The history of the blacksmith's craft. Blacksmith craft Wedding song

Ancient Rus' in the medieval world was widely famous for its craftsmen. At first, among the ancient Slavs, the craft was of a domestic nature - everyone prepared skins for themselves, tanned leather, wove linen, sculpted pottery, made weapons and tools. Then the artisans began to engage only in a certain craft, 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 early Middle Ages, the release of products to the market began. At first it was made to order, and then the goods began to go on sale for free.

Talented and skilled metallurgists, blacksmiths, jewelers, potters, weavers, stone cutters, shoemakers, tailors, and 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 Rus' and its high material and spiritual culture.

The names of ancient artisans, with few exceptions, are unknown to us. Objects preserved from those distant times speak for them. These are rare masterpieces and everyday things into which talent and experience, skill and ingenuity are invested.

The first ancient Russian professional artisans were blacksmiths. In epics, legends and fairy tales, the blacksmith is the personification of strength and courage, goodness and invincibility. Iron was then smelted from swamp ores. Ore mining was carried out in autumn and spring. It was dried, fired and taken to metal smelting workshops, where metal was produced in special furnaces. During excavations of ancient Russian settlements, slags are often found - waste from the metal smelting process - and pieces of ferruginous iron, which, after vigorous forging, became iron masses. The remains of blacksmith workshops were also discovered, where parts of forges were found. There are known burials of ancient blacksmiths, who had their production tools - anvils, hammers, tongs, chisels - placed in their graves.

Old Russian blacksmiths supplied farmers with ploughshares, sickles, and scythes, and warriors with swords, spears, arrows, and battle axes. Everything that was needed for the household - knives, needles, chisels, awls, staples, fish hooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - was made by talented craftsmen.

Old Russian blacksmiths achieved special skill in the production of weapons. Unique examples of ancient Russian craft of the 10th century are objects discovered in the burials of the Black Tomb in Chernigov, necropolises in Kyiv and other cities.

A necessary part of the costume and attire of the ancient Russian people, 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 this, an ornament in the form of dots, teeth, and circles was applied to the finished product. Various pendants, belt plaques, bracelets, chains, temple rings, rings, neck hryvnias - these are the main types of products of ancient Russian jewelers. For jewelry, jewelers used various techniques - niello, granulation, filigree, embossing, enamel.

The blackening technique was quite complex. First, a “black” mass was prepared from a mixture of silver, lead, copper, sulfur and other minerals. Then this composition was applied to the design on bracelets, crosses, rings and other jewelry. Most often they depicted griffins, lions, birds with human heads, and various fantastic beasts.

Grain required completely different methods of work: small silver grains, each 5-6 times smaller than a pin head, were soldered to the flat surface of the product. What labor and patience, for example, it took to solder 5 thousand of these grains onto each of the colts that were found during excavations in Kyiv! Most often, grain is found on typical Russian jewelry - lunnitsa, which were pendants in the shape of a crescent.

If, instead of grains of silver, patterns of the finest silver, gold wires or strips were soldered onto the product, then the result was filigree. Sometimes incredibly intricate designs were created from such wire threads.

The technique of embossing on thin gold or silver sheets was also used. They were pressed tightly against a bronze matrix with the desired image, and it was transferred to a metal sheet. Images of animals were embossed on colts. Usually this is a lion or leopard with a raised paw and a flower in its mouth. The pinnacle of ancient Russian jewelry craftsmanship was cloisonné enamel.

The enamel mass was glass with lead and other additives. Enamels were of different colors, but red, blue and green were especially popular in Rus'. Jewelry with enamel went through a difficult path before becoming the property of a medieval fashionista or a noble person. First, the entire design was applied to the future decoration. Then the thinnest sheet of gold was placed on it. Partitions were cut from gold, which were soldered to the base along the contours of the design, and the spaces between them were filled with molten enamel. The result was an amazing set of colors that played and shone in different colors and shades under the sun’s rays. The centers for the production of cloisonne enamel jewelry were Kyiv, Ryazan, Vladimir..

And in Staraya Ladoga, in a 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 waste, and fragments of foundry molds were found on it. Scientists believe that a metal smelting furnace once stood here. The richest treasure of craft tools found here is apparently connected with this workshop. The treasure 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. The ancient locksmith actively used chisels—three of them were found here. Sheets of metal were cut using jewelry scissors. Drills were used to make holes in the wood. Iron objects with holes were used to draw wire in the production of nails and boat rivets. Jewelry hammers and anvils for chasing and embossing ornaments on jewelry made of silver and bronze 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, and knife blades.

Findings at the site of Novotroitsky, in Staraya Ladoga and other settlements excavated by archaeologists indicate that already in the 8th century craft began to become an independent branch of production and gradually separated from agriculture. This circumstance was important in the process of class formation and the creation of the state.

If for the 8th century we know only a few workshops, and in general the craft was of a domestic nature, then in the next, 9th century, their number increased significantly. Craftsmen now produce products not only for themselves, their families, but also for the entire community. Long-distance trade ties are gradually strengthening, various products are sold on the market in exchange for silver, furs, agricultural products and other goods.

In ancient Russian settlements of the 9th-10th centuries, archaeologists unearthed workshops for the production of pottery, foundries, jewelry, bone carving and others. The improvement of tools and the invention of new technology made it possible for individual community members to single-handedly produce various things needed on the farm in such quantities that they could be sold.

The development of agriculture and the separation of crafts from it, the weakening of clan 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. Along with it, the early feudal state gradually arose in Rus'.

Metal forging in Rus'

In Rus', iron was known to the early Slavs. The oldest method of metal processing is forging. At first, ancient people beat sponge iron in a cold state with mallets in order to “squeeze the juices out of it,” i.e. remove impurities. Then they figured out how to heat the metal and give it the desired shape. In the 10th – 11th centuries, thanks to the development of metallurgy and other crafts, the Slavs acquired a plow and a plow with an iron share. On the territory of ancient Kyiv, archaeologists find sickles, door locks and other things made by the hands of 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 operated there with a semi-mechanized blowing process - a mill drive. The first cheese furnace was an ordinary hearth in a home. Special forges appeared later. For fire safety purposes, they were located at the edge of the fortifications. Early ovens were thickly clay-coated round pits one meter in diameter dug in the ground. Their popular name is “wolf pits”. In the 10th century, above-ground ovens appeared, into which air was pumped using leather bellows.

The bellows were inflated by hand. And this work made the cooking process very difficult. Archaeologists still find signs of local metal production at the sites - waste from the cheese-blowing process in the form of slag. At the end of the “cooking” of the iron, the furnace was broken, foreign impurities were removed, and the kritsa was removed from the furnace with a crowbar. The hot critsa was captured by pincers and carefully forged. Forging removed slag particles from the surface of the ring and eliminated the porosity of the metal. After forging, the kritsa was heated again and placed under the hammer again. This operation was repeated several times. For the new smelting, the upper part of the house was restored or built anew. In later domnitsa, the front part was no longer broken, but dismantled, and the molten metal flowed into clay containers.

But, despite the wide distribution of raw materials, iron smelting was not carried out at every settlement. The labor intensity of the process distinguished the blacksmiths from the community and made them the first artisans. In ancient times, blacksmiths themselves melted the metal and then forged it. Necessary accessories of a blacksmith - a forge (smelting furnace) for heating the kritsa, a poker, a crowbar (pick), an iron shovel, an anvil, a hammer (sledgehammer), various pliers for extracting hot iron from the forge 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 history knows even less about authentic ancient forges than domnitsa, although archaeologists periodically discover many forged iron products in settlements and burial mounds, and in the burials of blacksmiths their tools: pliers, a hammer, an anvil, foundry accessories .

Written sources have not preserved to us the forging technique and the basic technical techniques of ancient Russian blacksmiths. But the study of ancient forged products allows historians to say that ancient Russian blacksmiths knew all the most important technical techniques: welding, punching holes, torsion, riveting plates, welding steel blades and hardening steel. Each forge, as a rule, employed two blacksmiths - a master and an apprentice. In the XI-XIII centuries. Foundry was partially isolated, and blacksmiths began directly forging iron products. In Ancient Rus', any metal craftsman was called a blacksmith: “iron smith”, “copper smith”, “silver smith”.

