Horseshoe for good luck

Where did the cult of the horseshoe originate? The legend of St. Dunstan was born in the British Isles. The latter, they say, worked as a blacksmith, and somehow the unclean one himself appeared to him with a request to shoe a hoof. Dunstan supposedly agreed. But in fact, he chained the “client” to the wall, so tightly that he even asked for mercy. Then the saint promised to free him if he swore that he would never enter a house with a horseshoe nailed over the door.

Horseshoes from the "iron" craftsmen needed both carters and cart owners. The blacksmiths were engaged in the manufacture of tires for the wheels, for which a special device was arranged next to the forge - the “tensioner”. Shoeing the wheel to the carts, the blacksmith warmed up the tire and put it on the wheel. The tire, cooling down, tightened the wooden arcs on the spokes, then they were fixed with rivets.

Blacksmiths never sat idle. They also made a wide variety of household items - locks, hecks, sheds, crosses ...

Honor among fellow countrymen was enjoyed by craftsmen who surprised fellow villagers with intricately made iron "wisps". Many blacksmiths took a great interest. So, in many areas of Meshchera, forged chests, decorated with marvelous ornaments, were valued.

Basically, each forge specialized in products of one kind. This depended on the inclinations of the blacksmith and demand from the surrounding residents. So, in Vasyukovka in the Shatura Territory of the Moscow Region, horseshoes, hoops for barrels, notches for millstones were forged. And in nearby Varyukovka, axles for mill wheels, millstones, grindstones, tongs and tongs were made.

Often the forges were located near the dams, where there were also water mills; the water turned the millstones and fanned the bellows.

"Savvy" love

During the ceremony, they sang songs about a blacksmith forging a wedding crown. At the games, the guys dressed as blacksmiths “shod the girls” - lifted their legs with the help of pincers, and also beat with a hammer on a stick attached to the foot, as if on an anvil. Of course, all make-believe. Then the custom left, but the common expression “to shoe a girl” remained - this was the name for entering into an extramarital affair with a girl, which was rare among our ancestors and, of course, was not encouraged.

"Witch" craft

In Russian folk tales such an assistant for a blacksmith is the devil. Thanks to witchcraft skills, a blacksmith could reforge a person’s voice - make a voice out of a rough one, reforge an old man into a young man, “squeeze” illness or “pinch” trouble with tongs, forge a talisman for good luck or an amulet to protect against evil forces ... Finally, he had power over the same hell, forcing him to stop his evil deeds.

Forge of your happiness

On that small particle of light
She was for everyone around
The then club, and the newspaper,
And the Academy of Sciences.

Forges

Time passed. The masters of this business - metallurgists - began to extract ore and get iron from it. And blacksmiths forged all sorts of necessary things from finished iron. To prevent rain, snow and wind from interfering with work, blacksmiths built forges - small houses, four walls and a roof.
The walls of the forges were often made of logs, or of stone, or of thin rods, which were coated with clay. The floor in such a forge is rammed flat earth, there was no ceiling - only a roof. And in the roof they left cracks for the exit of smoke.
Although all the forges were externally different, the same tools were placed inside each.
The most important thing in the forge is considered to be a forge - a large furnace with an open hearth, where the blacksmith puts iron blanks to heat them up. The heated metal is easier to take the desired shape.

Gradually improved the furnace for heating iron. Invented and manufactured tools for more complex work
In the center of the forge is an anvil. This is the "desktop" of the blacksmith. Let's take a closer look at it (picture on the next page). She is cast iron. Reminds me of some unknown animal. And the names of its individual parts are taken from the animal world. She has a horn on one side and a tail on the other. The smooth upper surface is called the face. There are ribs on the sides. The anvil also has four paws. Look, they are attached with metal brackets to a massive stump, or "chair", as the blacksmiths call it. This is so that the anvil is stable so that it does not fall off its stump chair during work.

Anvil - blacksmith's "desktop"

The blacksmith takes out a hot workpiece from the forge with tongs, puts it on the anvil and with a hand-hammer begins to quickly knock on it - forge, give the desired shape. If the metal cools, it will lose its ductility, it can no longer be forged. No wonder there was a proverb: "Strike while the iron is hot." Here blacksmiths work very quickly.
In addition to tongs and a hammer, the forge has chisels - for cutting off the ends of metal, trowels - hammers with a smooth striker for smoothing surfaces and other tools and devices for blacksmithing.

