Blacksmithing has been known to people since ancient times. Forging is one of the oldest methods of metal processing. The technique of cold forging native iron and copper was known to ancient people. So the blacksmiths of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Iran in the 4th millennium BC beat cold sponge iron with mallets to remove impurities. And among the American Indians, cold forging was used until the 16th century.
The technique of forging has steadily improved. In order to give the metal the desired shape, it began to be heated. Hot forging was used in ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, in Europe, Asia and Africa. Since the need for metal products has always been high, the profession of a blacksmith has become one of the most revered. At first, blacksmiths themselves both melted and forged metal. For iron smelting and forging, they used a forge, poker, crowbar, anvil, hammer and tongs. With the help of these tools, the blacksmith could single-handedly make ordinary household items, such as knives, nails, sickles, shovels, scythes, and the like, which did not require complex technological methods. However, for the manufacture of more complex products (chains, bits, svetets, iron rings), an assistant was required, so experienced blacksmiths began to work with apprentices.
The first forged items were primitive and rough, but the further development of the blacksmith's craft led to the creation of real masterpieces that still amaze with their craftsmanship.
Blacksmithing reached a special development in the Middle Ages. In Europe and Russia, craftsmen handcrafted weapons and armor, agricultural implements, handicraft tools, lamps, grills, chests, and many other metal items. Often forged products were decorated with gold leaf, the finest notch, perforated or embossed pattern. In the 11th-13th centuries, the manufacture of edged weapons and combat armor for knights and nobility developed especially successfully. The manufacture of weapons required special skill and great care in metal processing from the master gunsmith. The most time-consuming was the manufacture of chain mail: it was necessary to forge iron wire, connect, weld and rivet hundreds of small rings.
In a special place was the hardening of steel weapons. Even the ancient Romans knew about the hardness and flexibility of steel, as well as about the extraordinary properties that it took after hardening.
The urban blacksmith craft differed from the rural one in greater complexity and variety of forging techniques. As early as the 13th century, blacksmiths in the cities worked for mass production. In the cities there were domniks, iron smiths, gunsmiths, armorers, locksmiths, etc.
Medieval blacksmithing was reflected in folk art and architecture. From the 15th - 19th centuries, skillful forged lights, hooks, candlesticks, and lanterns have survived to this day. And most of the castles and palaces were decorated with wonderful wrought iron bars and fences, samples of which can be seen in Paris, St. Petersburg, Prague, Vienna, etc. Some cities had a narrow specialization of blacksmith shops. For example, Herat was famous for household utensils, Damascus and Tula for weapons, and Nottingham for knives.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Tula blacksmith Pastukhov first used stamping. And half a century later, steam hammers appeared. At the beginning of the 20th century, hand forging was almost completely replaced by casting and stamping. Recently, however, we have seen a revival of interest in artistic forging due to the rapid development of individual construction and new trends in architecture and design.
Ancient Russia in the medieval world was widely famous for its craftsmen. At first, among the ancient Slavs, the craft was domestic in nature - everyone dressed skins for themselves, tanned leather, weaved linen, sculpted pottery, made weapons and tools. Then the artisans began to engage only in a certain trade, preparing the products of their labor for the entire community, and the rest of its members provided them with agricultural products, furs, fish, and animals. And already in the period of the early Middle Ages, the production of products on the market began. At first it was custom-made, and then the goods began to go on free sale.
Talented and skilled metallurgists, blacksmiths, jewelers, potters, weavers, stone-cutters, shoemakers, tailors, representatives of dozens of other professions lived and worked in Russian cities and large villages. These ordinary people made an invaluable contribution to the creation of the economic power of Russia, its high material and spiritual culture.
The names of the ancient artisans, with few exceptions, are unknown to us. Objects preserved from those distant times speak for them. These are both rare masterpieces and everyday things, in which talent and experience, skill and ingenuity are invested.
Blacksmiths were the first ancient Russian professional artisans. The blacksmith in epics, legends and fairy tales is the personification of strength and courage, goodness and invincibility. Iron was then smelted from swamp ores. Ore was mined in autumn and spring. It was dried, fired and taken to metal-smelting workshops, where metal was obtained in special furnaces. During excavations of ancient Russian settlements, slags are often found - waste products of the metal-smelting process - and pieces of ferruginous bloom, which, after vigorous forging, became iron masses. The remains of blacksmith workshops were also found, where parts of forges were found. The burials of ancient blacksmiths are known, in which their tools of production - anvils, hammers, tongs, chisels - were placed in their graves.
Old Russian blacksmiths supplied plowmen with coulters, sickles, scythes, and warriors with swords, spears, arrows, battle axes. Everything that was necessary for the economy - knives, needles, chisels, awls, staples, fish hooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - were made by talented craftsmen.
Old Russian blacksmiths achieved special art in the production of weapons. Items found in the burials of Chernaya Mohyla in Chernigov, necropolises in Kyiv and other cities are unique examples of ancient Russian crafts of the 10th century.
A necessary part of the costume and attire of an ancient Russian person, both women and men, were various jewelry and amulets made by jewelers from silver and bronze. That is why clay crucibles, in which silver, copper, and tin were melted, are often found in ancient Russian buildings. Then the molten metal was poured into limestone, clay or stone molds, where the relief of the future decoration was carved. After that, an ornament in the form of dots, cloves, circles was applied to the finished product. Various pendants, belt plaques, bracelets, chains, temporal rings, rings, neck torcs - these are the main types of products of ancient Russian jewelers. For jewelry, jewelers used various techniques - niello, granulation, filigree filigree, embossing, enamel.
The blackening technique was rather complicated. First, a “black” mass was prepared from a mixture of silver, lead, copper, sulfur and other minerals. Then this composition was applied to bracelets, crosses, rings and other jewelry. Most often depicted griffins, lions, birds with human heads, various fantastic animals.
Graining required completely different methods of work: small silver grains, each of which was 5-6 times smaller than a pinhead, were soldered to the smooth surface of the product. What labor and patience, for example, was worth soldering 5,000 such grains to each of the kolts that were found during excavations in Kyiv! Most often, granulation is found on typical Russian jewelry - lunnitsa, which were pendants in the form of a crescent.
If instead of grains of silver, patterns of the finest silver, gold wires or strips were soldered onto the product, then a filigree was obtained. From such threads-wires, sometimes an incredibly intricate pattern was created.
The technique of embossing on thin gold or silver sheets was also used. They were strongly pressed against a bronze matrix with the desired image, and it was transferred to a metal sheet. Embossing performed images of animals on kolts. Usually it is a lion or a leopard with a raised paw and a flower in its mouth. Cloisonne enamel became the pinnacle of ancient Russian jewelry craftsmanship.
The enamel mass was glass with lead and other additives. Enamels were of different colors, but red, blue and green were especially loved in Russia. Enamel jewelry went through a difficult path before becoming the property of a medieval fashionista or a noble person. First, the entire pattern was applied to the future decoration. Then a thin sheet of gold was applied to it. Partitions were cut from gold, which were soldered to the base along the contours of the pattern, and the spaces between them were filled with molten enamel. The result was an amazing set of colors that played and shone under the sun's rays in different colors and shades. The centers for the production of jewelry from cloisonné enamel were Kyiv, Ryazan, Vladimir.
And in Staraya Ladoga, in the layer of the 8th century, an entire industrial complex was discovered during excavations! The ancient Ladoga residents built a pavement of stones - iron slags, blanks, production wastes, fragments of foundry molds were found on it. Scientists believe that a metal-smelting furnace once stood here. The richest treasure trove of handicraft tools, found here, is apparently associated with this workshop. The hoard contains twenty-six items. These are seven small and large pliers - they were used in jewelry and iron processing. A miniature anvil was used to make jewelry. An ancient locksmith actively used chisels - three of them were found here. Sheets of metal were cut with jewelry scissors. Drills made holes in the tree. Iron objects with holes were used to draw wire in the production of nails and rook rivets. Jewelry hammers, anvils for chasing and embossing ornaments on silver and bronze jewelry were also found. Finished products of an ancient craftsman were also found here - a bronze ring with images of a human head and birds, rook rivets, nails, an arrow, knife blades.