Simple forged products were made using a chisel. The technology of using an insert and welding a steel blade was also used. The simplest forged products include: knives, hoops and cradles for tubs, nails, sickles, braids, chisels, awls, shovels and frying pans, i.e. items that do not require special techniques. They could be made by any blacksmith alone. More complex forged products: chains, door openings, iron rings from belts and harnesses, bits, lights, spears - already required welding, which was carried out by experienced blacksmiths with the help of an apprentice.

The craftsmen welded iron, heating it to a temperature of 1500 degrees C, the achievement of which was determined by the sparks of white-hot metal. A chisel was used to punch holes in the ears for tubs, plowshares for plows, and hoes. A punch was used to make holes in scissors, pincers, keys, boat rivets, on spears (for fastening to the shaft), and on the forgings of shovels. The blacksmith could carry out these techniques only with the help of an assistant. After all, he needed to hold a hot piece of iron with pliers, which was not easy given the small size of the anvils of that time, hold and guide the chisel, and hit the chisel with a hammer.

Making axes, spears, hammers and locks was difficult. 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 after that the bushing of the spear 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 operation of twisting iron was used to create screws from tetrahedral rods. The above assortment of blacksmith's products exhausts all peasant equipment necessary for building a house, agriculture, hunting and defense. Old Russian blacksmiths of the X-XIII centuries. mastered all the basic technical techniques for processing iron and determined the technical level of village forges for centuries.

The basic form of a sickle and a scythe with a short handle were found in the 9th-11th centuries. Old Russian axes underwent significant changes by the 10th-13th centuries. took on a form close to the modern one. The saw was not used in village 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, village and urban crafts already existed in Kievan Rus. Russian urban craft entered the 11th century with a rich supply of technical skills. Until that time, the village and the city were still completely separated. The village, served by artisans, lived in a small closed world. The product sales area was extremely small: 10-15 kilometers in radius.

City blacksmiths were more skilled craftsmen than village blacksmiths. During excavations of ancient Russian cities, it turned out that almost every city house was the dwelling of a craftsman. From the beginning of the existence of the Kievan state, they showed high skill in forging iron and steel of a wide variety of objects - from a heavy ploughshare and a helmet with patterned iron lace to thin needles; arrows and chain mail rings riveted with miniature rivets; weapons and household utensils from burial mounds of the 9th-10th centuries. In addition to blacksmithing, they were skilled in plumbing and weaponry. All these crafts have some similarities in the way they process iron and steel. Therefore, quite often artisans engaged in one of these crafts combined it with others. In cities, iron smelting technology was more advanced 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 village ones - it was more complex.

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 complex profiles. Such linings are widely used in modern blacksmithing when forging curved surfaces. Some forged products, dating from the 9th-10th centuries, bear traces of processing using such linings. In cases where double-sided processing was required, obviously both a backing plate and a chisel-die of the same profile were used to ensure that the forging was symmetrical. Linings and stamps were also used in the manufacture of battle axes.

The assortment of hammers, blacksmith's tongs and chisels among urban blacksmiths was more diverse than that of their rural counterparts: from small to huge. Since the 9th-10th centuries. Russian craftsmen used files to process iron. Old Russian city forges, metalworking and weapons workshops in the X-XIII centuries. had: forges, bellows, simple anvils, anvils with a spur and a cutout, inserts into the anvil (of various profiles), sledgehammers, hand hammers, cleaver hammers (for chopping) or chisels, punching hammers (bits), hand chisels, hand punches, simple pliers, pliers with hooks, small pliers, vices (primitive type), files, compass sharpeners. With the help of this varied tool, no different from the equipment of modern forges, Russian craftsmen prepared many different things.

These include agricultural implements (massive plowshares and coulters, plow knives, scythes, sickles, axes, honey cutters); tools for craftsmen (knives, adzes, chisels, saws, staples, spoons, punches and figured hammers of minters, knives for planes, calipers for bone ornamentation, scissors, etc.); household items (nails, knives, forged reliquaries, door holes, staples, rings, buckles, needles, steelyards, weights, cauldrons, hearth chains, locks and keys, ship rivets, chairs, handles 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 initial complete isolation of the artisans begins to break down.

The production of weapons and military armor received particular development. 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 involved particularly careful metal processing and required skillful work techniques. Although the swords that were used in Rus' in the 9th-10th centuries were mainly Frankish blades, archaeologists, nevertheless, in their excavations discovered the presence of artisan gunsmiths among the Russian townspeople of the 9th-10th centuries. In a number of burials, bundles of forged rings for iron chain mail, often found in Russian druzhina burial mounds since the 9th century, were discovered. The ancient name for chain mail - armor - is often found on the pages of the chronicle. Making chain mail was a labor-intensive task.

Technological operations included: forging iron wire, welding, joining and riveting iron rings. Archaeologists have discovered the burial of a 10th-century chainmail master. In the 9th-10th centuries, chain mail became a mandatory part of Russian armor. The ancient name for chain mail - armor - is often found on the pages of the chronicle. True, about the origin of Russian chain mail, opinions are expressed that they were received either from nomads or from the countries of the East. However, 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 military mounds may indicate that chain mail masters worked in Russian cities. The same applies to helmets. Russian historians believe that the Varangian helmets were too sharply different in their conical shape. Russian shishak helmets were riveted from iron wedge-shaped strips.

This type of helmet includes the famous helmet of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, thrown by him on the battlefield of Lipetsk in 1216. It is an excellent example of Russian arms and jewelry making of the 12th-13th centuries. Tradition affected the general shape of the helmet, but in technical terms 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 weapons technology of the 12th-13th centuries is believed to be the light steel hatchet of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. The surface of the metal is covered with notches and sheet silver is stamped onto these notches (in a hot state), 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.

Steel and hardening of steel products occupied a special place in blacksmithing and weaponry. Even among village barrow axes of the 11th-13th centuries, a welded steel blade is found. Steel's hardness, flexibility, easy weldability and ability to withstand hardening were well known to the Romans. But welding steel has always been considered the most difficult task in all forging work, because... iron and steel have different welding temperatures. Hardening of steel, i.e. more or less rapid cooling of a hot object in water or in another way is also well known to the ancient blacksmiths of Rus'. Urban blacksmithing was distinguished by a variety of techniques, complexity of equipment and a variety of specialties associated with this production. In the 11th-13th centuries, city craftsmen worked for a wide market, i.e. production becomes massive.

The list of city artisans includes ironsmiths, dommakers, gunsmiths, armor makers, shield makers, helmet makers, arrow makers, lock makers, and nail makers. In the 12th century, the development of the craft continued. In metal, Russian craftsmen embodied a bizarre mixture of Christian and archaic pagan images, combining all this with local Russian motifs and subjects. Improvements in craft technology continue, aimed at increasing the mass production of products. Posad craftsmen imitate the products of court craftsmen. In the 13th century, a number of new craft centers were created with their own characteristics in technique and style.

But we have not observed any decline in crafts since the second half of the 12th century, as is sometimes claimed, 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 flowering. Development of feudal relations and feudal ownership of land in the XII - 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. the creation of relatively independent states-principalities. During this period, blacksmithing and weaponry, forging and stamping continued to develop in all principalities. In rich farms, plows with iron shares began to appear more and more. Craftsmen are looking for new ways of working. Novgorod gunsmiths in the 12th – 13th centuries, using new technology, began to produce saber blades of much greater strength, hardness and flexibility.

The first ancient Russian professional artisans were blacksmiths. In epics, legends and fairy tales, the blacksmith is the personification of strength and courage, goodness and invincibility. Iron was then smelted from swamp ores. Ore mining was carried out in autumn and spring. It was dried, fired and taken to metal smelting workshops, where metal was produced in special furnaces. During excavations of ancient Russian settlements, slags are often found - waste from the metal smelting process - and pieces of ferruginous grain, which, after vigorous forging, became iron masses. The remains of blacksmith workshops were also discovered, where parts of forges were found. There are known burials of ancient blacksmiths, who had their production tools - anvils, hammers, tongs, chisels - placed in their graves.

