Tong forging in the World Championship Blacksmiths's Competition. [video only]

Wimp.com ^ | 5-1-2014 | Chad Chance

[servo1969]

World Championship Blacksmiths' Competition Tong Making Class. The Competitors had 45 min. to make a pair of Hot Fitting tongs out of 3/4 round stock with the reins already ran out. Jul 11, 2011

[servo1969]

3-years-old but still fun to watch if you appreciate this sort of thing.

[Norm Lenhart]

Bah...Greymane could do better at the Skyforge...

these guys are posers ;)

[ansel12]

I have long wondered how the work would have affected a blacksmith’s hearing, in the 1800s.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

You get a certain number of do-overs in smithing but it takes a heck of a lot of skill to make something that is both useful *and* doesn’t look like hell.

[Rodamala]

I am amazed that the event sponsors insurance underwriter hasn’t demanded full eye protection with a visor over goggles over safety glasses... and hearing protection... and long FR sleeves... and hardhats... and breathing masks... and a ball gag.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Good question. They now make a quiet anvil that only goes “thump” Thump” when you hit hot iron on it.

Mi PETER WRIGHT anvil RINGS! loud!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Mi=My.

[ansel12]

If you watch the old Gunsmokes, you can’t help but wonder what that noise does to the smithies hearing over time, and what people think of having the shop going all day, right on (dirt) main street in a small town, with all the windows and doors open, and no cars, and no noise making electronics.

[Mygirlsmom]

For a time when she was about seven or so, one of my daughters told us she wanted to be a blacksmith and asked for an anvil. My dad, the tool and die maker, was thrilled. Alas, for him, though, it was just a phase.

[rey]

If you want to see an old forging video, check this out. OSHA would flip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LA_R4ifYk

[Daffynition]

Do kids today even *read* Longfellow?

Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands. 

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man. 

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low. 

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor. 

[snip]

[ansel12]

Interesting, it looks lake man’s work.

[ansel12]

Would you say a successful blacksmith of the day would have lost a large portion of his hearing?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Huh? Yes, I’m half deaf, but I believe it is due to jet engines, steel shot work, and power plant noise, even though I wore hearing protection at that time.

Hitting hot steel is not so loud as just hitting a hammer on the anvil face or hitting cold steel.

[ansel12]

I was thinking of the pitch(?) it was at, and a couple of decades of 10 or 12 hour days, 6 days a week for a successful 1870 smithie.

Here, I found a whole lot of info, that goes back to Roman days about noise complaints and regulations on blacksmiths.

Here is a scientific study mention.