The rise of the artist blacksmiths
The craft’s development over many years has had a huge influence on human progress.
My first contact with a blacksmith came while I was fortunate enough to own a forestry mare after her retirement. I’ve written about Kitty often, and I still miss her. She was calm, gentle and during her long life, had known a thing or two about the virtues of hard work. When it came time for me to have her shod, I took advice from more knowledgeable friends living nearby in Kealkil.
Eugy McCarthy was well known locally, one of the few people who still hot-shoed a horse, which was the only way to go, my friends assured me.
So I gave him a call, and we made a date.
Eugy didn’t drive, but those who required his skilled services were only too happy to pick him — and his equipment — up.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on when I pulled up outside Eugy’s and he started loading a small hibachi grill, coal, anvil, and a battered old vacuum cleaner into my car, Was a barbecue a part of this ritual? I didn’t have the nerve to ask.
When we got to my place, Eugy unloaded his gear and, aided by the vacuum — which he later told me he’d found at the dump — soon had a hot fire blazing away nicely. When he had pared Kitty’s hooves to his satisfaction, he heated the shoes he had brought with him, and set about shaping them so that they were an exact fit.
This was a lengthy process, and drawn by the strangely addictive aroma of burning hoof, a few neighbours turned up to watch while the dogs wandered about eating the hoof parings. Some neighbours brought the children with them, keen that they should have a chance to witness this dying art of hot-shoeing.
It was an altogether great morning, and I was hugely impressed by the resourcefulness of this skilled craftsman, who could have made life a lot easier by changing to cold shoeing, but who refused to compromise his considerable standards.
There was a time, of course, when the village forge was as essential and ubiquitous as today’s corner shop, and a blacksmith was an indispensable maker of horseshoes, nails, hoes and other tools vital to daily life. But what first made the smith indispensable was his ability to forge armour and weapons.
A knight riding a war-horse wearing plate mail and chain armour was the modern day equivalent of a tank. A king’s blacksmith was considered to be so important that a home would be established for him inside the castle stronghold, in order to protect him from falling into enemy hands.
Making objects from metal, by heating it in a forge and then hammering it into shape, is what it is essentially all about. The smith puts the piece of steel into the heart of a coal or gas-fired forge to soften, then removes it to an anvil equipped with a flat top and hard edges for flattening and creating angles, plus a horn at one end for creating curves.
It takes only a few minutes to heat the steel and hammer it into a simple shape, add twists to the design, or create more decorative handles.
“The trickiest thing for a beginner is what looks the simplest,” says Joe O’Leary of Mojo Metal Design in Clonakilty. “For example, what’s called drawing out, which is putting a point on a flat or round bar with a hammer. It’s all about getting used to the hammering techniques and the fire.
“The more complex items such as twists and decorations are actually easier.”
Mojo Metal Design first came into being in September 2006, when friends Moss Gaynor and Joe O’Leary, both graduates of the University of Limerick, set about fulfilling a lifelong ambition to create unique objects from iron.
To that end the pair transformed an old stone-built flax mill a few miles outside Clonakilty into a modern-day working forge, where they began working on designs that are contemporary and innovative, combining modern techniques with a respect for the quality and care used by blacksmiths in the past.
“Over the years, we’ve acquired a multitude of skills through the work we do at our design studio,” Moss told me. “We’ve worked on large commissions, for new builds, restoration projects, and small pieces with an individual flair.
“People tend to think of iron working as utilitarian, and they don’t always realise that there’s a growing movement in Ireland of decorative and artist blacksmiths,” Moss says.
The Irish Artist Blacksmith Association (IABA) was formed to promote, encourage and advise the growing numbers of artist blacksmiths and decorative metal workers in Ireland. Their website encourages architects, designers and the general public to check out the considerable talents of craftspeople working in Ireland and purchase something that is hand-made, unique and far more durable than comparable ready-made and imported items.
“Many people think that they have to accept poor quality metalwork fabricated from components sourced from the other side of the world,” says Moss. “But this just isn’t the case. Today, we work with computer aided design, power hammers and other sophisticated machinery, so that the capabilities of the modern artist blacksmith have been increased and added to.”
Keen to share their passion for their profession, Moss and Joe decided to start a blacksmithing school, which would offer a wide range of courses and the chance to acquire new skills while studying an ancient craft. Each participant produces something made with his or her own hands.
There’s an introductory course where skills learned include fire management, basic use of the anvil, drawing out, twisting, bending, riveting and scrolling. Or the chance to try your hand at making tools such as tongs and bending forks. And if the idea of creating a piece of sculpture assisted by a Mojo design appeals, there’s a two-day course.
“The classes have been going really well, and we’ve had a huge variety of people attending, from all walks of life. One lady in her sixties had a grandfather and father who were both blacksmiths, and she had always wanted to try her hand at it herself. So after she retired, that’s exactly what she did, and she really enjoyed it.
“Really, anybody can complete the basic course and get a huge amount of satisfaction out of it.”
Last year, the IABA were responsible for bringing an international exhibition of artist blacksmithing to Co Monaghan, with 15 international and Irish master blacksmiths participating.
Spokesperson for the organisation Eric O’Neill says, “The association has pulled off an extraordinary coup by getting international masters who usually deal with commissions worth several million euro to come here for the event.”
There are already plans afoot to make this a regular occasion.
Meanwhile, back in Mojo’s Clonakilty forge, Moss and Joe have just finished their latest commission — a unique table for Bantry’s new secondary school.