Old Russian blacksmiths They supplied the farmers with ploughshares, sickles, and scythes, and the warriors with swords, spears, arrows, and battle axes. Everything that was needed for the household - knives, needles, chisels, awls, staples, fishhooks, locks, keys and many other tools and household items - was made by talented craftsmen.

Old Russian blacksmiths achieved special skill in the production of weapons. Unique examples of ancient Russian craft of the 10th century are objects discovered in the burials of the Black Tomb in Chernigov, necropolises in Kyiv and other cities.

A necessary part of the costume and attire of the ancient Russian people, 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 this, an ornament in the form of dots, teeth, and circles was applied to the finished product. Various pendants, belt plaques, bracelets, chains, temple rings, rings, neck hryvnias - these are the main types of products of ancient Russian jewelers. For jewelry, jewelers used various techniques - niello, granulation, filigree, embossing, enamel.

The blackening technique was quite complex. First, a “black” mass was prepared from a mixture of silver, lead, copper, sulfur and other minerals. Then this composition was applied to the design on bracelets, crosses, rings and other jewelry. Most often they depicted griffins, lions, birds with human heads, and various fantastic beasts.

Grain required completely different methods of work: small silver grains, each 5-6 times smaller than a pin head, were soldered to the flat surface of the product. What labor and patience, for example, it took to solder 5 thousand of these grains onto each of the colts that were found during excavations in Kyiv! Most often, grain is found on typical Russian jewelry - lunnitsa, which were pendants in the shape of a crescent.

If, instead of grains of silver, patterns of the finest silver, gold wires or strips were soldered onto the product, then the result was filigree. Sometimes incredibly intricate designs were created from such wire threads.

The technique of embossing on thin gold or silver sheets was also used. They were pressed tightly against a bronze matrix with the desired image, and it was transferred to a metal sheet. Images of animals were embossed on colts. Usually this is a lion or leopard with a raised paw and a flower in its mouth. The pinnacle of ancient Russian jewelry craftsmanship was cloisonné enamel.

The enamel mass was glass with lead and other additives. Enamels were of different colors, but red, blue and green were especially popular in Rus'. Jewelry with enamel went through a difficult path before becoming the property of a medieval fashionista or a noble person. First, the entire design was applied to the future decoration. Then the thinnest sheet of gold was placed on it. Partitions were cut from gold, which were soldered to the base along the contours of the design, and the spaces between them were filled with molten enamel. The result was an amazing set of colors that played and shone in different colors and shades under the sun’s rays. The centers for the production of cloisonné enamel jewelry were Kyiv, Ryazan, Vladimir...

And in Staraya Ladoga, in a 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 waste, and fragments of foundry molds were found on it. Scientists believe that a metal smelting furnace once stood here. The richest treasure of craft tools found here is apparently connected with this workshop. The treasure 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. The ancient locksmith actively used chisels - three of them were found here. Sheets of metal were cut using jewelry scissors. Drills were used to make holes in the wood. Iron objects with holes were used to draw wire in the production of nails and boat rivets. Jewelry hammers and anvils for chasing and embossing ornaments on jewelry made of silver and bronze were also found. Finished products of an ancient artisan were also found here - a bronze ring with images of a human head and birds, rook rivets, nails, an arrow, and knife blades.

Findings at the site of Novotroitsky, in Staraya Ladoga and other settlements excavated by archaeologists indicate that already in the 8th century craft began to become an independent branch of production and gradually separated from agriculture. This circumstance was important in the process of class formation and the creation of the state.

If for the 8th century we know only a few workshops, and in general the craft was of a domestic nature, then in the next, 9th century, their number increased significantly. Craftsmen now produce products not only for themselves, their families, but also for the entire community. Long-distance trade ties are gradually strengthening, various products are sold on the market in exchange for silver, furs, agricultural products and other goods.

The development of crafts among the Slavs was facilitated by rich natural resources, including iron ore. Its extraction was not difficult. Swamp meadow ore - limonite - was in particular demand. The basis of the swamp ore was rust - iron hydroxyl. At the bottom of reservoirs, round pebbles the size of eggs were formed from rust and other iron compounds. Thus, iron ore was born.

Bronze, bone and stone were used in everyday life along with iron. Parts of tools and weapons were forged from iron.

The Iron Age brought blacksmithing to the forefront, and blacksmiths became sought-after artisans. In Kievan Rus, all warriors’ weapons and tools were forged from ferrous metal.

Using a cheese press, iron was extracted from iron ore. The ancient Russian cheese-blowing oven was placed on a base of large stones, coated with clay. The walls of the oven were also lined with stone or made of clay. The stoves were heated, as they are now, with charcoal. A hole was made in the front wall of the furnace into which a mold (nozzle) was inserted. It was through this that the kritsa, the final product of the smelting, was taken out. Old Russian metallurgists shaped the kritsa that was going for sale into a flat cake.

Carbon steel was produced using a cheese-blowing furnace, a forge, and also by carburizing iron or raw steel.

Metal forging technologies:

The main technology of metal machining was hot forging . In addition to forging, when working with ferrous metal, welding of iron and steel, soldering, carburization, and cutting of metal with a file and on a grinding wheel were used. As well as polishing and inlaying ferrous metal with non-ferrous and precious metals. A significant part of steel objects was either simply hardened or hardened and then tempered. For hardening, vegetable oil, animal fat, water with the addition of honey or sugar were used. Some products were hardened entirely, others - only in the working part, due to which the product had a hard blade, a soft body and a smooth transition between them. Blacksmiths sacredly kept the secrets of steel hardening and did not reveal them to anyone.

One of the most important equipment for blacksmiths was the forge, which was a brazier on an adobe platform. At one of the edges of the brazier there was a furnace for coals. Archaeological research has proven that blacksmiths in Rus' had all the tools necessary for their work: anvil, hammers, chisels, pliers, punches, crimpers and vices.

To make the most necessary tool in everyday life - a knife - a combination of two metals was used in Rus': iron and steel. No less common iron objects were nails. This is how a special specialization of the blacksmith appeared - carnation.

Another important area of ​​activity of blacksmiths was the production of horseshoes, of which there were more than 100 types. And they were all made by hand forging. But attempts to cast and stamp horseshoes were never successful.

Introduction

The origin and development of blacksmithing

In the minds of the modern reader, forging is usually the making of horseshoes for horses. But few people know that the ancient blacksmiths were the creators of such vitally important economic and military products, which not only served humanity for many hundreds of years without significant changes, but also contributed to the development of society. For example, many products that came to us from the Stone Age (knife, scraper, saw, awl, axe, hammer, etc.) and later embodied in metal by blacksmiths continue to serve humanity today. And such a product as the horse shoe, which appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 8th century, was equated by historians in importance to the invention of the steam locomotive, since a shod horse could work with increased draft power on any soil without breaking or wearing out its hooves. The development of iron entailed great changes in the cultural and economic life of all peoples; for example, forged agricultural tools - pitchforks, hoes, shovels, rakes, scythes, sickles, openers, harrows, plows with iron shares, etc. - raised agriculture to a new technical level and significantly increased agricultural productivity. Tribes and peoples who mastered the secrets of forging earlier than others received great advantages in all types of activities. Forging armor and weapons in areas where iron ore was mined and charcoal or coal was available significantly increased combat effectiveness, which made it possible to expand territory and create strong states.

Blacksmithing is the most ancient craft associated with metal processing. Man first began to forge native and meteorite metals back in the Stone Age. A number of museums around the world, as well as the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have in their collections blacksmith tools of those distant times: small round stones - hammers and oval flat massive stones - anvils. Microscopic examination of the surfaces of these instruments revealed traces of native metal. On the reliefs of ancient Egyptian temples you can see blacksmiths working with stone hammers (photo 1.0.1, see incl.). However, it is impossible to indicate the exact time of the birth of blacksmithing on the planet.

