A Renaissance in the Greatest of Crafts
by Billy Salyers
How wonderful that its resurrection can be partially credited to the factors that caused its decline. Digital media provides a means for aspiring smiths to learn, on some level, from talented smiths across the world. Industry provides affordable tools easily sourced by any beginner until such a time he or she can begin to forge higher quality tools.
Mine is such a story.
I’ve been a hands-on guy my entire life. Taking apart toys as a kid to see how they worked, I saw something in my children’s generation that was missing, a love for manual labor and a lack of skill for it in the absence of that love. I set out to fix that, at least with my children.
We started summer projects, building sailboats, raising chickens, etc. But it was when we decided to use my grandfather’s anvil and hammers and learn to forge a knife that the renaissance began for us. We fell in love.
Our first projects were crude by any standard, but that is the joy of learning. There is always room for improvement. We took the route of learning how to make the tools we needed to make the things we wanted to make. In less than two years I was a Forged in Fire Champion, and in another year I was a full-time bladesmith.
But the Renaissance was more than just about learning to make better and better tools or blades. It was about becoming part of a community of creators. Almost immediately upon striking hammer to steel, we were introduced to a group of smiths, many who had seen more than 70 years, all of whom were excited to see a few “yunguns” interested in learning their ways. They shared knowledge, tools and encouragement every step of the way.
I’ve found this to be nearly universally true. One of my greatest mentors in the craft is a bladesmith who might rightly view me as a competitor, but instead, he treats me as an opportunity to pour his decades of knowledge into a new generation.
Blacksmiths have been called the king of craftsmen because they can make their own tools and therefore perpetuate their craft throughout their lifetimes. I would argue that the smiths who share their knowledge as part of the renaissance do one better. They share their craft into lifetimes beyond their own.
Because of the encouragement I’ve been given, I now help support my family with fire and steel. My son has spent nearly the last year overseas as a missionary sharing his faith using smithing and funding his way to do so by making hand-forged roses. I’ve had the opportunity to travel across the country and to other countries to do the same.
There is something about the ring of the anvil that draws people near, something that make them want to stop and see. In ancient times blacksmiths would work with their backs to the doors of their shop. This had a twofold effect. It blocked the sunlight allowing them to see the colors of the steel more easily. But is also guarded their work from prying eyes and protected their secrets.
Today, smiths work with open doors, and with rolling cameras for that matter. We share our work because we love to see other people share the excitement we feel for this great craft. Does this mean that sometimes people use our ideas as their own? Of course. But to borrow the words a cantankerous old farrier once shared with me, “If they can make it better than I can, I’ll buy it from them ... I ain’t bought one yet.”
Now, don’t mistake what I’m saying there. There are plenty of more talented smiths than me in this world, but that just drives me to be better. And teaching others who will one day exceed my skill, makes me better still.
Many people credit shows like Forged in Fire with the renaissance in smithing, and certainly a fair share of credit is due, but the real reason we are experiencing a renaissance in the king of crafts is because the craftsmen and craftswomen have graciously stepped out of the doorway and welcomed us into their shops to learn. And for that great gift, we should all be grateful.
God bless and forge on!
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