When working, a blacksmith is often helped by an assistant-hammer
When working, a blacksmith is often helped by an assistant-hammer. Sometimes two or even three hammerers work together with the blacksmith. The blacksmith, with his hammer-handbrake, controls the work of the hammerers in the same way as the conductor controls the orchestra with his small stick. Wherever the blacksmith's hammer hits, there he hits with his heavy hammer - a hammerer with a sledgehammer. And if the blacksmith puts his hammer-handbrake flat on the anvil, then the hammerer lowers his heavy hammer.
This is how they work in forges: a blacksmith with a hammer - "ding", and a hammerer with his hammer - "bom". And it spreads throughout the district - "ding-bom, ding-bom, ding-bom" ...

blacksmiths

Blacksmiths who forged horseshoes and shod horses were usually called farriers.
Now, even in the countryside, not all the guys know what a horseshoe is and why it is necessary to shoe horses at all. And just a hundred years ago, almost every village had its own blacksmith-forger. His unsightly smoky forge stood somewhere away from residential buildings, and for days on end the clatter of blacksmith hammers could be heard from there. The blacksmith forged horseshoes... He also made horseshoe nails. And he himself attached ready-made horseshoes to horse hooves with these nails.
People respected the blacksmith- farrier! A lot of strength and skill required his skillful, masterful work.
At first, the blacksmith forged simple iron strips - blanks of horseshoes. Then he bent them into the shape of a hoof. Made spikes underneath. He stretched the groove - so that the heads of the nails entered it. And, finally, with skill, he reliably strengthened the horseshoes on the horse's hooves.

In order to "shoe", that is, shoe, a horse, blacksmiths had special horseshoes, hammers, nails, tongs, knives
Horseshoes protect horses' hooves from damage. A shod horse can carry a larger load on any road - rocky, icy. And without horseshoes on such roads, the hooves of horses slip and wear out quickly. The horse can injure the legs in the blood.
The first iron horseshoes appeared at the beginning of the 1st century. These were iron shoes, the so-called "solea", which were put on the hooves and tied to the horse's legs with straps. These "shoes" were durable, but very uncomfortable.
And before that they protected the legs of horses different ways: the Japanese, for example, shod the hooves of horses in straw sandals; Tatars - in leather boots; the Kirghiz covered their hooves with horn plates; in Russia, stockings woven from reeds, bast, straw or ropes were used.
Horses even now, in our space age, perform a variety of work - in the field, in the forests, in the mountains. They help foresters, geologists, doctors, border guards in their work...
Where tractors and all-terrain vehicles are helpless, horses help out a person. And all horses, our reliable helpers, need good horseshoes.
In addition, thoroughbred horses are raised at many stud farms to participate in sports competitions. They also need to be shod. Each type of competition requires its own special horseshoes: with three spikes, with two or no spikes at all. In winter, horseshoes with sharper spikes are needed than in summer.
Good forging increases the endurance of the horse.

Blacksmiths-gunsmiths

Blacksmithing was not achieved quickly. Blacksmiths have been polishing their skills for years. A blacksmith had to know and be able to do a lot. And strong man he had to be so that he could wield a heavy hand hammer.
BUT forged products more and more was needed. So some blacksmiths began to forge only nails, others - only objects for Agriculture, others - all kinds of keys and locks ... And the best craftsmen became blacksmiths-gunsmiths.
Blacksmiths-gunsmiths forged swords and battle axes, arrowheads and spears, forged helmets and "weaved" chain mail. The greatest skill was required in the manufacture of chain mail. For one chain mail, it was necessary to forge up to forty thousand rings, punch holes at their ends, and after connecting with other rings, rivet each ring with a small rivet, or "carnation", as they said at that time.

Blacksmiths-gunsmiths
Many vigilantes were blacksmiths themselves and took a small anvil, hammers, files and other necessary tools with them on a military campaign. In their free time, they repaired armor for themselves and other warriors. The riders also wore chain mail stockings or metal lining - "greaves". Even the horse's head was covered with metal overlays - "headbands". In such armor, Russian warriors fought with numerous nomadic tribes that ran into Russia.
Even then, in the 9th century, Russian blacksmiths-gunsmiths knew the secrets of forging damask swords and sabers. They were so strong and sharp that they even cut through helmets and iron mail. The cost of damask blades was so high that a herd of horses was given for one sword.
From the end of the 14th century, cannons appeared in the arsenal of the Russian army. At first, cannons were forged by hand. The work was very hard - two or three assistant hammerers worked with one blacksmith. It was especially difficult to forge gun barrels. But they worked for glory, with high art.
And in the following centuries, blacksmiths-gunsmiths multiplied the glory of Russian weapons.