Long before the new era, people began to make products from native copper, silver and gold, which have high ductility. In the territory of the former USSR, native copper in those distant times was known in the areas of modern Kazakhstan, the Urals, the Caucasus, Altai and some areas of Yakutia. In these places, archaeologists discovered the remains of the first tools forged from copper. Relatively recently, archaeologists discovered the oldest Stone Age workshop for processing native copper in Karelia. Ancient blacksmiths, using stone hammers and anvils, over 5 thousand years ago forged copper products for fishing and everyday life: fishhooks, knives, awls and other small items. In the region of Moldova and Right Bank Ukraine, along the banks of the Dnieper, Dniester and Prut rivers, there is one of the oldest centers of copper processing from the era of the developed Trypillian culture (IV–III millennium BC). During this period, craftsmen were already using hardening hardening on the working surfaces of copper tools, which significantly increased their hardness. This made it possible to gradually replace stone tools. This period is characterized by a variety of forged, cast and combined products, such as blacksmith chisels, knives, battle axes, stalked arrowheads, bracelets, buckles, etc.

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. tribes living on the territory of Armenia, in the Caucasus, already obtained critical iron from ores through direct reduction. As ores, they used easily accessible deposits of brown iron ore, called lake or swamp ore. The Hittites not only made weapons and household items for themselves from iron, but also traded them with Egypt and the countries of the Middle East. At the beginning of the 1st millennium Don. e. The inhabitants of Transcaucasia, north of the Armenian Highlands, began to make iron products in the 8th century. BC e. blacksmith production of iron products is already widely developing in the region of modern Kerch (the Old Russian name Korchev, probably from “korchiy”, “kerchiy” or “korchin” - blacksmith. - Note auto). Rich iron ores, which served blacksmiths as raw materials for producing iron, lay almost on the surface of the earth in the Kerch region. At these times, blacksmithing skills had already reached a high level. In forges, the forge was equipped with two-chamber bellows, and a large iron or bronze anvil was located in the center. Blacksmiths used heavy hammers, pincers, chisels and axes to cut metal, and vices to clamp products.

Since the 7th century. BC e. Scythia became the center of metalworking, the craft center of which was the Kamenskoye settlement. Archaeologists have discovered there the dwellings of artisans, their workshops with tools and devices: casting basins for non-ferrous metals, blacksmith tools and products. Iron ore mining, as it was established, was carried out on the territory of the modern Krivoy Rog basin, located 60 km from the Kamensky settlement. Along with casting and forging, the Scythians widely established the production of gold and silver jewelry and all kinds of utensils using embossing, stamping and lost-wax casting. It is interesting to note that examples of Scythian jewelry production were well known in the Greek colonies. It should be said that the blacksmiths of Scythia widely used forge welding to increase the size of the workpiece, join dissimilar metals to improve the quality of the blades of cutting and chopping tools. They made knives in which a plate of harder steel was forged between two softer plates, resulting in knives with a self-sharpening blade. Scythian blacksmiths also knew how to forge Damascus steels, in which layers of iron and high-carbon steel were mixed, which created a pattern of dark and light stripes on the side surface of the product.

In the 1st millennium BC. e. Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes settled along the Upper Dnieper and Pripyat, Oka and Upper Volga (in the Middle Volga region - the ancestors of the Mordovian tribes, in the Ural regions - the ancestors of the Komi, Udmurts, Meri, Ostyaks and Mansi), who owned the secrets of obtaining cryonic iron, not knowing the manufacture of copper-bronze products. And in the Urals and Siberia, iron production developed simultaneously with copper and bronze production. In the first centuries of the new era, northern tribes living in the middle reaches of the Lena and Yenisei rivers, as well as residents of Altai, began to use iron products.

Blacksmithing in Rus'. By the end of the 9th century. Slavic tribes unite and the Old Russian state arises. Large military, trade and craft centers were formed, such as Kyiv, Novgorod the Great, Smolensk, Polotsk, etc. In these cities, centers for the production of dishes and various household items from silver and gold were created, and the specialization of blacksmiths and gunsmiths was introduced. In connection with the growth of urban planning, the craft of church blacksmiths, engaged in the manufacture of cathedral fences, window grilles, finials and other products, is developing. Great opportunities opened up for Russian artisans, connections with foreign markets strengthened, and the participation of artisans in the economic affairs of the city expanded. City craftsmen possessed high technology, boldly improved Western European weapons and created their own highly artistic products. During this period, there was a constant improvement of the means of production and the adaptation of workshops to mass production of products. Stamping and step-by-step production are being widely introduced, and the division of blacksmiths into gunsmiths, goldsmiths, minters, engravers and jewelers is being completed. During this period, over 60 blacksmith specialties already existed in Kyiv.

However, most blacksmiths forged weapons and chain mail. Chain mail was a mandatory part of the protective armor of combatants; it did not restrict movement in battle and protected against almost all types of weapons. Creating chain mail was a painstaking and time-consuming task, because weaving required forging more than 40 thousand rings and then riveting them together with special “nails.” Already at that time, flow technology was used in the manufacture of chain mail: first, the wire was forged, then wound onto a rod and cut into individual rings. The ends of each ring were flattened and holes were punched in these areas. Then rivets – “nails” – were planted from a thin wire (0.8 mm) and after that the assembly or “weaving” of the chain mail began. The entire work took over three months of daily painstaking work. There were three ways to make rings: from forged wire, from cold-drawn (drawn) wire, and by cutting entire rings from sheets. Chain mail was collected using various technologies. The rings were not only riveted, but also forge welded. For greater elegance, rings of non-ferrous metals were woven into chain mail: copper, gold, silver, forming various ornaments. The Kyiv warriors had both long-skirted chain mail with a headband, a mask, and bracers, and short chain mail that covered only the upper part of the warrior’s torso. The warriors wore helmets to protect their heads. According to manufacturing technology, helmets were divided into solid forged and composite. The first were forged from one piece of metal and had the greatest strength with the least weight. Less labor-intensive was the production of helmets riveted from two or four forged parts, which were assembled into a single whole using strips and rivets, and the lower edge of the crown was tightened with a hoop. The joints of the plates were covered with decorative overlays. To protect the face, a nosepiece with eye cutouts was riveted to the helmet, and sometimes a chainmail visor or mask, which was forged individually for each warrior. To protect the neck and partly the shoulders, an aventail was attached to the lower edge of the helmet. Helmets for princes were decorated with gold and silver plates, their surface was engraved and decorated with precious stones.

Blacksmiths paid great attention to the manufacture of military and award weapons: swords, axes, pikes, etc. Master gunsmiths perfectly mastered the secrets of making swords from high-carbon steels such as damask steel or Russian damask steel - Kharaluga. In this regard, it is necessary to say a few words about damask steel, since this alloy of iron and carbon, which has unique properties, has not yet been fully studied; scientific articles and monographs are written about it. For the first time in Russia, Pavel Petrovich Anosov (1799–1851), an outstanding scientist-engineer and mining manufacturer, began the study of damask steels from a scientific point of view. He said that “by the word ‘damask steel’ every Russian is accustomed to understand a metal that is harder and sharper than ordinary steel.” India is considered the birthplace of damask steel, where the best varieties of wootz were “cooked” - blanks made of cast steel in the form of cakes with a diameter of about 13 cm and a thickness of about 1 cm. The mass of such a cake was a little more than a kilogram. Therefore, to make a sword weighing 1.5–2.5 kg, 2–2.5 wutz were required. Another ancient center for the production of wootz is the country of Puluadi, which was located in the territories of modern Turkey, Iran, Armenia and Georgia. This is where it came from, as noted by the Soviet historian Academician G.A. Melikishvili, the name of the wutz is “pulat”, which later received a Russian sound - “damask steel”. As established by P.P. Anosov, as a result of long-term scientific and experimental research, damask steel is a high-carbon steel containing more than 2% carbon and a minimum amount of harmful impurities and non-metallic inclusions. The steel is cooked at high temperature in crucibles without access to air and cooled along with the furnace. A distinctive feature of damask ingots is that the polished cut has a peculiar wavy pattern, which appears with weak etching. However, to make a damask blade, it is not enough to obtain an ingot; it must be forged using a special technology, heat treated and finished. The secrets of these operations continue to be revealed to this day. Recently, a book by the remarkable master of damask steel and damask steel, Leonid Arkhangelsky, “Secrets of damask steel” (Moscow: Metallurgy, 2007), was published, in which he revealed many of the secrets of producing damask steel products. A lot of work on improving domestic damask steels is being carried out by the famous metallurgical engineer Igor Tolstoy, who created a site for the production of small-volume damask ingots and the manufacture of high-quality blanks for blades from them.

