What makes someone decide to be a smith in the Twenty-First Century?

There are many influences that made me fall in love with forge work and shaping Iron. These are the two main ones.

When I read The Lord of The Rings I was fascinated by how the sword that was broken was remade and wondered how was it remade.

The other and main influence was when I was ten or eleven years old Mom's cousin was out at my Grampas visiting and was going to use Grampas forge to make some carving tools for making fiddles. Oli was a master smith who did all the tricky repairs for the neighbours before retiring to the coast. My Dad thought that this was some thing that I should get a chance to see because with the local blacksmith disappearing it might be the last chance for me to see such a thing.

Oli let me turn the blower for him and I fell in love with how he was able to shape the metal to his will with just a hammer and anvil. It was there I decided that some day I would be able to do that.

This is one of a pair of candle holders commissioned by Baron Sir Taras for the Twentieth Anniversary of the founding of the Barony of Mrygan Wood. They stand about 5 feet tall and hold 10 candles each. They are made so they can be dismanteled for easy transport, yet when assembled they are very stable. The ring that holds the candles is about 12 inches and is designed to swing on the upright to allow the candles to stay relativly level even if the candleholder is being moved.

The forge and hammer have kissed every inch of these candlebras, there was not one modern method (e.g. arc welder) used in their construction. I started out with over sized stock and forged it smaller. Similar to the way smiths of old would have used a bloom of iron hammered to size. I then gave them a carburized oil finish. This gives them a look and feel that cannot be duplicated by ramdomly hitting it with a ballpeen, coldbending and black spray paint.

This is a close up of the top of the candle holders. You can see the detail with the elm leaves on the links holding the candle ring. I applied a brass finish to the leaves to give them a touch of colour. The elm leaf is the symbol of Mrygan Wood and had to be included in the design some where. This is the joy of custom work, within reason I can put just about anything you want into it. Thats why these candleabras hold 20 candles. I also put drip pans under the candlecups to keep the wax off the floor. (We all have to make some concessions to the modern world!)

As you can see here forged iron is very richly textured and coloured. Since the hammer has been used to shape the metal it has lots of small facets to catch and relfect the light. The dimples in the sides of the top plate were forged in, not cut. You can see this in the way light and shadow play on the surface. The effect is subtle yet can't be done any other way and still feel true.