K U Z N E T

The blacksmith is famously that it is quiet in the forge.
There are no trifles in blacksmithing.
Without tongs, a blacksmith without hands.
The hammer does not forge, but the blacksmith.
The blacksmith's hands are black, but the bread is white.
The hammer, though young, strikes in the old way.
The blacksmith has this: a break and a nickel.
The priest will sing, and the blacksmith will forge.
In the hands of a blacksmith, iron flows like water. (Uzbek p.)
Why does a blacksmith forge pincers so as not to burn his hands.
No blacksmith can repeat exactly the product of another master.
Do not ask the blacksmith for coals.
The blacksmith has golden hands, and the singer has words.
Be on fire, don't get burned.
It is impossible for a blacksmith, but not to get burned.

BELIEVE:
The blacksmith does not sit on the "face" of the anvil. (They don’t sit on what feeds).

The blacksmith, the lord of iron and the brother of Fire itself, in the mythologies of many peoples appears as a powerful figure. With his wonderful hammer, he can forge not only a sword or knightly armor, a sickle or scissors, but also a human destiny. And in the Russian fairy tale “The Wolf and the Seven Kids,” the blacksmith forged a thin voice for the wolf!
The blacksmith participates in the universe - he forges the Sun or repairs it, which suffered in the fight against Evil. In ancient Greek mythology, there is a blacksmith god - the lame Hephaestus, the son of Zeus and Hera. God-worker - unlike other inhabitants of Olympus, busy with war, fine arts or court intrigues, he works tirelessly. Striking his hammer on a giant anvil, he forges either lightning for Zeus the Thunderer himself, or magic weapons and a magnificent shield for the warrior Achilles. The copper bulls of King Eet, the forged decoration of the bedchamber of Hera, the crown of Pandora were also made by this divine master.
The Slavic deity Perun had a mortal assistant - a blacksmith, without whom he would not have been able to cope with the evil Serpent-Hair. There are legends about how a blacksmith caught the gluttonous Serpent with hot pincers by the tongue, harnessed it to a plow and plowed the famous Serpentine Shafts, still visible on Ukrainian soil ... This blacksmith bears the name Kiy, which means “hammer”. Is he connected with the historical person to whom the legend ascribes the founding of the city of Kyiv?
And according to Christian legend, the blacksmith flatly refused to forge a weapon against God. For this, God promised him that after death, not a single representative of this hot profession would go to hell.
It is now clear why in "The Night Before Christmas" N.V. Gogol the cunning devil is overcome and forced to serve himself not by a priest, not by a warrior, but by the blacksmith Vakula!
Anna Tolkacheva "God the blacksmith and the magician - the carpenter ..."

SMITH
F.S. Shkulev
We are blacksmiths, and our spirit is young,
We forge the keys to happiness!
Rise higher, heavy hammer
Knock harder on the steel chest.

We forge a bright path for the people, -
Useful work for all forge ...
And for the desired freedom
We all suffer and die.

We are blacksmiths. dear homeland
We only want the best.
And we don't waste our energy
No wonder we knock with a hammer.

'Cause after every hit
Darkness thins, oppression weakens.
And across the native fields and ravines
The exhausted people get up.
December 1905

26.05.2018 10:34:00

Oleg Alekseev could not even be “pulled out by the ears” from the classroom of labor training at school No. 20 in the city of Shchekino. The Trudovik teacher noted the industrious hands, the curiosity of the student, tried to give him more attention, to convey as much knowledge as possible.
And the knowledge gained in labor lessons was not enough for Oleg. Whether business - a profile circle! The guy with pleasure mastered lathes for processing wood and metal. He even made door handles for the school himself.
- I am still grateful to the teacher of labor for the extra-curricular time devoted to me. Indeed, in parallel with the acquisition of skills, both thinking and fantasy developed, - recalls Oleg Alekseev.
After school, he went to study at the Tula Economic College, chose the specialty "technician-mechanic". Our hero worked at many Shchekino enterprises, exactly where it was necessary to "work hard". Hands were not afraid of work, but the soul demanded something different, more creative.