The production of a blade from welded damask steel is a long and labor-intensive process: the workpiece is pulled into a strip, then it is folded, forged welded and forged again. This “layer cake” is cut into longitudinal pieces, which are woven or twisted and again forge welded, carefully forged. In this case, forging is carried out with special hammers and blows are applied at different angles to the longitudinal axis of the product. To make swords, sabers and daggers from Damascus, the famous Suzdal blacksmith V.I. Basov (1938–2007) used blanks consisting of approximately 700 or more than a thousand layers. As a result of such complex forging techniques, the famous “damask patterns” appear: striped, streamed, wavy, mesh, cranked, etc. It should be noted that the patterns are much lighter than the background (ground), which can be gray, brown or black. The darker the ground and the more convex and lighter the pattern, the higher the value of the blade, and the quality of forging is determined by a clear and long sound. Heat treatment of a blade product consists of hardening and subsequent tempering. This is a very important operation, since the hardness, elasticity and flexibility of the blades depend on it. Each master had his own secrets: after forging, Damascus gunsmiths hung their red-hot blades out into the strong wind; Caucasian - they passed the red-hot blade to the rider, who galloped non-stop until it cooled completely. Many craftsmen hardened their products in spring or mineral water, in dew, in wet canvas, in lard; barbaric methods of hardening blades are also known: a red-hot blade was thrust into the body of a pig, a ram, or even a young strong slave. P.P. Anosov quenched samples in lard (oil) or water, and heated them for quenching and tempering in baths with molten lead. Tempering of products is also a very important heat treatment operation. Depending on the chemical composition of the steel, it is necessary to select the tempering temperature and cooling medium. Master gunsmiths determined the temperature of the blade by the color of the tarnish, and used water, oil or air as a cooling medium. After forging, the blades were processed on sharpening stones, then ground and polished. Grinding was carried out first on coarse-grained grinding stones, then on fine-grained ones. Finer grinding was carried out with various powders using fabrics and wood. Finally polished with fine powders and pastes. The process of grinding and polishing damask blades continued from morning to night, month after month. It was with such titanic labor that damask and damask swords, sabers and blades were created. All these unique products also received highly artistic finishing of the blade, handle, and sheath. This work was carried out by special master artists and also lasted for years. In 2010, a unique book by the Tula blacksmith-gunsmith Oleg Semenov, “Author's Weapons, Image Creation, Finishing” (M.: Adelant), was published, in which he revealed all the secrets of finishing blade weapons at a high scientific, technical and artistic level. In Damascus until the end of the 14th century. the best weapons in the world were forged from Indian wootz and Damascus. In the 15th century Damascus was captured by Timur's army and completely destroyed. All artisans, including many blacksmiths and gunsmiths, were taken to Samarkand and other cities of Central Asia. At this time, the production of damask steel begins in the cities of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Iran. “Russian damask steel” - kharalug - steel (Damascus type), which was forged from red iron. The technology of making weapons from multilayer welded steel was well known to the Slavic peoples already in the 6th century. Charal weapons (swords, spears) and armor are often mentioned in ancient Russian literature. Thus, in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” several times it is said about kharaluzh swords, spears, flails, chain mail and even hearts: “I have a brave heart in the cruel kharaluz, but hardened in violence.”

During the period of the power of Kievan Rus, the majestic St. Sophia Cathedrals were built in Kyiv, Novgorod, and Polotsk. Blacksmiths take an active part in construction. Powerful connections are forged - “strands” and belts for fastening walls, vaults and arches. The windows are covered with bars with beautiful designs, and the front doors and gates are assembled from metal “boards.” The lathing (cranes) for domes and hipped roofs is forged, and eight-pointed crosses are assembled and installed on the tops of the domes as the final link. Goldsmiths also achieve high skill, making highly artistic cups and vases, bowls and cups, dishes and glasses. Products are decorated with perforated carvings, engravings, precious stones and relief embossing.

At the beginning of the 13th century. Numerous strife took place on the territory of Rus', which brought death and destruction. Many builders and artisans were killed on the battlefields and taken prisoner. However, already from the second half of the 14th century. the country is gradually being revived, including the restoration of crafts - the children and grandchildren of blacksmiths begin to forge plowshares and hoes, scythes and weapons. In 1380, Prince Dmitry Donskoy, having gathered a well-armed army, gave battle on the Kulikovo field. The blacksmiths contributed greatly to the victory: they dressed the Russian warrior in reliable protective armor - chain mail and helmets; well armed with excellent swords, axes, spears, bows, and arrows. In subsequent years, the unification of Russian lands into a single state continues, new cities appear, commodity-money relations develop, the number of artisans grows, and the foundations of industry are laid. However, blacksmithing began to turn into a powerful craft only after humanity learned to extract iron from ores and raise the temperature of a fire or furnace above 1000 °C. In the 15th century iron-making areas were identified in the Moscow region, in the regions of Tula, Serpukhov and Kashira, in the Zamoskovny region near Beloozero and Poshekhonye, ​​Yaroslavl, Galich and Kostroma, in the Novgorod region near Bezhitsa and Ostashkov, in the Ustyuzhensky region, in Karelia in the city of Olonets, in Primorye near Yarensk and in Zaonezhye on the so-called Lop churchyards. During the same period, the specialization of blacksmiths by region began. Thus, Ustyug blacksmiths forged cannons, squeaks, cannonballs, and produced large quantities of “weapons” against cavalry - “swept flyers.” In the Beloozero region, peasants welded their own iron and forged nails and staples for ships from it; in Vologda they forged axes, knives, scythes, and nails; in Kostroma - steelyards; in Tver - needles, hooks, shoe and wallpaper nails. In the 16th century The iron industry continues to expand, new ore deposits are opening near Kashira, where blocky iron ore came to the surface, Veliky Ustyug and Tula, as well as near the Pomeranian Karelians. On the Lakhoma River in the Vychegda region, an “iron mill” with a water wheel that powered the “samok” is being built, and the “Solovetsky Chronicler” speaks of the existence of iron production on the lands of the Solovetsky Monastery.

In the 17th century iron production from peasant-handicraft becomes industrial. In 1631, the first Ural plant began operating on the Nice River. In the Olonets region, at the Ustretsky and Kedrozersky factories, cannons and cannonballs were forged, and iron was smelted for sale. In 1640, the first copper smelter in Russia was built on the Kamgorka River (not far from Solikamsk).

Gradually, the center of iron production with “water” (powered by a water wheel) hammers moved to Tula, where in 1656–1637. The first blast furnace plant of the Moscow State was built. At the end of the 17th century. the rich and enterprising blacksmith Nikita Demidovich Antufiev (Demidov; 1662–1725) organized the first iron-making manufactory in Tula, for which he built a 400-meter dam at the confluence of the Tulitsa River with the Upa, built two high blast furnaces and launched two hammer factories, in which, with the help of “ water hammers forged iron blanks (Fig. 1.0.1). At the same time, lathes and drilling machines operating from a “water” drive appeared at Tula factories. The 18th century became a century of widespread development of the metallurgical and forging industry; Tula, on the orders of Peter I (1672–1725), turned into an all-Russian forge for weapons personnel. In memory of this, a sculpture of Peter I was installed in the city. Highly qualified personnel of Tula blacksmiths and gunsmiths were sent to Ustyuzhna-Zheleznopolskaya, and in 1704, 170 craftsmen were sent to a large factory in the Olonets region. Tula blacksmiths and gunsmiths also formed the main backbone of skilled workers at the Lipetsk arms factory, founded in 1702.

Rice. 1.0.1.Hammer factory of the 17th century.

Having chosen Voronezh as the location for shipyards and metallurgical plants, Peter I spared neither effort nor money to speed up the construction of ships. He attached great importance to the development of metallurgy both in the center of Russia - in the regions of Tula, Kashira, and in the southern regions, which were directly adjacent to Voronezh, as well as in the Urals. In a short time, ironworks appeared in the south of the Russian state, in the Lipetsk region: Borinsky (1693), Lipetsk - Upper and Lower (1700–1712), Kuzminsky (1706) and later Novopetrovsky (1758) . This was facilitated by deposits of iron ore, huge forests that satisfied the need for fuel, and abundant reserves of water energy. Rivers dammed became a source of cheap energy that powered iron factories powered by a water wheel. To commemorate the activities of Peter I in creating iron factories in Lipetsk, an obelisk was erected in 1839, in the pedestal of which a cast-iron slab with a bas-relief “Forging Vulcan” was mounted.