The finds at the settlement of Novotroitsky, in Staraya Ladoga and other settlements excavated by archaeologists indicate that already in the 8th century the craft began to become an independent branch of production and was gradually separated from agriculture. This circumstance was of great importance in the process of the formation of classes and the creation of the state.
If for the 8th century we know so far only a few workshops, and in general the craft was of a domestic nature, then in the next, 9th century, their number increases significantly. Masters now produce products not only for themselves, their families, but for the entire community. Long-distance trade relations are gradually strengthening, various products are sold on the market in exchange for silver, furs, agricultural products and other goods.
In the ancient Russian settlements of the 9th-10th centuries, archaeologists have unearthed workshops for the production of pottery, foundry, jewelry, bone carving and others. The improvement of labor tools, the invention of new technology made it possible for individual members of the community to produce alone various things necessary for the household, in such quantities that they could be sold.
The development of agriculture and the separation of crafts from it, the weakening of tribal ties within communities, the growth of property inequality, and then the emergence of private property - the enrichment of some at the expense of others - all this formed a new mode of production - feudal. Together with him, the early feudal state gradually arose in Russia.
Forging metal in Russia
In Russia, iron was known to the early Slavs. The oldest method of metal processing is forging. At first, ancient people beat spongy iron with mallets in a cold state in order to "squeeze the juice out of it", i.e. remove impurities. Then they guessed to heat the metal and give it the desired shape. In the X-XI centuries, thanks to the development of metallurgy and other crafts, the Slavs had a plow and a plow with an iron plowshare. On the territory of ancient Kyiv, archaeologists find sickles, door locks and other things made by blacksmiths, gunsmiths and jewelers.
In the 11th century, metallurgical production was already widespread, both in the city and in the countryside. The Russian principalities were located in the zone of ore deposits, and blacksmiths were almost everywhere provided with raw materials. Small factories with a semi-mechanized blowing process, a mill drive, worked on it. The first chimney was an ordinary hearth in a dwelling. Special bugles appeared later. For fire safety purposes, they were located at the edge of the settlements. The early kilns were round pits one meter in diameter thickly covered with clay, dug into the ground. Their popular name is "wolf pits". In the 10th century, above-ground stoves appeared, the air was pumped into them with the help of leather bellows.
The furs were inflated by hand. And this work made the cooking process very difficult. Archaeologists still find signs of local metal production on the settlements - waste from the cheese-making process in the form of slag. At the end of the “cooking” of iron, the domnitsa was broken, foreign impurities were removed, and the kritsa was removed from the furnace with a crowbar. The hot cry was captured by pincers and carefully forged. Forging removed slag particles from the surface of the crown and eliminated the porosity of the metal. After forging, the kritsa was again heated and again placed under the hammer. This operation was repeated several times. For a new smelting, the upper part of the house was restored or rebuilt. In later domnitsa, the front part was no longer broken, but disassembled, and the molten metal flowed into clay containers.
But, despite the wide distribution of raw materials, iron smelting was carried out by far not in every settlement. The complexity of the process singled out blacksmiths from the community and made them the first artisans. In ancient times, blacksmiths themselves smelted the metal and then forged it. Necessary accessories for a blacksmith - a forge (smelting furnace) for heating a cracker, a poker, a crowbar (pick), an iron shovel, an anvil, a hammer (sledgehammer), a variety of tongs for extracting red-hot iron from the furnace and working with it - a set of tools necessary for smelting and forging works. The hand forging technique remained almost unchanged until the 19th century, but even fewer authentic ancient forges of history are known than domnits, although archaeologists periodically discover many forged iron products in the settlements and mounds, and their tools in the burials of blacksmiths: pincers, hammer, anvil, casting accessories .
Written sources have not preserved to us the forging technique and the basic techniques of ancient Russian blacksmiths. But the study of ancient forged products allows historians to say that the ancient Russian blacksmiths knew all the most important techniques: welding, punching holes, torsion, riveting plates, welding steel blades and hardening steel. In each forge, as a rule, two blacksmiths worked - a master and an apprentice. In the XI-XIII centuries. the foundry partly became isolated, and the blacksmiths took up the direct forging of iron products. In ancient Russia, any metal worker was called a blacksmith: "blacksmith of iron", "blacksmith of copper", "blacksmith of silver".
Simple forged products were made with a chisel. The technology of using an insert and welding a steel blade was also used. The simplest forged products include: knives, hoops and buds for tubs, nails, sickles, scythes, chisels, awls, shovels and pans, i.e. items that do not require special techniques. Any blacksmith alone could make them. More complex forged products: chains, door breaks, iron rings from belts and harnesses, bits, lighters, spears - already required welding, which was carried out by experienced blacksmiths with the help of an apprentice.
Masters welded iron, heating it to a temperature of 1500 degrees C, the achievement of which was determined by sparks of white-hot metal. Holes were punched with a chisel in ears for tubs, plowshares for plows, hoes. The puncher made holes in scissors, tongs, keys, boat rivets, on spears (for fastening to the shaft), on the shrouds of shovels. The blacksmith could carry out these techniques only with the help of an assistant. After all, he needed to hold a red-hot piece of iron with tongs, which, given the small size of the anvils of that time, was not easy, to hold and guide the chisel, to hit the chisel with a hammer.
It was difficult to make axes, spears, hammers and locks. The ax was forged using iron inserts and welding strips of metal. Spears were forged from a large triangular piece of iron. The base of the triangle was twisted into a tube, a conical iron insert was inserted into it, and then the spear bushing was welded and the rampage was forged. Iron cauldrons were made from several large plates, the edges of which were riveted with iron rivets. The iron twisting operation was used to create screws from tetrahedral rods. The above assortment of blacksmith products exhausts all the peasant inventory needed for building a house, agriculture, hunting and defense. Old Russian blacksmiths X-XIII centuries. mastered all the basic techniques of iron processing and determined the technical level of the village forges for centuries.
The basic form of sickle and short-handled scythe were found in the 9th-11th centuries. Old Russian axes have undergone a significant change in the X-XIII centuries. acquired a form close to modern. The saw was not used in rural architecture. Iron nails were widely used for carpentry work. They are almost always found in every burial with a coffin. The nails had a tetrahedral shape with a bent top. By the 9th-10th centuries, patrimonial, rural and urban crafts already existed in Kievan Rus. Russian urban craft entered the 11th century with a rich stock of technical skills. Village and city were still completely separated until that time. Served by artisans, the village lived in a small closed world. The sales area was extremely small: 10-15 kilometers in radius.
The city blacksmiths were more skilled craftsmen than the village blacksmiths. During the excavations of ancient Russian cities, it turned out that almost every city house was the dwelling of an artisan. From the beginning of the existence of the Kievan state, they showed great skill in forging iron and steel of a wide variety of objects - from a heavy plowshare and a helmet with patterned iron lace to thin needles; arrows and chain mail rings riveted with miniature rivets; weapons and household implements from barrows of the 9th-10th centuries. In addition to blacksmithing, they owned metalwork and weapons. All these crafts have some similarities in the ways of working iron and steel. Therefore, quite often artisans engaged in one of these crafts combined it with others. In the cities, the technique of smelting iron was more perfect than in the countryside. City forges, as well as domnitsa, were usually located on the outskirts of the city. The equipment of urban forges differed from the village ones - by greater complexity.
The city anvil made it possible, firstly, to forge things that had a void inside, for example, a tribe, spear bushings, rings, and most importantly, it allowed the use of an assortment of figured linings for forgings of a complex profile. Such linings are widely used in modern blacksmithing when forging curved surfaces. Some forged products, starting from the 9th-10th centuries, bear traces of processing with the help of such linings. In those cases where two-sided processing was required, both the lining and the chisel-stamp of the same profile were obviously used to make the forging symmetrical. Linings and stamps were also used in the manufacture of battle axes.
The assortment of hammers, blacksmith tongs and chisels of urban blacksmiths was more diverse than that of their village counterparts: from small to huge. Starting from the IX-X centuries. Russian craftsmen used files to process iron. Old Russian city forges, metalwork and weapons workshops in the X-XIII centuries. had: forges, furs, simple anvils, anvils with a spur and a notch, inserts into the anvil (of various profiles), sledgehammer hammers, handbrake hammers, billhook hammers (for cutting) or chisels, punch hammers (beards), hand chisels, manual punches, simple tongs, tongs with hooks, small tongs, vise (primitive type), files, circular sharpeners. With the help of this diverse tool, which does not differ from the equipment of modern forges, Russian craftsmen prepared many different things.