The capital teaches a lot

In the 90s, when wages began to be paid irregularly, he got a job in a team of artel workers who welded and installed access and garage doors. Then he went to work in Moscow.
- Worked in an art workshop for two years. I saw an ad, came, took a simple worker. Here I was convinced that the handyman was a blacksmith, a welder, and a fitter. They were engaged in everything that can be welded: they made fences, railings, visors, caps on fence posts, arched vaults for arbors, fences, flower girls, benches, steles. I looked closely at the exclusive handicrafts of professionals, - Oleg admitted. – I was amazed by the ability of the craftsmen to work with metal: from a banal piece of iron they created a work of art - a rose, a fancy ashtray stand and other interior items.
It was in the capital that I realized that in addition to accuracy, I also need pace in my work. And the financial measures in Moscow are completely different. There are people who are willing to spend money to satisfy their whims. They do not want to hear that the work is painstaking, responsible. Each small cast or forged part must be cleaned twice, primed twice, then painted twice. And after all, each client wants his order to be inimitable, unique. Serve one “under gold” or “silver”, others like violet. Many customers demanded to design the product "under the noble antiquity." And this already requires a painstaking process of patenting - applying a specific paint with a special brush according to the drawing. There are also some nuances here: on a black background, silver is better, on red, green. Some see matte or glossy coatings of the product, others imitate velvet (with small villi), or with a hammer coating (“pimply”). But all these delights are good under one, elementary condition: the products should not be under direct sunlight. Whether it's a small knick-knack or a massive door - only indoors. Otherwise, the ultraviolet will corrode the coating, and the paint will begin to peel off ...
I remember one lady appeared with a set of photographs and a desire to have exactly the same spiral staircase at home. An experienced eye determined the unusualness and age of the structure. In addition to the photo, she has only a great desire and willingness to pay well. When asked where the original came from, she simply struck with the answer: “From France, from the ancestral castle of one of the Louis”! They immediately understood: the client was from Rublyovka ... They broke their heads, but they had to do it “under Ludovics,” the master shares one of the Moscow working episodes.

More than a hobby

Everything ends someday... And I had to part with Moscow. Yes, only the skills obtained there further provoked our hero. Creative horizons were fully revealed to Oleg already at home. And the work went on for itself, for the soul, without limiting frames. After all, we don’t forge kilometers ...
Today from under the hammer skillful hands there are products for every taste. Forged handles and ornate candlesticks, bridges for a summer cottage and tiebacks for currant bushes. The master can even make an exquisite French balcony!
By the way, Oleg admitted that he wants to work with damask steel. The same Damascus steel, which was used for the famous swords, which, before they took on their final shape and appearance, the ancient masters forged and unforged twenty (!) times. And the secret of which, unfortunately, is lost. The latest information about steel in Russia is connected with Zlatoust, where a steel mill was built in the middle of the 19th century. Checkers were cast there for the tsarist army.
- Not always, to be honest, you can work with metal as with plasticine. What is the most important thing in the first stage? That's right - don't overdo it. Have you heard the expression: "Bring to white heat"? Correctly said. Until white - it starts to bubble, that's it, the workpiece can be thrown away. If it has not warmed up a little, it has a raspberry hue. But the red color is what you need, - Oleg shares a secret. – Where does it all begin? A sketch is made, metal is selected. And then already - boldly for the cause!
On a coal hearth, preheated, I heat-treat the “blank”. According to its volume, thickness, I select pliers, such special grips of the appropriate diameter. I constantly turn the "blank" over. Blushed - immediately on the anvil and processed. I immediately choose a sledgehammer of the appropriate weight - so as not to knock it over, not to crush it. And for soft metals (copper, brass, etc.), a copper sledgehammer is generally needed.
If the product is twisted, I use special mandrels for bending, twisting. That is, I walk with a clamped product around the anvil. With small details (leaves, etc.) - another technology. I cut out the future shape, warm it up and crush all the bulges or depressions in the funnel. Basically, future products are prefabricated, combined. Here, you understand, you need welding. And finishing, painting - this is later.
The main thing is to want, take it and do it,” Oleg Alekseev summed up.
And he's right. You just have to do it!