While Blacksmithing is often looked at as a skill from a bygone era, it has become more and more popular as each year passes, and when it comes to survivalism, a good blacksmith is "worth their weight in gold".

This is because it is the job of a blacksmith to take metal, and using nothing but hammers, fire, some form of an anvil, muscle, and tons of sweat, turn that raw iron into a useful, functional, even exquisitely crafted work of art.

Like all other skills, the subsections of being a blacksmith can be complex, such as knowing different types of metal, the heat color charts, how to weld with a forge, and how to create intricate tools.

The basic concepts are quite easy to grasp:

• Build a decent fire.

• insert a metal rod into the fire.

• heat it until red and softer.

• use a glove, tongs, or pliers to hold the rod safely.

• using a hammer to strike hot metal against the anvil to shape/

• repeat until you have desired result

It's that last part "repeat until you have desired result" that is the truly hard part of blacksmithing.

Having trained with an actual practicing blacksmith in my younger years, I can fully attest to the fact that you will make many, many, many mistakes along the way before you have anything that resembles a tool.