Among them are agricultural implements (massive plowshares and coulters, plow knives, scythes, sickles, axes, honey cutters); tools for artisans (knives, adzes, chisels, saws, scrapers, spoons, punches and figured hammers of chasers, knives for planes, calipers for ornamenting bones, scissors, etc.); household items (nails, knives, wrought iron reliquaries, door breaks, staples, rings, buckles, needles, steelyards, weights, boilers, hearth chains, locks and keys, ship rivets, flints, bows and hoops of buckets, etc.); weapons, armor and harness (swords, shields, arrows, sabers, spears, battle axes, helmets, chain mail, bits, spurs, stirrups, whips, horseshoes, crossbows). The original complete isolation of artisans is beginning to be broken.
The production of weapons and military armor was especially developed. Swords and battle axes, quivers with arrows, sabers and knives, chain mail and shields were produced by master gunsmiths. The manufacture of weapons and armor was associated with especially careful metal processing, requiring skillful work techniques. Although the swords that existed in Russia in the 9th-10th centuries are mainly Frankish blades, archaeologists, nevertheless, in their excavations discover the presence of artisans-gunsmiths among Russian townspeople of the 9th-10th centuries. In a number of burials, bundles of forged rings for iron chain mail were found, which are often found in Russian military barrows from the 9th century. The ancient name of chain mail - armor - is often found on the pages of the annals. Making chain mail was labor intensive.
Technological operations included: iron wire forging, welding, joining and riveting of iron rings. Archaeologists discovered the burial of a chain mail master of the 10th century. In the 9th-10th centuries, chain mail became an obligatory accessory of Russian armor. The ancient name of chain mail - armor - is often found on the pages of the annals. True, opinions are expressed about the origin of Russian chain mail about receiving them either from nomads or from the countries of the East. Nevertheless, the Arabs, noting the presence of chain mail among the Slavs, do not mention their import from outside. And the abundance of chain mail in the guard mounds may indicate that chain mail craftsmen worked in Russian cities. The same applies to helmets. Russian historians believe that the Varangian helmets differed too sharply in their conical shape. Russian helmets-shishaks were riveted from iron wedge-shaped strips.
The famous helmet of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, thrown by him on the battlefield of Lipetsk in 1216, belongs to this type of helmet. It is an excellent example of Russian weapons and jewelry of the XII-XIII centuries. The tradition has affected the overall shape of the helmet, but technically it is very different from the helmets of the 9th-10th centuries. Its entire body is forged from one piece, and not riveted from separate plates. This made the helmet significantly lighter and stronger.
Even more skill was required from the master gunsmith. An example of jewelry work in the weapons technology of the XII-XIII centuries is, as is believed, the light steel hatchet of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. The surface of the metal is covered with notches, and on these notches (in the hot state) sheet silver is stuffed, on top of which an ornament is applied with engraving, gilding and niello. Oval or almond-shaped shields were made of wood with an iron core and iron fittings.
A special place in blacksmithing and weapons business was occupied by steel and hardening of steel products. Even among the village kurgan axes of the 11th-13th centuries, a welded-on steel blade is found. Steel's hardness, flexibility, easy weldability and ability to accept hardening were well known to the Romans. But hardfacing steel has always been considered the most difficult task in all blacksmithing, because. iron and steel have different welding temperatures. Steel hardening, i.e. more or less rapid cooling of a red-hot object in water or in another way is also well known to the ancient blacksmiths of Russia. Urban blacksmithing was distinguished by a variety of techniques, the complexity of the equipment and the many specialties associated with this production. In the XI-XIII centuries, urban craftsmen worked for a wide market, i.e. production is on the rise.
The list of urban artisans includes ironsmiths, domniks, gunsmiths, armor makers, shield makers, helmet makers, arrow makers, locksmiths, nail makers. In the XII century, the development of the craft continues. In metal, Russian masters embodied a bizarre mixture of Christian and archaic pagan images, combining all this with local Russian motifs and plots. Improvements continue in the craft technique aimed at increasing the mass production. Posad craftsmen imitate the products of court craftsmen. In the XIII century, a number of new craft centers were created with their own characteristics in technology and style.
But we do not observe any decline in the craft from the second half of the 12th century, as it is sometimes asserted, either in Kyiv or in other places. On the contrary, culture grows, covering new areas and inventing new techniques. In the second half of the 12th century and in the 13th century, despite the unfavorable conditions of feudal fragmentation, Russian craft reached its fullest technical and artistic flourishing. The development of feudal relations and feudal ownership of land in the XII - the first half of the XIII century. caused a change in the form of the political system, which found its expression in feudal fragmentation, i.e. creation of relatively independent states-principalities. During this period, blacksmithing, plumbing and weapons, forging and stamping continued to develop in all principalities. In rich farms, more and more plows with iron shares began to appear. Masters are looking for new ways of working. In the 12th-13th centuries, Novgorod gunsmiths, using a new technology, began to manufacture saber blades of much greater strength, hardness and flexibility.
Do not rely on someone else's opinion, book "truths" or what great people say, know that this is their experience, you have to go through everything on your own.
It has its pros and cons, restrictions associated with time, the ability to move to study, and so on, if you are interested in institutions, follow the following link.
Option 2 - get a job as a blacksmith apprentice
I recently received an email from a visitor to a site about blacksmithing, it was about learning to be a blacksmith. Or rather, where to learn blacksmithing. It can be seen that people are interested in forging and there are people who want to work as blacksmiths. Therefore, I decided to write this post about where to find blacksmithing training. I think that my answer to the letter can help not only Andrey, but also everyone who wants to become a blacksmith.
There is not much time to write, so I quote the correspondence.
Hello, Alexey Valerievich.
I really like working with metal, but unfortunately, mastering this craft is very difficult.
A big request to you - can you tell me where you can unlearn a blacksmith and master artistic forging, do they take students in this specialty?
Thanks in advance, best regards.
I am glad that there are people who want to become blacksmiths. Answered:
Hello Andrey!
I received a letter from you with a question and I am happy to answer.
As for training as a blacksmith, if you are interested in a specific educational institution, then I can hardly help you, because I don’t even know where you live, in which region. But I'll tell you a more practical way: find a forge in your area and try to get a job as a blacksmith's apprentice. Even if it's for a low salary. So I did 12 years ago and have no regrets. It is much more practical than studying theory. You can work with masters of their craft and learn different subtleties not only from their lips, but also by watching how they work.
And if there are no forges in your area (although then all the more so, there are no forging educational institutions there) - then study for yourself, for example, with me on my website. After all, I myself am mastering artistic forging at home, having some experience as an industrial blacksmith and very little experience in artistic blacksmithing. I write about my business in a blog and also often skilled blacksmiths come to my site and also share their experience.
Option 3 - self-taught
If the first and second options did not fit, are undesirable or impossible, then there is a third - to study on your own from books and the Internet.
In fact, making a forge is not difficult. If you wish, you can forge something by equipping a place in the garage, shed, under a canopy. See. If you have a dacha or a private house, then you can do forging in the yard. , get a hammer and go. The blacksmith makes many devices himself, and you will do it with the help of and. If you have questions or doubts, ask, we will help with advice.
There is a lot of information on this topic on our website:
- The heading "" contains a lot of materials on the theory and practice of blacksmithing.
- The heading "" examines in detail the manufacture of specific forged products (tools and artistic forging).
- The heading "" teaches the basics from simple to complex, blacksmithing.
If you want to learn forging on your own, equip a forge with your own hands, but are experiencing difficulties, insecurity, you can
The first metals mastered by people were gold, silver, copper and its alloys. This is due to the existence of these metals in a native form, chemical resistance and ease of their processing in a cold state. The fusibility of copper made it the first metal smelted by man. The oldest finds of copper products date back to the 7th millennium BC. e. These were jewelry forged from native copper (beads, tubes folded from flattened sheets ...). Then metallurgical copper and copper alloys with other metals appear (regardless of composition, bronzes are called by historians). It was alloys (arsenic, tin and other bronzes), due to their greater hardness and wear resistance, that took first place as a technological metal (tool material). They also became the basis of the emerging metallurgy of alloys.