As metallurgical production developed, the need to improve the quality of the iron produced was revealed, and Peter I in 1722 issued a decree, according to which all produced iron should be checked and branded with special marks. Somewhat later (in 1731), a government decree was issued on the branding of Siberian government iron: “Siberian government iron is to be branded with four brands, namely: 1) - the name of the master who made the iron, 2) at which factory the iron was made, 3) Russian coat of arms, 4) name Brakovshchikovo...” As a result of Peter’s reforms in Russia, already in 1736, at 21 new metallurgical plants, there were 101 blast furnaces and more than 470 flashy lever hammers, and in the 1760s. - already over 120 metallurgical and ironworks plants, producing about 82,000 tons of cast iron and 49,000 tons of iron per year. At this time, Russia ranks first in the world in the production of cast iron and iron. Russian iron “Old Sable” was highly valued on the world market.

With the development of heavy industry, shipbuilding and artillery, existing equipment at the end of the 18th century. no longer satisfied technological needs. More powerful forging machines with new types of drive and new technologies were needed. By this time, the great self-taught inventor Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov (1728–1766) had already created the world’s first “fire-acting machine for factory needs,” which he considered as “a new engine for general use.” At the beginning of 1766, Polzunov’s first two-cylinder steam engine was tested and showed “proper machine operation.” Using the principle of operation of I. Polzunov’s machine, the English engineer D. Watt (1736–1819) in 1784 received a patent for the world’s first steam hammer. However, the introduction of steam hammers into industry is associated with the name of another English machine inventor and industrialist James Nesmith (1808–1890), who in 1842 built a steam hammer with a mass of falling parts of 3 tons. Soon his hammers began to be used in Russian factories: two steam Hammers began working at the Yekaterinburg Mechanical Factory and the Votkinsk Shipyard in 1848. The development of hammer equipment followed the path of increasing the mass of falling parts, which made it possible to produce large forgings for shipbuilding, artillery and various factory machines. In the middle of the 19th century. The most powerful hammers in the world with a mass of falling parts of up to 50 tons were installed at the Obukhov and Perm plants (Fig. 1.0.2). A model of such a hammer was exhibited in 1873 at the World Exhibition in Vienna.

Rice. 1.0.2.“Tsar Hammer” of the Motovilikha plant in Perm.

Where the anchors were forged. Forging anchors is the most complex and responsible type of work, since the fate of the ship depended on the strength and reliability of the anchor. It is known that the first iron two-horned anchor was invented and forged by the Scythian Anacharsis in the 7th century. BC e. from metal obtained from Kerch ore. Until the end of the 17th century. anchors were forged by hand and then using “water” hammers in anchor factories. Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kazan, Gorodets, Voronezh, Lodeynoye Pole, as well as many cities of the Urals were famous for their anchor craftsmen. It is known that anchor craftsmen from Yaroslavl and Vologda forged about 100 “large two-horned anchors” for the ships of the naval flotilla built on the orders of Boris Godunov.

The rapid development of Russian shipbuilding under Peter I entailed the rapid development of metallurgy and blacksmithing. Anchors for ships were forged by blacksmiths gathered from all over Russia. By a special decree, Peter I forbade them to forge any products not related to the navy, and obliged the monasteries to pay for their work. The blacksmiths of the first Russian manufacturers - Demidov, Butenat, Naryshkin, Borin, Aristov and others - were also supposed to supply anchors. Later, “state-owned iron factories” were established in the Novgorod and Tambov provinces. For the first frigates of Peter the Great's fleet, which were built in 1702 on the Svir and Pasha rivers, anchors were forged in Olonets, but in 1718 some of the anchor forges were transferred from Olonets to Ladoga, and from there in 1724 to Sestroretsk. In the last years of the reign of Peter I, ten state factories were already working for the needs of the fleet: in the north of the country - Petrovsky (the cities of Beloozero and Kargopol were assigned to it), Izhora, Konchezersky, Ustiretsky, Povenetsky and Tyrnitsky; in the south - Lipetsk, Borinsky and Kuzminsky.

After the death of Peter I, anchor production began to develop in the Urals - at the Votkinsk, Serebryansky, Nizhneturinsky and Izhevsk factories. The first of them was founded in 1759 by P. Shuvalov on the Votka River at the confluence of Berezovka and Sharkan. The abundance of forests, rivers and cheap labor ensured rapid development of the enterprise, and it turned into one of the largest mining factories in Russia in the 18th century. Ores for the production of wrought iron were delivered to the Votkinsk plant from Mount Blagodat along the Chusovaya and Kama rivers. The best wrought iron was used for the anchors. Until 1850, at the Votkinsk plant, welding of all parts of the anchor was carried out in forges, but they were soon replaced by welding furnaces, which were heated with wood. Around the same time, a steam hammer with a mass of falling parts of 4.5 tons appeared at the plant, which greatly simplified and improved the anchor manufacturing technology. In the anchor shop of the Votkinsk plant, depending on orders for anchors, 250–350 people worked. On each fire of the forge or furnace, on each shift, a team of one master, several apprentices, and two to five workers worked, not counting those employed in transporting coal. The plant produced anchors weighing from 3 to 300 pounds or more. Heavy anchors from this plant weighing 336 pounds (almost 5.5 tons) were installed on large battleships. By the end of the 18th century. The Izhevsk plant becomes the largest in the Urals. In 1778, 24 anchors weighing 60–250 pounds and 134,553 pounds of iron were forged on it. The plant's anchor production employed 110 people.

Rice. 1.0.3.City forge.

The heaviest Admiralty anchors (weighing up to 10 tons) for the battle cruisers Borodino, Izmail, Kinburn and Navarin were forged in Izhora, where in 1719, by decree of Peter I, the Admiralty factories were founded. The forging hammers in these factories were driven by water wheels.

Blacksmithing in Moscow. The early period of the Iron Age of Moscow can be judged from the materials of archaeological excavations in the village of Dyakova, located on the banks of the Moscow River (near the village of Kolomenskoye), Kuntsevskoye and Mamonovskoye settlements. However, only under Yuri Dolgoruky did Moscow become a city with developed crafts and trade. On the Kremlinsky Cape and in the suburb, an “urban basis of life” is developing (Fig. 1.0.3). Metallurgical and forging production was developed here - archaeologists discovered blast furnaces, clumps of slag, and kritsa. On the territory of modern Zaryadye, a large workshop (6.5 x 4.5 m in size) of a casting and foundry production and an area for the production of bronze pin heads were excavated, and near the Kitai-Gorod wall - a foundry and forge workshop, which housed a house and a foundry area.

As the city grows, all crafts related to fire, due to the fear of fires, are gradually forced out of the territory of the Great Posad beyond the Moscow, Yauza, and Neglinnaya rivers, since rivers are a good defense for the city from fire. In the places of settlements, craft settlements were created: blacksmiths, foundries, potters, etc.

From the 16th century Moscow blacksmiths begin to work on imported iron raw materials - a structure that was received from Novgorod, Ustyuzhna-Zheleznopolskaya, Serpukhov and Tikhvin. Since that time, blacksmiths have been divided into gunsmiths, armorsmiths, locksmiths, etc. Blacksmiths-gunsmiths forged “white” (cold) weapons and firearms, weaved chain mail, and armorsmiths forged plates for armor. For the first time, plate armor – “plank armor” – was mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle. Forged convex plates (200–600 pieces) were attached to leather shirts overlapping, which increased the overall thickness of the armor, and the curvature of the plates softened saber blows. In the XV–XVI centuries. there is a “fusion” of ringed and plate armor. The warrior's neck and shoulders are covered with a steel necklace, his chest is covered with a mirror, and his hands are protected with iron bracers.

