Once the Halloween decor comes down, we know that Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. These last couple months of the year are a whirlwind of family gatherings, delicious feasts, holiday decor-- and before you know it, we’re ringing in the new year.

While this time of the year can be full of joy and quality time spent with the ones we love, it can also be very stressful. Cleaning and decorating the house, cooking and serving elaborate meals, and dealing with your least favourite (see: difficult) relatives, can quickly suck the joy out of the holidays.

Luckily, getting ready ahead of time and tackling your holiday checklist early can eliminate some of the stress leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

That’s why your friendly neighbourhood blacksmith is here to help you do just that!

From the moment blacksmiths divined a method of forging iron to make stronger weapons and tools, the chosen few who could wield this skill became critical members of the community. Everyone from farmers to carpenters to soldiers relied on their village blacksmith for the tools they needed for daily life. When the industrial revolution came along, tools, hardware, and other staples of the blacksmithing craft could be built en masse in factories. Eventually, the need for the village blacksmith largely disappeared. As the trade faded, so did the importance of the local blacksmiths who were forced to abandon it. 

Thankfully, blacksmithing is seeing a resurgence. But what about the role blacksmiths once played as community builders -- both through their physical products and the resilience that comes from local production? We at Wicks Forge have been thinking a lot about how we can have a positive impact on both our environment and our community-- similarly to those who founded this trade. 

Keep reading to learn about the history of blacksmiths, the impact they had, and how Wicks Forge is trying to continue that legacy through our work. 

One of the best things about being a blacksmith, is the fact that our craft allows us to make many of the tools needed for blacksmithing— hammers, tongs, chisels, jigs, and so on. It’s almost like blacksmiths were the original 3D printer of the craft world. 

Nowadays, it’s usually just faster and easier to purchase such tools— a $5 yard sale hammer will move steel just like a hammer that takes hours to make. 

That being said, the forge is the main tool that enables us blacksmiths to actually do blacksmithing. Regardless of all the other processes we use to make our line of products, the one thing that all of our pieces have in common is that at some point they were heated up in the forge.

We’ve always used homemade forges here in the shop. Initially, this was for financial reasons-- since a brand new forge can run you several hundred dollars at its cheapest. But, as Wicks Forge has grown, our needs have become more specific. Now, a custom built forge is the only way to ensure that all of the varied tasks we have can be accommodated for on a daily basis. 

There’s usually a catch 22 when it comes to being an environmentally conscious consumer: products that are made sustainably-- with recycled materials or renewable resources-- are usually very expensive. 

Keep reading to find out how Wicks Forge repurposes waste and leftover materials to function sustainably and keep our products affordable for everyone.