Blacksmithing

Blacksmithing is the craft of shaping iron and steel by heating them until workable and deforming them with hammers and other tools. It combines controlled heat, force, and repeated shaping to make or repair metal objects.

Forging: Forging shapes metal through localized compressive forces, usually applied by hammering or pressing. Blacksmithing is a craft built around forging heated iron and steel.
Iron: Iron is a chemical element and a principal metal in traditional wrought materials and steels. It is the base metal named in the craft's traditional scope.
Farrier: A farrier trims and shoes horses' hooves, often shaping horseshoes from metal. Farriery draws on forging skills to make and fit horseshoes.
Iron Age: The Iron Age is a period in which iron became a major material for tools and weapons. Blacksmithing grew from societies' expanding ability to produce and work iron.
Casting: Casting forms an object by pouring liquid material into a mold and allowing it to solidify. Unlike blacksmithing, casting shapes metal while liquid rather than by hammering it solid.
Forge: A forge is a hearth or furnace used to heat metal for working. It supplies the heat that makes iron and steel workable.
Steel: Steel is an iron-based alloy whose carbon content and other additions influence its properties. Different steels respond differently to forging, hardening, and heat.
Bladesmithing: Bladesmithing is the specialized craft of forging and finishing knives, swords, and other blades. It applies blacksmithing techniques to edged tools and weapons.
Bloomery: A bloomery is a furnace that produces a spongy mass of iron and slag from iron ore. Bloomery iron required repeated heating and working to consolidate it into usable metal.
Machining: Machining removes material with cutting tools to produce a desired shape. Blacksmithing usually reshapes metal through deformation instead of cutting most of it away.

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