Working at Tannaghmore Forge

We spent a great time this weekend with the guys at Tannaghmore forge getting more tips and instruction to further our abilities at blacksmithing, we are the first to admit that we have a long way to go but we intend to study with these guys at length over the next few months and hopefully you will see some improvement in our abilities

Eamonn started the day with a good safety talk and getting the forges going, plus lots of tips and ideas of how to forge, the intention was to get us familiar with the basics then we can delve into completing our own ideas

Once the forges were nice and hot we got the steel into the heat and practised the techniques we had been shown

once the steel was at the right heat we started to pound the metal into the square needed to begin the design

then we worked along the bar squaring it off as we went

once the right length was achieved the ends were curled by the hammer

and continuing to curl before twisting the bar to form a gorgeous piece

and the finished piece of work, all very easily done under great instruction from the tutors.

We have many more projects to tackle and the smiths are all very understanding and patient with us and are more than willing to facillitate what we have in mind, so we are looking forward to the rest of the course with them and making many more interesting bits and pieces.

We at Buzzard would like to sincerely thank Eamonn, Chris, Johnny and all the other guys we spent time with this weekend and look forward to spending more time at the forge over the next wee while.

Keep your eyes posted here for other bits we manage to knock together!

If you live in Northern Ireland and fancy a crack at blacksmithing, we can heartily recommend the guys at Tannaghmore for a day (or even a course over a number of weeks), and you can contact them or check them out at their facebook page below
http://m.facebook.com/pages/Tannaghmore-Blacksmiths-Workshop/213552298658012?id=213552298658012&_rdr

Tell them we said Hi !!!