Armor masters settled in separate “bronny” settlements located in the area of ​​modern Bolshaya and Malaya Bronnaya streets, and the city of Bronnitsy was known already in the 15th century. as a supplier of armor to the sovereign's army. The high quality of work of Moscow blacksmiths and gunsmiths can be judged by the fact that many kings and princes had weapons and armor of “Moscow forge”. Thus, in the inventory of Boris Godunov’s weapons and armor there was the following entry: “Moscow Rogatina, Moscow spear, armor, helmets.” The Armory Chamber houses the under-arm knife of Prince Andrei Staritsky (the youngest son of Grand Duke Ivan III), made in Russia in the 16th century, the blade of the knife is damask steel with a gold notch and the Russian inscription: “Prince Ondrei Ivanovich, years 7021,” which translated into modern chronology means 1513. It is known that damask blades were forged by Moscow masters Nil Prosvita, Dmitry Konovalov and Bogdan Ipatiev. Highly appreciating the art of blacksmithing, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich sent students “to learn damask saber strips” to Astrakhan. Moscow-made helmets not only successfully competed with Western ones, but were also considered especially valuable armor in the royal treasury. Decorated with gold, silver or gilded copper overlays, they were expensive and were worn mainly by princes and boyars. When moving, as chroniclers note, the helmets sparkled and shimmered in the rays of the sun and gave the impression of “golden helmets.” A unique example of Russian blacksmithing and jewelry art can be considered a damask helmet (or “cap of Jericho”), which is exhibited in the Armory Chamber. This is a ceremonial helmet forged by the famous Kremlin blacksmith and gunsmith Nikita Davydov (from Murom) for Tsar Mikhail Romanov. The crown made of damask steel is decorated with the finest gold carvings. The ears and visor of the helmet are decorated with pearls and Russian gems. The front of the helmet is decorated with a chased gilded forehead, colored enamels and precious stones. And around the tip of the helmet there is a belt of arabesques - an Arabic saying from the Koran. This saying was translated into Russian by the greatest expert on the Arabic language, T.G. Chernichenko: “And bring joy to the believers.”

The Moscow Kuznetsovs can also be considered the founders of Russian artillery. It is known from the chronicle that during the defense of Moscow from the hordes of Khan Tokhtamysh in 1382, Russian troops used artillery: cannons that fired stone cannonballs, and “mattresses” that fired “shot,” i.e., buckshot. Since the 15th century. Moscow is becoming a major metallurgical and forging center. The Cannon Hut was created here, which later became the first metallurgical plant in Russia with mechanisms driven by water-filled wheels. “At the end of the 15th century. A large foundry for that time was built - the Cannon Yard. It was a foundry and forge production facility, with several foundry barns and blacksmith workshops. To set in motion all kinds of mechanisms - bellows, hammers, etc. - on the Neglinnaya River in the 17th century. several large water-filling wheels were installed, for which it was blocked by a dam,” it is written in the guidebook “On the Streets of Moscow” regarding the emergence of the Cannon Yard, and according to the plan that has survived to this day, one can imagine how the workshops were located (Fig. 1.0.4) . N.I. Falkovsky in his book “Moscow in the History of Technology” gives a description of this largest arms factory in Russia: “The equipment of the enterprise was as follows: there was a barn in which there was a large hammer, with a large chair-anvil, a forge and two large water bellows. There was a special forge of cannon smiths with an anvil. In the turning barn there were six machines for drilling gun barrels with water... In the blacksmith barn there was a large hammer and anvils where barrel boards were forged with water. The hammer fist weighed 245 kg, and the anvil weighed over 400 kg and was installed on a powerful wooden pedestal - a chair. The custard forge had 10 forges. Among the tools were: an anvil with forks for bending barrel boards, ten barrel cores (crutches), five hooks on which barrels are bent. There were 134 people working at the plant at that time, including 14 cannon blacksmiths. The main products of the plant in those years were cannons, cannonballs, and various types of bladed weapons. The squeaks and pistols of Russian gunsmiths were not only distinguished by their original finish, but were also equipped with a percussion flintlock... In addition, orders were made for the city - tongues for bells, shackles and various components for machine tools and various machines, gates for the Kremlin and the White City were forged, various household and artistic products. Since the 15th century they began to make cannons from bronze, and later from cast iron.”

Rice. 1.0.4.The Cannon Yard is the first large metallurgical center in Russia.

Since the 15th century. The Moscow army no longer went on a campaign without artillery. Thus, the walls of Kazan could not withstand the destructive artillery fire of the troops of Ivan the Terrible. Peter I was interested in arms factories from a young age. While in Moscow, on one of the holidays, after a ceremonial service and dinner with the boyars, he went to the Cannon Yard. There he ordered the cannons to be fired at the target and bombs thrown, and, to the horror of the boyars, he himself lit the fuse and fired the cannon. He demanded to indicate the most experienced artilleryman who served in the Cannon Order, from whom he wanted to learn. And later, cannon supplies and “funny lights” for fireworks were delivered from here to Peter I for training sessions. “Cannon smiths” worked not only in the “yard”, but also in the so-called dungeons in the Spassky and Nikolsky monasteries, in workshops at warehouses, and also on campaigns. In 1698, the first artillery school was opened at the Cannon Yard. In 1648, on the Yauza River, a branch of the Cannon Yard was built - the “Barrel Mill”, which was intended for “forging with water” cannon musket and carbine barrels, iron boards, wire – “drawn” and white iron. It should be noted that the technology for manufacturing artillery pieces was very complex and demanding. First, they forged boards from kritsa (Fig. 1.0.5) - metal sheets up to 10 mm thick (for cannons), 1900 mm wide and 1400 mm long; then the edges were prepared for longitudinal and transverse (end) welding; they bent the boards into a tube on a grooved anvil or lining and welded the longitudinal seam of the barrel overlapping on a mandrel. After this, end welding was carried out on the mandrel of the two middle links of the barrel and end welding to the middle links of the barrel of the outer parts of the barrel adjacent to the breech and the muzzle tube. The requirements for the quality of forging barrels were stipulated by a special decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich of 1628: “The arquebuses would be used for shooting by executioners and so that there would be no cracks or kinks in those arcals and that they would be straight, so that they would be intact for shooting.” By the beginning of the 18th century. The Cannon Yard was a major metallurgical center in Russia, employing about 500 people. However, the development of metallurgical and weapons factories in Novgorod, Pskov, Ustyuzhne-Zheleznopolskaya, Vologda, Tula and the Urals gradually reduced the importance of the Cannon Yard, and at the end of the 18th century. it was already turning into an arsenal, and in 1802 it was abolished: “On April 16, it was ordered that all the weapons stored in it be handed over to the Arsenal, the buildings were dismantled and the materials were used for the construction of the Stone Yauzsky Bridge.”

Rice. 1.0.5.Forged cannon manufacturing technology.

Since the 17th century In Moscow and other large cities of the country, widespread construction of palace and park ensembles begins, and many blacksmith shops switch to the production of large and small fences, window grilles, canopies and finials. The uniqueness of old Moscow streets is explained by the presence of a large number of openwork forged fences, balcony grilles and light lace canopies of entrances from the 17th–19th centuries. Famous masters of classicism, Moscow architects V. Bazhenov, O. Bove, M. Kazakov, D. Gilardi, I. Vitali, representatives of Art Nouveau A. Erickson, V. Walcott, F. Shekhtel, as well as architects of the Soviet school A. Shchusev, D. Chechulin, V. Shchuko widely used forged metal to create palaces, mansions, houses and parks. The most interesting in terms of the design of the forged metal are the fences made in the Moscow Baroque style of the second half of the 18th century. (Fig. 1.0.6). Powerful stone pillars contrast with the “light and playful” forged pattern (photo 1.0.2). Yaroslavl blacksmiths, using plant motifs, forged the gates and fence of the courtyard of the former chambers of boyar Volkov (photo 1.0.3), which is in Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Lane, house 21, but here the design is already completely symmetrical and made up of heart-shaped bends of stems - “chervonok” (favorite motif of Russian decorative art of the 18th–19th centuries). The weaving areas are covered with beautiful stamped rosettes.

