacksmith, one must therefore shoe horses. The next most common misconception is that a blacksmith must certainly make swords. There's farriers and bladesmiths for a reason. And a lot of people think we are all using coal exclusively?
I know you're mostly a blacksmith, not a bladesmith but you're my only real contact to this area of Tumblr. Is there a Swordblr/Bladeblr person or community that would be willing to help me identify a fictional weapon? (like, I know where it's from, I just don't know what to call it, or what the blade style is)
And/or would you be willing to take a crack at it despite it not being your main focus?
I do have a decent knowledge about blades and swordy fun, back when I first started this I was Convincedâ„¢ that my first great blacksmithing project was gonna be a sword. Send it to me via DM and we can take a look together!