Ore deposits of copper with access to the surface are not numerous. Places of copper mining, important for the development of the ancient world, were located in Asia Minor, whose inhabitants were the first to master the art of mining and smelting copper. So, in Egypt, where the deposits of copper ore are negligible, it was imported from the Sinai Peninsula. The ancient Egyptians denoted copper with the hieroglyph "ankh", denoting eternal life, the planet Venus and the female gender. The Greek name for copper "chalkos" is derived from the name of the main city of the island of Euboea, on which there was a deposit, from where the ancient Greeks first began to obtain copper. The Roman, and then the Latin name for the metal "cuprum" comes from the Latin name of the island of Cyprus (in turn, derived from the Assyrian "kipar" = copper). Copper was mainly smelted on the island and exported in the form of ingots, in the form of stretched oxhide. Ore was also exported to countries that were close, such as Syria. This is evidenced by the finds of ore in Ras Shamra (analyses confirm the origin).
One of the regions rich in copper ores was the mountains of the Caucasus, especially Transcaucasia, where more than four hundred ancient copper deposits are known. On the basis of deposits in Transcaucasia at the beginning of the III millennium BC. e. there is its own metallurgical hearth. Already from the middle of the III millennium BC. e. The Caucasus supplied the steppe tribes of the Northern Black Sea, Don and Volga regions with its metallurgical products and retained this role for almost 1000 years. Therefore, the first period in the history of metallurgy in Eastern Europe is quite rightly called the Caucasian. However, there were other centers, such as, for example, the Dono-Donetsk region, where there is archaeological evidence of independent smelting of copper by the tribes of the Catacomb culture, from the copper ore deposits of the Donetsk Ridge.
Basically, the Copper Age of Eastern Europe arose on "imported" material. Copper for items found on the lands of modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are of Balkan, Caucasian and South Ural origin. So the finds of copper products in the proto-cities of the Trypillia culture (Ukraine, Moldova) were created from Balkan copper. A lot of raw materials were obtained by the tribes of Eastern Europe from the deposits of the Dzungarian and Zailiysky Alatau (modern Kazakhstan) and even workings in the Sayans. They were brought with them by the nomadic peoples of the Great Steppe. Rarely, but there are products made of copper from Scandinavian deposits.
Talking about the blacksmiths of the "copper age" is not entirely correct. Actually blacksmith forging was rarely used for processing, more often the product was cast. The fact is that copper is different in properties from iron. If a copper object is heated and thrown into water, it will not become harder (harden), but will become softer (annealing or tempering). Copper only gets harder with time. An artificial way to make the cutting edge of a copper product harder is hardening (a series of light blows). Long before the arrival of the Slavs in Eastern Europe, the ancient peoples of Eurasia mastered various casting technologies: in an open and then in a closed mold, and the most advanced technique - investment casting. Most of the copper products were made in the "rough" right at the place of extraction. For example, in the southern Urals, it is not uncommon to find batches of cast bronze sickles prepared for further sale.
In fact, forging (impact) technologies for copper products at that time mainly concerned finishing - chasing, engraving, polishing or coating products (fragments) with blackening, gold or silver ... At the turn of the 2-3 millennium, information appeared that corrected the opinion about the established ideas about the history of metallurgy Europe as the periphery of ancient Eastern civilizations. Based on archaeological research carried out up to 2001 at the sites of the Danube region (Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and eastern Serbia), archaeometallurgists came to the conclusion that the Vinca civilization (5500-4000 BC) was familiar with the mining, smelting and processing of copper to the Middle East regions. The source of the metal was the early Eneolithic mines, such as Rudna Glava (near Maidanpek), the Belovode and Belolitsa deposits (near Petrovets on Mlava) ... Perhaps here is the cradle of European metallurgy.
iron age
Man has known iron (Fe) for a very long time, but it was meteoric iron. In 1818, the polar expedition of the Englishman J. Ross found a large iron meteorite on the shore of Melville Bay (Melville Bay) in the northeast of Greenland. At the end of the 19th century, one of the expeditions of Robert Peary to the north of Greenland (near Cape York) found a huge iron meteorite (weighing about 34 tons). For many years, the Eskimos separated small pieces of iron from these "heavenly stones" and made knives and harpoon tips and other tools from them. Ancient chronicles speak of weapons made from the "metal of the sky", which belonged to heroes or generals. Products made of meteoric iron are easily distinguished by their high nickel content. But this resource did not satisfy the needs of mankind.
Around 1200 BC, the "Iron Age" began - a person crossed the temperature barrier and learned how to get iron from ores. An open fire (bonfire flame) can give a temperature of 600-700˚С. Temperatures of 800-1000˚С are obtained in a closed pottery furnace, and there is already a possibility of obtaining grains of pure metal. Only in a cheese-blast furnace can temperatures up to 1100˚-1300˚С be ensured. and confidently receive reduced iron. Metal grains are interspersed in a spongy mass of oxides and slags (critsu). This was not a surprise for the ancient smelters - molten copper is characterized by active gas absorption, so castings from it also turn out to be spongy, porous and require further forging. Therefore, the cooled iron crack is crushed, pieces with metal are taken away and forged again. Only in furnaces of a special design (with intensive pressurization) does the metal melt and flow into the lower part of the hearth, so that the slag floats on it. This technology leads to the carburization of iron and the production of cast iron, which is not amenable to forging.
Traditionally, the discovery of iron smelting from ores is attributed to the Asia Minor people of the Khalibs, because the Greek name for iron (steel) Χάλυβας comes from this people. Aristotle left a description of the "Khalib" process of obtaining iron, from enrichment by rock flotation to smelting using certain additives (flux? alloying?). It follows from the text that the resulting metal was silver in color and did not rust! Indeed, the first samples of iron of terrestrial origin were found in the Middle East in the form of small shapeless lumps (Che-ger-Bozer, Iraq) and date back to 3000 BC. The most ancient iron products also include two items found during excavations in Egypt: one in a pyramid built 2900 BC, and the other in Abydos in a burial ground built 300 years later.
According to scientists, metallurgy arose independently in a number of places on the globe - different peoples mastered it at different times. This was facilitated by a much greater distribution of iron-containing compounds than copper-containing ones. So everywhere different peoples mastered the process of obtaining iron from "meadow" ores. These raw materials are loose, porous formations, consisting mainly of limonite with an admixture of iron oxide hydrates, sand (clay) with phosphoric, humic and silicic acids. It is formed by subsoil waters with the participation of microorganisms in marshes and wet meadows. Thanks to the biological component, this raw material is constantly renewed, and for local needs, such a source in the initial stage of the development of iron production was "inexhaustible" and widespread.
Smelting and processing of iron
Many blacksmiths bought finished metal from smelters, which they could melt, pour into a mold, stamp, draw, bend, twist, forge, mint, weld into a single product (forge welding), etc. All these techniques, like iron metallurgy, were known to various peoples (Baltic, Fino-Ugric and Turkic) of Eastern Europe long before the appearance of the Slavs. Many peoples of the Asian part of the former USSR knew and processed iron. Shoeing horses is related to both blacksmithing and veterinary orthopedics.
Forging
For details see: forging.
Forging is the main technical action of a blacksmith. It includes drawing, cutting, upsetting, stitching, bending, torsion (twisting), finishing, embossing of a pattern, relief and texture printing, and in addition, forge welding, casting, copper brazing, heat treatment of products, etc. It is produced exclusively with heated metal, which fundamentally distinguishes blacksmiths from locksmiths, craftsmen in cold metal working. Originally, the word locksmith meant "locksmith", from the German lock (Schloss) or key (Schlüssel). In the future, before the appearance of machine tool masters, this was the name of all craftsmen who processed metal with cold. For example, blacksmiths and locksmiths can connect individual parts into a single product with one technique - riveting, but forging (forge welding) is exclusively a blacksmith's technique, just like soldering is a plumbing one.
A large number of identical shaped metal products can be made by stamping, which can be hot or cold. This method is also referred to as blacksmithing and plumbing.