Rice. 1.0.6.Temple fences made in the Moscow Baroque style. XVIII century

Since the 19th century When designing fences, artists and architects are beginning to widely use industrial rolled steel, as a result of which the overall design of the fences becomes more strict, straight lines predominate, and the tops are shaped like balls or peaks. The fences of the building of the Moscow English Club (now the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia) and the old building of the Library named after. V. I. Lenin (Pashkov’s house). The openwork forged lattices look amazing against the backdrop of the former palace buildings of the Kuskovo, Kuzminki, and Arkhangelskoye estates near Moscow. Owning numerous blacksmith and metalworking workshops in the city of Pavlovo-on-Oka, Count Sheremetev, with the labor of serf blacksmiths, decorated his estate in Kuskovo with masterpieces of art. The window grille of the grotto (architect F. Argunov) resembles the design of the vegetation of the underwater kingdom (photo 1.0.4). It is interesting to note that Ivan Gorbun, the father of the famous actress Praskovya Ivanovna Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, worked as a blacksmith in Kuskovo.

Moscow has the largest number of fences and gratings from the late 19th – early 20th centuries. made in Art Nouveau style. The asymmetrical twists of the forged stems create some kind of fluid ornament of merging, intertwining and entangling strange plants. The pattern from the gratings often goes onto the wall of the house already in stone or plaster, spreads across the entire facade and ends with powerful waves on the cornice or in the pattern of the roof parapet. The grilles of the mansion on Kropotkinsky Lane and the Metropol Hotel were made in this style (Fig. 1.0.7 a, b) and the canopy of the National Hotel (photo 1.0.5), a large number of houses along Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street.

Rice. 1.0.7.Moscow fences in the Art Nouveau style: a – a mansion in Kropotkinsky Lane; b – Hotel “Metropol”.

This class includes the balcony grille of house 20 on Prechistenka Street (photo 1.0.6), and the unique fence of the mansion on Tverskoy Boulevard, house 25 (photo 1.0.7), fences and balcony grilles of the M. Gorky House Museum on Spiridonovka (photo 1.0.8). A forged umbrella over the entrance to the former pharmacy No. 1 on Nikolskaya Street can be called a genuine blacksmith’s “symphony” (photo 1.0.9). The umbrella is assembled from complex blacksmith products: twisted cones with leaves and curls are lined up on top, like candles, the side and front walls of the umbrella consist of a diamond-shaped mesh with interceptions at the nodes and a garland along the lower edge. Stylized buds hang in the corners, and acanthus leaves with spirals twist intricately along the brackets. At the entrance of this house there are unique lamps in the shape of trees (photo 1.0.10).

The umbrella that opened over the entrance to the building of the Russian Humanitarian University on Nikolskaya Street is made in a pseudo-Gothic style. The pattern of forged elements is drawn out using a compass and a ruler: slotted trefoils, four-lobed rosettes, pointed arches. The iron lace of the umbrella seems to merge with the stone carvings of the building’s pilasters and, “capturing” the lancet windows, rises to the roof parapet and finials.

Going out onto Red Square and approaching Lobnoye Mesto, you can see a forged gate with an openwork pattern in the Renaissance style. The central part of the lattice link is filled with a spiral with a fantastic animal whose legs and tail are twisted into the base of the lattice.

Moscow blacksmiths were the first craftsmen to start making watches. From the ancient Russian chronicle we learn about the construction of the first tower clock in Muscovite Rus': “... and this clock-keeper will be called the Hour-Metering,” and further: “In the summer of 6912 (1404) ... Prince Vasily conceived a clock-keeper and installed it in his yard.” The clock was made by the learned Serbian monk Lazar from Cape Athos, and it was installed on one of the towers of the white-stone Kremlin. Tower clocks with striking and bell music became especially widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries. (Fig. 1.0.8). They were staged in large monasteries and cities. At the end of the 16th century. in the Moscow Kremlin, clocks were installed on three towers: Spasskaya, Tainitskaya and Troitskaya, and at the beginning of the 17th century. - on Nikolskaya. In the first half of the 17th century. In Moscow, under the leadership of the English mechanic Galovey, work was carried out to install a new large clock on the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin. This clock with a moving dial and a complex device for bell music (chimes) gained great fame. A little later, the master of the Armory Chamber, Pyotr Vysotsky, installed a tower clock in Kolomenskoye over the new stone gates. This clock had a complex mechanism for moving the dial and a hammer drive for eight “intersectional” bells.

Rice. 1.0.8.The first Moscow clock bell.

It should be noted that when creating watch movements, high precision was required in the manufacture of a large number of complex parts and fitting them to each other. All parts of the watch mechanism were made by qualified blacksmiths. First, wheels and gears of various sizes, shafts and axles were forged, and a frame was assembled from thick forged strips. After this, a large number of chain links were forged, and the painstaking work of assembling and debugging the watch began. The work was complicated by the fact that the dimensions of some parts reached 5 m or more, and their weight reached tens and hundreds of kilograms. And on such wheels and gears it was necessary to forge a strictly defined number of teeth with high precision “one step at a time.” Thus, watchmaking technology has been around since the 15th century. required theoretical knowledge in the field of mathematics and astronomy, without which it was impossible to build a clock or regulate its course.

At the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries. Moscow was characterized not only by the growth of large “metal” enterprises that required large quantities of iron, cast iron, steel for the production of various products and structures, wire, nails, rails, etc., but also by an increase in the number of forges. City forges were divided into public and house ones. The public ones had to be built one next to the other, forming the Forge Row. House forges were usually located in separate areas and were wooden, stone or combined, one-story or two-story. The forges themselves were located on the ground floor, and living quarters were on the second floor.

Blacksmith- master of metal forging. The profession is suitable for those who are interested in work and farming (see choosing a profession based on interest in school subjects).

Features of the profession

The blacksmith's profession is one of the most ancient. Blacksmiths made tools, weapons, building elements, locks, and jewelry. They work with a wide variety of metals - from cast iron to gold. If necessary, a blacksmith can use not only forging, but also other technologies: forge welding, casting, forge soldering, heat treatment of products, etc. And yet forging is the main action in the work of a blacksmith. A large number of identical shaped products are often produced using stamping (hot or cold).

Another name for a blacksmith is a farrier. This word is borrowed from the Ukrainian language. In Soviet times, the word “koval” began to designate a separate blacksmith specialty. At the hippodromes there were farriers who were engaged exclusively in shoeing horses, and blacksmiths who made these horseshoes, i.e. worked in a forge with metal. The work of a farrier can be called intermediate between blacksmithing and veterinary medicine (veterinary orthopedics). But in the West there is a similar division by specialty: farrier- a specialist who fills horseshoes with horses, blacksmith- a blacksmith as such, working in a forge, making horseshoes. Unlike Russian farriers, farriers in Europe and America must be able to make their own horseshoes, including complex and orthopedic ones. Recently, this trend has emerged in Russia.

Workplace

If in the old days the main place of work was the forge, now, as a result of industrialization, many blacksmiths work in the workshops of enterprises. Although there are still forges where craftsmen usually do artistic forging and casting. Often in blacksmith shops and forges they work in teams. Its composition depends on the type of work and equipment used. When forging by hand, the hammersmith can be assisted by trainees. In production, a team is led by a foreman.

Salary

Salary as of 02/17/2020

Russia 15000—60000 ₽

Moscow 59000—140000 ₽

Important qualities

Who can work as a blacksmith? Of course, a physically strong person. He must have good eyesight, an ideal eye, the ability to withstand high temperatures, and visual memory. And, as the blacksmiths themselves say, for successful work you need to be able to feel the material.

Artistic forging is usually done by people who are artistically gifted, who know how to draw, and who are inclined to engage in applied arts.

It is important to take into account the physical stress that the blacksmith has to cope with.

Problems

Since you have to work mainly in an inclined position, your back often suffers. Increased noise levels, which may affect hearing. Vibration associated with the work of the hammer, which occurs primarily in the arms and shoulder girdle and affects the health of joints and ligaments.

In addition, this is a traumatic activity that requires strict adherence to safety precautions and attention.

Graduates of art universities often become masters of artistic forging. In particular, in art universities there is a specialty in “art processing of metals.”

Technologies for artistic processing of metals (art forging, artistic casting) are taught in metallurgical universities. For example, at the Moscow State Evening Metallurgical Institute.

At the School of Blacksmithing at the same university, you can get a specialty as a blacksmith-artist.

The specialties “technology of metal forming”, “blacksmith with hammers and presses”, “blacksmith-stamper” are taught in colleges.