What Does a Blacksmith Do?

[Mindfire]

I have a culture that has no need for metal weapons or armor, because magic of course. Besides jewelry (which now that I think of it would fall under the purview of specialized artisans, not blacksmiths), what use would such a society have for smithing?

 

[Ophiucha]

Well, if the only thing that magic negates is the need for weaponry/armour, then I would say... pretty much anything else that is metal. Household stuff, in particular. Pots, pans, kitchen knives, metal utensils, maybe odd items like whisks. Tools - farming or construction. Shovels, pitchforks, nails, hammers. I suppose blacksmiths must be the ones who make metal bits and bobs for decoration. Metal fences, door knockers, that sort of thing. They could probably make metal frames, for portraits. Door hinges, statuettes (if they're artistic), candelabras... if your sorcerers still ride into battle, they'd need horse shoes (or equivalent for whatever your mount is).

Not every blacksmith in every place at every point in history made all of these things, of course, but generally speaking in a small village if you needed something made of iron or steel, there was nobody else around who could do it.

 

[Devor]

It's my understanding that many blacksmiths were not the all-purpose artisans we think of, and that there were many who, for instance, only made nails or only made horseshoes. Depending on the time period, blades would be made mostly in the city or castle, and then sold to locals who would outfit them with a hilt. So if you're only ousting weapons and armor, then I don't think most community blacksmiths would even be affected.

 

[Butterfly]

Who'd have thought there be a Blacksmiths Association BABA - British Artist Blacksmiths Association

Interesting, methinks.

 

[Saigonnus]

In agreement with above, blacksmiths were mostly for making horseshoes and nails in remote areas. Some may also work with the other basic needs of the community; plowshares, harnesses for horses, metal parts for carts/wagons in need of fixing, doorknobs and what have you. In larger communities, they could possibly make cages, sconses for torches, lanterns and any other metal objects; likely iron, bronze or copper.

 

[Jamber]

This brings up memories of taking my horse to the blacksmith to be shod. He had his own forge, wore a leather apron and (of course) sweated a lot. It was all he did with the forge, just make horseshoes. Just bent horseshoes to the right shape, flattened them, pressed them to the horse's hoof to calculate size/shape (the scorch mark helped him see where it would fit), and kept hammering and tapping till they were right. Then shhhhh, into the cold water. I got to pump the forge, which was tedious but interesting.

Ah the memories... Sorry, not what you asked for.

 

[skip.knox]

Mostly tools, in fact. Nails are fairly modern (18thc and after).

"Smith" covers much ground. There were, after all, silversmiths and goldsmiths. Ironmonger is what I think you have in mind. Or the stereotypical village smithy under the mighty oak tree.

But I have to ask: why do you ask? If your story doesn't need a smith, then you don't care. If it does need a smith, what sort of smith is needed? Can you cook up a justification within the logic of your world?

To me, the needs of the story come first, followed by the needs of the world-logic. Only after that does one need to consult ThisEarth historical reality.

But to answer the question posed in the Subject line: what does a blacksmith do? He gets drunk on Friday nights, waitin' for a factory girl!

 

[CupofJoe]

A Blacksmith that just made horseshoes may be a Farrier and trained likewise.

A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with some veterinarian's skills (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to care for horses' feet.

 

[Filk]

A lot of blacksmiths made farming tools as the demand for these implements (e.g. scythes, flails, hoes, etc.) was the strongest, especially in rural areas. Farming and animal husbandry were the most common pursuits of the villager or villain. Most peasants would not own a whole lot of cookware (or a whole lot of anything for that matter). Smiths also fixed things as this was before the break-it-and-buy-a-new-one culture we live in today.

Also, skip.knox, I am quoting this off of the wikipedia page for nails, but "Nails go back at least to Ancient Egypt — bronze nails found in Egypt have been dated 3400 BC." Actually, the page on nails is pretty interesting. This page would also affirm what Devor was saying about smiths with single-minded monotonous jobs such as solely making nails.

 

[Anders Ämting]

It's my understanding that many blacksmiths were not the all-purpose artisans we think of, and that there were many who, for instance, only made nails or only made horseshoes. Depending on the time period, blades would be made mostly in the city or castle, and then sold to locals who would outfit them with a hilt.

It was in fact not unusual for sword blades to be made in certain cities that specialized in the trade, like Solingen or Toledo, and then exported to other countries where they were hilted locally.

Though, even if everything was done in the same place, each stage of the production would be handled by individual craftsman. A lot of this has to do with guilds - the medieval European guilds were highly specialized and often quite powerful, due to their ability to control the market of their particular trade. So not only would a common blacksmith not be expected to make sword blades, it would actually be illegal and the local bladesmith guild would have been able to get him banned from doing business in their city if he was caught selling blades.

 

[TheokinsJ]

A blacksmith's job is not to make only weapons and armour. I'd say about 80% of the things blacksmiths made, were not intended for any sort of military use. Domestic things such as horse-shoes, parts for wagons and wheels of carts, tools such as spades and picks, farming equipment such as horse-drawn ploughs, buckles and equipment for horse riding (saddle buckles, stirrups ect)- the list is endless. Just because a country has no need for military equipment, doesn't mean a smith is out of business. We most commonly associate smiths with armour and weapons because of RPGs and games where you go to a smith to buy swords and armour, realistically, smith's were needed for many more purposes, and almost certainly would survive even if armour and weapons weren't required.

 

[Graylorne]

If you want a wikia about smiths, try this one: Metalsmith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It has a list of links to many other smithing specialties.

Personally, I place a weapon- and/or armorsmith at a lord's castle and possibly another in a big town in the smiths' quarter, where all the smiths are gathered.

And remember the locksmith, so beloved by burglars...

 

[SeverinR]

I believe working with precious metals was a speciality in itself. Don't want the iron smith melting gold into nothing with too hot a fire.

General blacksmith would make the every day metal items.
Weapons and armor were also specialty smiths, you don't want the blade to break because they didn't treat it properly. If the work knife breaks, you take it back and complain, the sword breaks in battle, you probably won't survive long enough to finish a decent string of profanity.

Also, check your period and terrain, horses weren't always shod.
The History of Horseshoes
Some horses even today aren't shod. They would still need their hooves trimmed a duck footed horse looks silly and is more prone to damaging the hoof ie cracks or splits that could cause lameness. (Dogs love to chew on the trimmings.)