Casting
See more: casting.Instruments
In the forge you can find a lot of equipment, tools and fixtures. The main (mandatory) equipment includes temperature-setting: a hearth (a device for heating blanks) and a container with water (for cooling). This should also include a large (main) anvil. Blacksmith tools and accessories for manual forging can be divided into: the main one - with the help of which the workpiece is given the shape and dimensions corresponding to the original plan (drawing, sketch, drawing ...). Distinguish between support, percussion and auxiliary. Percussion: hammers (sledgehammers), hand hammers and various shaped hammers. Support: various anvils and spurs. Auxiliary: A) Various types of tongs and grippers, devices and small-scale mechanization ... They are used to capture, support and rotate workpieces during forging, as well as to transport them to perform other operations In general, everything that comes into contact with the workpiece, but does not participate in forging (does not apply to the anvil, hammer and working area of the workpiece). This also includes a vice and various devices (knobs, keys) used, for example, for torsion (twisting), a bending plate (steel plates with holes into which rods are inserted according to a given pattern and dimensions and a hot workpiece is bent around them). B) Chisels, blacksmith axes, undercuts, undercuts, which are used to cut (chop off) the workpiece to obtain a forging of the required length. C) Punches (barbs), firmware ... They punch (cut) holes of various shapes in the workpiece, and if necessary, expand them. Facilitate and speed up the work of a blacksmith fixtures, which can be divided into: overhead, underlay and paired. Overhead devices: Heels and trowels, clamping, crimping, rolling ... They are temporarily applied or installed on the surface of the workpiece and beaten with a hammer, which smoothes the surface or vice versa, deforms it, to reduce the thickness (of the entire profile), create thinnings (annular on round workpieces or grooves on the plates) ...
Backing tool: bottoms, special fixtures and forms. They put it between the workpiece and the anvil, after which they hit the workpiece. This is how the profile of the workpiece is bent or formed. Separately, there are nailers for forging heads (hats) of nails, bolts and other fastening tools. Pair instrument: consists of pairs of the two previous instruments. For example, it makes it possible to make a regular polyhedron from a cylinder.
Measuring (measuring) devices and devices: compasses, measuring compasses (with scales) and calipers, gauges of low accuracy (corks, rings), iron rulers and tape measures, goniometers, patterns, stencils and others. All of them are used to control the size and shape of the workpiece. Separately, there are various pyrometers to measure the temperature of the processed part of the workpiece and the combustion zone of the forge.
Only the main tools, equipment and devices are named and classified. In addition to them, there are many others, with the help of which blacksmiths used to perform a lot of specific operations, which are currently fully automated in industrial enterprises. So drawing boards were used for drawing (manufacturing) wire. These are steel plates with a number of calibrated holes, the diameter of which increases with a given step. The blacksmith took a workpiece (rod), heated it along its entire length, processed (narrowed) one of the edges with a handbrake, inserted boards into the hole, on the other hand grabbed the end with tongs and pulled the workpiece through the hole. Thus, he evenly reduced the diameter of the workpiece and lengthened it (hood). Then the workpiece was released in the hearth and pulled through the next hole, of a smaller diameter.
Products
Blacksmiths made a huge number of items necessary for human existence:
- instruments
- weapon
- building elements
- decorations, etc.
With the onset of industrialization, manual production was replaced by factory production. Modern blacksmiths, as a rule, are engaged in manual artistic forging and make piece products. Nowadays, the term is also used in the sense of a worker in a forge and press shop (for example, "blacksmith-puncher")
Archetypal blacksmith
In Russian villages, it was believed that a blacksmith could not only forge a plow or a sword, but also heal diseases, arrange weddings, tell fortunes, drive away evil spirits from the village. In epic tales, it was the blacksmith who defeated the Serpent Gorynychby chaining him by the tongue.
In "pre-Petrine" Russia, state blacksmiths were service people "according to the instrument" and received a salary from the state treasury. In the suburban Cossack regiments, blacksmiths were non-combatant Cossacks-"assistants" and took part in campaigns. In the cavalry units and horse artillery of the Russian army and the Red Army, until the middle of the 20th century, there were also full-time positions of blacksmiths.
Due to the fact that blacksmiths stood out from the general mass of the people earlier than others, and due to the fact that usually a blacksmith was a respected, fairly wealthy person, one of the most common surnames in the world is based on this profession - the all-Russian surname Kuznetsov, as well as Koval , Kovalev , Kovalchuk , Kovalenko, Kovalyuk (ukr.), Kovalsky, Kowalczyk (Polish), Smith (English), Schmidt (German), Lefevre, Ferrand (fr.), Herrero (Spanish), Darbinyan (arm.), Mchedlidze (cargo.), Chkadua (Megr.), Azhiba (abh.), Sepp (est.), Seppenen (fin.) etc.
Blacksmith in mythology, religion and literature
In the myths of ancient civilizations, the blacksmith god appears as a demiurge, the organizer of the world order, the initiator of the emergence of crafts. Often he is either a thunderer, or is associated with him (for example, he forges lightning), and also with the Sun. He may be characterized by lameness, curvature, hunchback, etc. - in ancient tribes, defective boys who could not become full-fledged hunters or warriors were given to blacksmiths as apprentices. In ancient times, blacksmiths could deliberately damage their legs so that they could not run away and join a foreign tribe. As a result, they became "master-priests", associated with secret knowledge, not only crafts, but also religious (hence the special mind of blacksmith heroes). In some tribes, blacksmiths merge with kings. The possession of blacksmithing was also attributed to mythical dwarfs, gnomes, cyclops, etc. In myths, the blacksmith is often a cultural hero. 
Ancient characters
- Hephaestus- the ancient Greek god of blacksmithing, the first master god
- Volcano- the ancient Roman god of blacksmithing, identified with Hephaestus
- Ceflans- Etruscan deity of underground fire, blacksmith god, corresponds to the Roman Vulcan
Celtic and Scandinavian characters
- Goibniou- Celtic blacksmith god, whose name even comes from the word "blacksmith".
- Gofannon- analogue of Goibniu among the Welsh
- Thor- Scandinavian god of thunder
- Velund (Volund, Weyland)- a blacksmith in Scandinavian mythology, a character in the "Song of Velund" in the Elder Edda. In the Arthurian legend cycle, he is credited with the creation of the sword Excalibur. In German legends, with the advent of Christianity, he ceased to be a deity and became the name of Satan (in the German pronunciation "Woland") - see Goethe's Faust character, from where he migrated to Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The lameness of Satan has the same roots as the lameness of Hephaestus
- Mimir- Dwarf blacksmith who taught Siegfried (also the blacksmith's son)
- Irish blacksmith Coolanne whose dog was killed by Cuchulainn
- Calvis- the blacksmith god of Baltic mythology, who “forged” the Sun, like the Finnish god Ilmarinen(see "Kalevala"), Finno-Ugric Ilmarine, Karelian Ilmoillin and Udmurt god Inmar, also Telyavel
Slavic characters
- East Slavic cue
- Perun- ancient Slavic god of thunder
- Svarog- Old Slavic blacksmith god (?)
Asian characters
- Khasamil- god hatti
- Targitai- god of the Scythians
- Vishvakarman- hindu god
- Tvashtar- divine blacksmith, asura demon of Indian mythology
- blacksmiths Shyashvy, Ainar and Tlepsh in Abkhazian mythology (see the Nart epic). Also Phyarmat
- Pirkushi- blacksmith of Georgian mythology
- Kava- in the Persian epic Shahnameh, a blacksmith hero who rebelled against the tyrant Zahhak. Khlebnikov's poem "Kave the Blacksmith" is dedicated to him.
- Qusar-i-Khusas- in West Semitic mythology, who helped Balu
- Amatsumara- Japanese blacksmith god who created a mirror that needs to lure out Amaterasu
- Sumaoro at the Mandings in Africa, Sundyata. Able to become invisible, one of the qualities of divine blacksmiths and the items they create.
- Kurdalagon- the divine blacksmith in the Ossetian version of the Nart epic. Tempered the miracle hero Batradz.
Biblical, Christian, folklore and literary characters
- biblical Cain, the killer of the shepherd Abel, according to one of the apocryphal versions, was a blacksmith. Has a physical handicap - the so-called. the “seal of Cain” with which God marked him.
