https://cdblacksmiths.org/ How hot iron is actually worked, what the tools are for, what the books are worth reading, and the ironwork standing in Troy, Albany and Watervliet. en-us https://cdblacksmiths.org/craft/drawing-out-and-upsetting/https://cdblacksmiths.org/craft/drawing-out-and-upsetting/Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000How a bar is made longer and thinner, how it is made shorter and thicker, and why the second one is harder than it sounds. https://cdblacksmiths.org/faq.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/faq.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000Do blacksmiths shoe horses, what is the difference from a farrier, what can you make, how hot does it need to be, and where do you start. https://cdblacksmiths.org/craft/forge-welding-explained/https://cdblacksmiths.org/craft/forge-welding-explained/Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000What happens at welding heat, why flux is used, which steels behave and which do not, and how a failed weld shows itself. https://cdblacksmiths.org/craft/heat-treating-carbon-steel/https://cdblacksmiths.org/craft/heat-treating-carbon-steel/Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000What each of the three heat treatments does to the structure of a carbon steel, in what order they are done, and why tempering is not optional. https://cdblacksmiths.org/localironarsenal.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/localironarsenal.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000A prefabricated cast iron structure from the middle of the nineteenth century, still standing on an arsenal that has never closed. https://cdblacksmiths.org/localironburden.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/localironburden.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000Henry Burden, the horseshoe machine of 1851, the spike machine, the great water wheel, and what remains on the site in Troy today. https://cdblacksmiths.org/mastermyr.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/mastermyr.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000What was in the toolchest found in a Gotland bog, what it tells us about a smith who worked wood and iron, and where it is kept. https://cdblacksmiths.org/localironpaley.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/localironpaley.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000How a jeweller became the best known architectural metalworker in the United States, and what his Albany gates are made of. https://cdblacksmiths.org/localironrens.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/localironrens.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000Corning and Winslow owned two of the largest iron works in the country, and the USS Monitor was launched a hundred and one days after the contract was signed. https://cdblacksmiths.org/localironross.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/localironross.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000Ross Valve of Troy has made water valves since 1879, and a sixth generation of the family now runs the shop. What it builds, and what a foundry is. https://cdblacksmiths.org/booklist.htmlhttps://cdblacksmiths.org/booklist.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000A short list of blacksmithing books that keep being recommended, what each one is actually good for, and what a book cannot teach. https://cdblacksmiths.org/learning/finding-a-class-or-a-group/https://cdblacksmiths.org/learning/finding-a-class-or-a-group/Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000How the affiliate structure of the trade associations works, what a first monthly meeting is like, and what to ask before paying for a course.