- Jewish Tubal-Cain (Tubalcain, Fovel), kabir, "father of all blacksmiths", 7th generation from Cain. In addition, this name is used in the ritual of the third degree of Freemasonry. Descendant of Cain in the 6th generation.
- blacksmith st. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, (c. 588-660) - patron of gold and silver craftsmen and chasers.
- St. dunstan who shoed Satan - the patron of blacksmiths and jewelers
- Ilmarinen is a character in the Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala.
- folk hero Kosmodemyan(Kuzmodemyan)
- blacksmith Vakula, a character from Gogol's "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" - is the son of the witch Solokha and tames the devil
- cunning Lefty, Leskov's hero
- Blacksmith of Great Wootton- the hero of Tolkien's work of the same name
- Aule - Tolkien has the third most powerful of the Valar, the blacksmith of Arda, in his competence is solid matter and crafts; gnome maker; teacher of the Noldor, husband of Yavanna Kementari.
- Jason Ogg, the son of Nanny Ogg, is a minor character in the books by Terry Pratchett. For generations, representatives of his family, blacksmiths, have been shoeing the horse of Death.
- The blacksmith bear from The Pit by Andrey Platonov.
- Cossack blacksmith Ippolit Shaly from the novel Virgin Soil Upturned by Mikhail Sholokhov.
see also
Write a review on the article "Blacksmith"
Notes
Links
An excerpt characterizing the Blacksmith
- Well, au revoir, [goodbye,] goodbye. See?- So tomorrow you will report to the sovereign?
- Certainly, but I do not promise Kutuzov.
“No, promise, promise, Basile, [Vasily],” Anna Mikhailovna said after him, with a smile of a young coquette, which once must have been characteristic of her, but now did not suit her emaciated face.
She apparently forgot her years and used, out of habit, all the old women's means. But as soon as he left, her face again assumed the same cold, feigned expression that had been on it before. She returned to the circle, in which the viscount continued to talk, and again pretended to be listening, waiting for the time to leave, since her business was done.
“But how do you find all this latest comedy du sacre de Milan?” [Milanese anointing?] – said Anna Pavlovna. Et la nouvelle comedie des peuples de Genes et de Lucques, qui viennent presenter leurs voeux a M. Buonaparte assis sur un trone, et exaucant les voeux des nations! Adorable! Non, mais c "est a en devenir folle! On dirait, que le monde entier a perdu la tete. [And here is a new comedy: the peoples of Genoa and Lucca express their desires to Mr. Bonaparte. And Mr. Bonaparte sits on the throne and fulfills the wishes of the peoples. 0! It's amazing! No, it's crazy. You'll think the whole world has lost its head.]
Prince Andrei grinned, looking directly into the face of Anna Pavlovna.
- “Dieu me la donne, gare a qui la touche,” he said (the words of Bonaparte, spoken at the laying of the crown). - On dit qu "il a ete tres beau en prononcant ces paroles, [God gave me the crown. Trouble for the one who touches it. - They say he was very good pronouncing these words,] - he added and repeated these words again in Italian: "Dio mi la dona, guai a chi la tocca".
- J "espere enfin," continued Anna Pavlovna, "que ca a ete la goutte d" eau qui fera deborder le verre. Les souverains ne peuvent plus supporter cet homme, qui menace tout. [I hope that it was finally the drop that would overflow the glass. Sovereigns can no longer tolerate this man who threatens everything.]
– Les souverains? Je ne parle pas de la Russie,” said the viscount politely and hopelessly: “Les souverains, madame!” Qu "ont ils fait pour Louis XVII, pour la reine, pour madame Elisabeth? Rien," he continued animatedly. - Et croyez moi, ils subissent la punition pour leur trahison de la cause des Bourbons. Les souverains? Ils envoient des ambassadeurs complimenter l "usurpateur. [Sovereigns! I'm not talking about Russia. Sovereigns! But what did they do for Louis XVII, for the Queen, for Elisabeth? Nothing. And believe me, they are punished for their betrayal of the Bourbon cause. Sovereigns! They send envoys to greet the stealer of the throne.]
And he, with a contemptuous sigh, changed his position again. Prince Hippolyte, who had been looking at the viscount through a lorgnette for a long time, suddenly, at these words, turned his whole body to the little princess and, asking her for a needle, began to show her, drawing with a needle on the table, the coat of arms of Condé. He explained this coat of arms to her with such a significant air, as if the princess asked him about it.
- Baton de gueules, engrele de gueules d "azur - maison Conde, [A phrase that cannot be translated literally, as it consists of conditional heraldic terms that are not quite accurately used. The general meaning is this: The coat of arms of Conde represents a shield with red and blue narrow jagged stripes ,] he said.
The princess, smiling, listened.
“If Bonaparte remains on the throne of France for another year,” the viscount continued the conversation that had begun, with the air of a man who does not listen to others, but in a matter that he knows best of all, following only the course of his thoughts, “then things will go too far. By intrigue, violence, expulsions, executions, society, I mean a good society, French, will be destroyed forever, and then ...
He shrugged and spread his arms. Pierre wanted to say something: the conversation interested him, but Anna Pavlovna, who was guarding him, interrupted him.
“The Emperor Alexander,” she said with the sadness that always accompanied her speeches about the imperial family, “announced that he would leave the French themselves to choose their form of government. And I think there is no doubt that the whole nation, freed from the usurper, will throw itself into the hands of the rightful king, ”said Anna Pavlovna, trying to be kind to the emigrant and royalist.
“That is doubtful,” said Prince Andrei. - Monsieur le vicomte [Mr. Viscount] quite rightly believes that things have already gone too far. I think it will be difficult to go back to the old one.
“As far as I have heard,” Pierre, blushing, again intervened in the conversation, “almost all the nobility has already gone over to the side of Bonaparte.
“That’s what the Bonapartists say,” said the viscount, without looking at Pierre. “Now it is difficult to know the public opinion of France.
- Bonaparte l "a dit, [Bonaparte said this,] - said Prince Andrei with a grin.
(It was obvious that he did not like the viscount, and that, although he did not look at him, he turned his speeches against him.)
- “Je leur ai montre le chemin de la gloire,” he said after a short silence, again repeating Napoleon’s words: “ils n" en ont pas voulu; je leur ai ouvert mes antichambres, ils se sont precipites en foule "... Je ne sais pas a quel point il a eu le droit de le dire [I showed them the path of glory: they did not want; I opened my front ones to them: they rushed in a crowd ... I don’t know to what extent he had the right to say so.]
- Aucun, [None,] - objected the viscount. “After the murder of the duke, even the most biased people stopped seeing him as a hero. Si meme ca a ete un heros pour certaines gens, - said the viscount, turning to Anna Pavlovna, - depuis l "assassinat du duc il y a un Marietyr de plus dans le ciel, un heros de moins sur la terre. [If he was hero for some people, then after the murder of the duke, there was one more martyr in heaven and one less hero on earth.]
Anna Pavlovna and the others had not yet had time to appreciate these words of the viscount with a smile, when Pierre again broke into the conversation, and Anna Pavlovna, although she had a presentiment that he would say something indecent, could no longer stop him.
“The execution of the Duke of Enghien,” said Monsieur Pierre, “was a state necessity; and I see precisely the greatness of the soul in the fact that Napoleon was not afraid to take responsibility for this act alone.
– Dieul mon Dieu! [God! my God!] - Anna Pavlovna said in a terrible whisper.
- Comment, M. Pierre, vous trouvez que l "assassinat est grandeur d" ame, [How, Monsieur Pierre, you see the greatness of the soul in murder,] said the little princess, smiling and moving her work towards her.
- Ah! Oh! different voices said.
— Capital! [Excellent!] - Prince Ippolit said in English and began to beat his knee with his palm.
The Viscount just shrugged. Pierre solemnly looked over his glasses at the audience.
“The reason I say this,” he went on desperately, “is that the Bourbons fled from the revolution, leaving the people to anarchy; and only Napoleon knew how to understand the revolution, to defeat it, and therefore, for the common good, he could not stop before the life of one person.
Would you like to go to that table? Anna Pavlovna said.
But Pierre, without answering, continued his speech.
“No,” he said, becoming more and more animated, “Napoleon is great because he rose above the revolution, suppressed its abuses, retained all that was good—the equality of citizens, and freedom of speech and the press—and only because of that did he acquire power.
“Yes, if he, having taken power, without using it for murder, would have given it to the rightful king,” said the viscount, “then I would call him a great man.”
“He couldn't have done it. The people gave him power only so that he would deliver him from the Bourbons, and because the people saw him as a great man. The revolution was a great thing,” continued Monsieur Pierre, showing with this desperate and defiant introductory sentence his great youth and desire to express more and more fully.
- Revolution and regicide is a great thing? ... After that ... don’t you want to go to that table? repeated Anna Pavlovna.
- Contrat social, [Social contract,] - the viscount said with a meek smile.
“I'm not talking about regicide. I'm talking about ideas.
“Yes, the ideas of robbery, murder and regicide,” the ironic voice interrupted again.
- These were extremes, of course, but not in them all the meaning, but the meaning in human rights, in emancipation from prejudices, in the equality of citizens; and all these ideas Napoleon retained in all their force.
“Liberty and equality,” the viscount said contemptuously, as if he had finally decided to seriously prove to this young man the stupidity of his speeches, “all big words that have long been compromised. Who doesn't love freedom and equality? Even our Savior preached freedom and equality. Did people become happier after the revolution? Against. We wanted freedom, but Bonaparte destroyed it.
Prince Andrei looked with a smile first at Pierre, then at the viscount, then at the hostess. At the first minute of Pierre's antics, Anna Pavlovna was horrified, despite her habit of being in the world; but when she saw that, despite the blasphemous speeches uttered by Pierre, the viscount did not lose his temper, and when she was convinced that it was no longer possible to hush up these speeches, she gathered her strength and, joining the viscount, attacked the speaker.
- Mais, mon cher m r Pierre, [But, my dear Pierre,] - said Anna Pavlovna, - how do you explain the great man who could execute the duke, finally, just a man, without trial and without guilt?
“I would like to ask,” said the viscount, “how the monsieur explains the 18th brumaire.” Isn't this cheating? C "est un escamotage, qui ne ressemble nullement a la maniere d" agir d "un grand homme. [This is cheating, not at all like the manner of a great man.]
“And the prisoners in Africa he killed?” said the little princess. - It's horrible! And she shrugged.
- C "est un roturier, vous aurez beau dire, [This is a rogue, no matter what you say,] - said Prince Hippolyte.
Monsieur Pierre did not know to whom to answer, looked around at everyone and smiled. His smile was not the same as other people's, merging with an unsmile. On the contrary, when a smile came, his serious and even somewhat gloomy face suddenly disappeared and another appeared - childish, kind, even stupid, and as if asking for forgiveness.
It became clear to the viscount, who saw him for the first time, that this Jacobin was not at all as terrible as his words. Everyone fell silent.
- How do you want him to answer all of a sudden? - said Prince Andrew. - Moreover, in the actions of a statesman, it is necessary to distinguish between the actions of a private person, a commander or an emperor. It seems to me.
“Yes, yes, of course,” Pierre picked up, delighted at the help that was coming to him.
“It’s impossible not to confess,” continued Prince Andrei, “Napoleon as a man is great on the Arkol bridge, in the hospital in Jaffa, where he gives a hand to the plague, but ... but there are other actions that are difficult to justify.
Prince Andrei, apparently wanting to soften the awkwardness of Pierre's speech, got up, getting ready to go and giving a sign to his wife.
Suddenly, Prince Hippolyte got up and, stopping everyone with signs of his hands and asking them to sit down, spoke:
- Ah! aujourd "hui on m" a raconte une anecdote moscovite, charmante: il faut que je vous en regale. Vous m "excusez, vicomte, il faut que je raconte en russe. Autrement on ne sentira pas le sel de l" histoire. [Today I was told a charming Moscow anecdote; you need to cheer them on. Excuse me, viscount, I'll tell you in Russian, otherwise the whole point of the joke will be lost.]
And Prince Hippolyte began to speak Russian with such a pronunciation as the French, who have spent a year in Russia, speak. Everyone paused: so animatedly, Prince Hippolyte urgently demanded attention to his history.
- In Moscou there is one lady, une dame. And she is very stingy. She had to have two valets de pied [footman] per carriage. And very large. It was her taste. And she had an une femme de chambre [maid] still tall. She said…
Here Prince Hippolyte fell into thought, apparently having difficulty thinking.
- She said ... yes, she said: "girl (a la femme de chambre), put on a livree [livery] and go with me, behind the carriage, faire des visites." [make visits.]
Here Prince Ippolit snorted and laughed much before his listeners, which made an unfavorable impression for the narrator. However, many, including the elderly lady and Anna Pavlovna, smiled.
- She went. Suddenly there was a strong wind. The girl lost her hat, and her long hair was combed ...
Here he could no longer hold on and began to laugh abruptly, and through this laughter he said:
And the whole world knows...
That's where the joke ends. Although it was not clear why he was telling it and why it had to be told without fail in Russian, Anna Pavlovna and others appreciated the secular courtesy of Prince Hippolyte, who so pleasantly ended Monsieur Pierre's unpleasant and ungracious trick. The conversation after the anecdote crumbled into small, insignificant talk about the future and the past ball, the performance, about when and where someone will see each other.
Thanking Anna Pavlovna for her charmante soiree, [a charming evening] the guests began to disperse.
Pierre was clumsy. Fat, taller than usual, broad, with huge red hands, he, as they say, did not know how to enter the salon and even less knew how to get out of it, that is, before leaving, to say something especially pleasant. Besides, he was scattered. Rising, instead of his hat, he grabbed a triangular hat with a general's plume and held it, pulling the sultan, until the general asked to return it. But all his absent-mindedness and inability to enter the salon and speak in it were redeemed by an expression of good nature, simplicity and modesty. Anna Pavlovna turned to him and, with Christian meekness expressing forgiveness for his outburst, nodded to him and said:
“I hope to see you again, but I also hope that you will change your mind, my dear Monsieur Pierre,” she said.
When she told him this, he did not answer anything, only leaned over and showed everyone once more his smile, which said nothing, except this: "Opinions are opinions, and you see what a kind and nice fellow I am." And everyone, including Anna Pavlovna, involuntarily felt it.
Prince Andrey went out into the ante-room and, leaning his shoulders on the footman who was putting on his cloak, listened indifferently to the chatter of his wife with Prince Hippolyte, who also went out into the ante-room. Prince Hippolyte stood beside the pretty, pregnant princess and stubbornly looked straight at her through his lorgnette.
“Go, Annette, you will catch a cold,” said the little princess, saying goodbye to Anna Pavlovna. - C "est arrete, [Done,]" she added quietly.
Anna Pavlovna had already managed to talk to Lisa about the matchmaking she was planning between Anatole and the sister-in-law of the little princess.
“I hope for you, dear friend,” Anna Pavlovna said, also quietly, “you will write to her and tell me, comment le pere envisagera la chose.” Au revoir, [How the father will look at the matter. Goodbye,] - and she left the hall.
Prince Hippolyte went up to the little princess and, bending his face close to her, began to say something to her in a whisper.
Two lackeys, one the princess, the other, waiting for them to finish talking, stood with a shawl and a redingote and listened to them, incomprehensible to them, French dialect with such faces as if they understood what was being said, but did not want to show it. The princess, as always, spoke with a smile and listened with a laugh.
“I am very glad that I didn’t go to the envoy,” Prince Hippolyte said: “boredom ... It’s a wonderful evening, isn’t it, wonderful?”
“They say that the ball will be very good,” answered the princess, twitching her sponge with her mustache. “All the beautiful women of society will be there.
- Not all, because you will not be there; not all,” said Prince Hippolyte, laughing joyfully, and, grabbing the shawl from the footman, even pushed him and began to put it on the princess.
From embarrassment or deliberately (no one could make it out), he did not lower his arms for a long time when the shawl was already put on, and seemed to be hugging a young woman.
She gracefully, but still smiling, pulled away, turned and looked at her husband. Prince Andrei's eyes were closed: he seemed so tired and sleepy.
- You are ready? he asked his wife, looking around her.
Prince Hippolyte hurriedly put on his coat, which, according to the new, was longer than his heels, and, tangled in it, ran to the porch after the princess, whom the footman was putting into the carriage.
- Princesse, au revoir, [Princess, goodbye,] - he shouted, tangling his tongue as well as his legs.
The princess, picking up her dress, sat down in the darkness of the carriage; her husband was adjusting his saber; Prince Ippolit, under the pretext of serving, interfered with everyone.
- Excuse me, sir, - Prince Andrei dryly unpleasantly turned in Russian to Prince Ippolit, who prevented him from passing.
"I'm waiting for you, Pierre," said the same voice of Prince Andrei affectionately and tenderly.
The postilion moved off, and the carriage rattled its wheels. Prince Hippolyte laughed abruptly, standing on the porch and waiting for the viscount, whom he promised to take home.
“Eh bien, mon cher, votre petite princesse est tres bien, tres bien,” said the viscount, getting into the carriage with Hippolyte. - Mais tres bien. He kissed the tips of his fingers. – Et tout a fait francaise. [Well, my dear, your little princess is very cute! Very nice and perfect French.]
Hippolyte laughed with a snort.
“Et savez vous que vous etes terrible avec votre petit air innocent,” continued the viscount. - Je plains le pauvre Mariei, ce petit officier, qui se donne des airs de prince regnant.. [Do you know, you are a terrible person, despite your innocent appearance. I feel sorry for the poor husband, this officer who poses as a possessive person.]
Hippolyte snorted again and said through laughter:
- Et vous disiez, que les dames russes ne valaient pas les dames francaises. Il faut savoir s "y prendre. [And you said that Russian ladies are worse than French ones. You have to be able to take it.]
Pierre, arriving ahead, like a domestic person, went into Prince Andrei's office and immediately, out of habit, lay down on the sofa, took the first book that came across from the shelf (these were Caesar's Notes) and began, leaning on his elbows, to read it from the middle.
– What did you do with m lle Scherer? She will be completely ill now,” said Prince Andrei, entering the office and rubbing his small, white hands.
Pierre turned his whole body so that the sofa creaked, turned his animated face to Prince Andrei, smiled and waved his hand.
“No, this abbot is very interesting, but he just doesn’t understand the matter like that ... In my opinion, eternal peace is possible, but I don’t know how to say it ... But not by political equilibrium ...
Prince Andrei was apparently not interested in these abstract conversations.
- It is impossible, mon cher, [my dear,] everywhere to say everything that you think. So, have you finally decided on something? Will you be a cavalry guard or a diplomat? asked Prince Andrei after a moment's silence.
Pierre sat down on the sofa, tucking his legs under him.
You can imagine, I still don't know. I don't like either one.
“But you have to make a decision, don’t you? Your father is waiting.
Pierre, from the age of ten, was sent abroad with the tutor abbot, where he stayed until the age of twenty. When he returned to Moscow, his father released the abbot and said to the young man: “Now you go to Petersburg, look around and choose. I agree to everything. Here's a letter for you to Prince Vasily, and here's some money for you. Write about everything, I will help you in everything. Pierre had been choosing a career for three months and did nothing. Prince Andrei told him about this choice. Pierre rubbed his forehead.
“But he must be a Freemason,” he said, referring to the abbot whom he had seen at the party.
- All this is nonsense, - Prince Andrei stopped him again, - let's talk about the case. Were you in the Horse Guards?
- No, I wasn't, but that's what came to my mind, and I wanted to tell you. Now the war against Napoleon. If it were a war for freedom, I would understand, I would be the first to enter the military service; but helping England and Austria against the greatest man in the world... that's not good...
Prince Andrei only shrugged his shoulders at Pierre's childish speeches. He pretended that such nonsense was not to be answered; but it was really difficult to answer this naive question with anything other than what Prince Andrei answered.
“If everyone fought only according to their convictions, there would be no war,” he said.
“That would be fine,” said Pierre.
Prince Andrew chuckled.
- It may very well be that it would be wonderful, but this will never happen ...
“Well, why are you going to war?” Pierre asked.
- For what? I don't know. So it is necessary. Besides, I'm going…” He stopped. “I am going because this life that I lead here, this life is not for me!
A woman's dress rustled in the next room. As if waking up, Prince Andrei shook himself, and his face assumed the same expression that it had in Anna Pavlovna's drawing room. Pierre swung his legs off the sofa. The princess entered. She was already in a different, homely, but equally elegant and fresh dress. Prince Andrei stood up, courteously pushing a chair for her.
“Why, I often think,” she began, as always, in French, hastily and bustlingly sitting down in an armchair, “why didn’t Annette get married?” How stupid you all are, messurs, for not marrying her. Excuse me, but you don't understand anything about women. What a debater you are, Monsieur Pierre.
- I argue everything with your husband; I don’t understand why he wants to go to war, ”said Pierre, without any hesitation (so common in the relationship of a young man to a young woman) turning to the princess.
The princess was startled. Apparently, Pierre's words touched her to the core.
Ah, that's what I'm saying! - she said. “I don’t understand, I absolutely don’t understand why men can’t live without war?” Why do we women want nothing, why do we need nothing? Well, you be the judge. I tell him everything: here he is my uncle's adjutant, the most brilliant position. Everyone knows him so well and appreciates him so much. The other day at the Apraksins, I heard a lady ask: "c" est ca le fameux prince Andre? Ma parole d "honneur! [Is this the famous Prince Andrei? Honestly!] She laughed. - He is so accepted everywhere. He can very easily be an adjutant wing. You know, the sovereign spoke to him very graciously. Annette and I talked about how easy it would be to arrange. What do you think?
Pierre looked at Prince Andrei and, noticing that his friend did not like this conversation, did not answer.
- When are you leaving? - he asked.
Hello dear readers! Blacksmithing is one of the oldest crafts in Belarus. In the village forge, real masters of their craft made nails and horseshoes, scythes and sickles, shovels and knives. Among the Slavic peoples, blacksmithing was considered a mysterious occupation, and the patron of blacksmiths in their mythology was the fire god Svarog. The most common product made by blacksmiths was a horseshoe, which is still considered by the people as an amulet and a talisman. Moreover, in different places of the house, a horseshoe protects against various misfortunes: nailed with the ends up above the door will not let evil into the house, above the bed - it will save you from a bad dream, and placed in the chimney will not let the witch fly in.
History of blacksmithing
The origin of the blacksmith's craft dates back to ancient times, and to be more precise, the first blacksmiths appeared in the Iron Age. Even then, people noticed that when a certain rock is heated, it begins to melt. Gradually mastered the skills of metal processing, built the first forge. Already in the III millennium BC. e., in the ancient Sumerian civilization, the profession of a blacksmith was very common. On the territory of Belarus, blacksmithing began to be practiced from the 7th-6th centuries BC. e.
Forges were widely in demand until the middle of the twentieth century, until they were completely replaced by plants and factories. However, blacksmiths and forges have survived to this day. Forging is now exclusive and unique, and items forged in forges are a single unique product.
Forge and its equipment
In most cases, this is a small room made of logs without a ceiling and with an earthen floor. To increase fire safety, the walls of the forge could be plastered. The main place in the forge belongs to the forge, since it is in it that the metal becomes a soft and pliable material. A fire (wood, charcoal or coal) burns on the working surface of the forge, into which metal blanks are placed for heating. Air is usually forced into the combustion zone by blacksmith bellows, which have a manual or foot drive.
The heated metal workpiece is held with tongs or tongs, and the desired shape is given to it with a hammer. The metal remains hot enough for processing for only one or two minutes, so dexterity is a very important quality for a blacksmith. The anvil, mounted on a massive wooden block, is usually located in the center of the room, not far from the hearth. This is the blacksmith's main tool. A vessel with water or vegetable oil is placed near the anvil, in which the blacksmith hardens his products.
Blacksmith work
In the process of work, blacksmiths produced a large number of items necessary for a person. This includes such simple products as knives, horseshoes, hoops, nails, sickles, scythes, which did not require special techniques in the manufacture. Each blacksmith could make them alone. For more complex products: chains, bladed weapons, arrowheads, chain mail, helmets, special work techniques and outside help were required. The assistants of a professional blacksmith were also his students. They learned the basics of the craft over a long period of 3 to 10 years. Only then did the apprentice become an apprentice. To get the status of a master, some more time was required to work with other artisans.
