|
Michael Spencer, Artist-blacksmith, from the
postscript, Julius Schramm,
by Hugo Kükelhaus and Julius Schramm
TOP
In this little booklet, Hugo Küekelhaus recapitulates the core of Schramm's own essay
on the artist-blacksmith's craft-faithful adherence to techniques that exploit and express
the natural qualities of forged iron-and Schramm himself follows up with an
autobiographical sketch. More than a dozen photos illustrate both Schramm's notion of a
disciplined approach that derives from ancient tradition and his own innovations within
that tradition. Those innovations have been carried forward by his successors, notably
Fritz Kuehn, and have become a part of the contemporary idiom of the craft.
...Schramm reminds us that making objects with integrity of ornament, function and
natural expressive of the material is no crime but a rich aesthetic and intellectual
experience.
Material and Technique
TOP
An attempt to discuss thoroughly the individual techniques of blacksmith work be too
extensive, as such a compilation could give the architect no useful foundation. He cannot
know which of the countless design possibilities are possible with each technique. On the
other hand, the craftsman can only learn the techniques in suitable shops, not simply by
description. I will therefore limit myself to a short discussion of the material and the
principle techniques, and will indicate the most obvious errors. (footnote) The same
presumptions do not at all apply to both locksmith and blacksmith work. Good locksmith
work may be worthless as forge work.
Our wrought iron is usually delivered in bars of various dimensions, as rounds, flats,
or squares. The thinner material is supplied in bundles of strips. Only these types should
be used in artist-blacksmith work; the use of other profiles, such as T or U, as well as
angle iron, or rolled surface decoration, would influence the character of the forged work
from the beginning. Such profiles retain the character of rolled or machine work. They are
frequently used to give the impression of massive iron and even will be hollow forms
bolted together. They form only a facade; forged work, however, should be genuine, and
should represent nothing except the truth. As the works from my shop shown at the end of
this discussion demonstrate, the use of such profiles is never necessary.
The use of sheet metal should also be avoided whenever possible in artist-blacksmith
work. Sheet metal might be used in doors or door frames. It should then be hammered smooth
(with a flatter), but not given a pock-marked or rolled finish. In contrast to brittle
cast iron, wrought iron has a unique characteristic: it feathers out, and can be
delicately forged. With proper design and proper working, its stringy grain structure is
not broken. One should make good use of this property, and ends of pieces should be
delicately forged out. But this delicacy, too, has its limits; the character of forged
work must be maintained. Forging is not scissors work, to be hung under glass on the wall.
Such work should be called a frivolity.
In the working of wrought iron one can distinguish between processes while the iron is
hot, the real forging, and cold working, such as drilling, straightening, riveting, and so
on, that wholly take place during assembly of forged parts for their end use. While hot,
wrought iron is fairly soft, and can be shaped with a hammer to the desired form, whether
sharp, thin, or broad, or whatever. The smith works the iron over the front or back edge
of the anvil, giving the blows of the hammer in a vertical or angled direction (drawing
the hammer). He uses the face (front) or the peen (back) of the hammer. As he works, he
must not only consider the blows of the hammer, he must also watch the work as between the
individual blows he must turn from front to back, and so on. The smith himself makes the
various tools he needs, such as chisels, tongs and swages, according to his needs.
The Scroll
As one of the simplest and yet oldest and most natural of forged forms, I will discuss
the scroll with its various endings. It may be conceded that the scroll in many cases is
too arbitrarily, in fact ignorantly used, and that this design is only a decorative
element in sculpture and painting. But in forged work it has complete justification; it
has a function. The grain of the material follows the line of the scroll, so that we may
say that this form, the scroll is born from technique of iron forging. In addition, the
scroll offers not only the best and simplest method of filling an area, which is usually
the principle purpose of a screen which closes off a space or opening and should protect
from entry. The scroll also offers the best and simplest method for mounting parts. The
complete banning of scrolls, even in forged work, I can with assurance dismiss as one of
the most ignorant and irrational decisions of the New Rationality.
The possible variations are infinite, be it through changing the diagonal, smaller or
larger spirals, or forge welding on additional scrolls by forging out to more or less
narrow scrolls, or by the choice of endings. The endings may be open or closed as in the
so-called fiddle-heads of various forms; as leaf or flower designs of the most different
kinds or forged out in other ways. With a degree of imagination and ability to configure,
the variations are indeed unbelievably numerous. What is important, is that all parts be
of solid iron forged without the use of dies or stamping, whereby of themselves they
become more interesting, and each somewhat different, and thus give pleasure to both the
craftsman and the observer. Even the simplest screens are still handcraft (with the
exception of woven wire and similar work), and should be recognized as such, and we should
make use of the advantages of hand work in the designing process.
Piercing
Piercing is an interesting and frequently used technique that can be used in situations
where two forged parts must pass in the same plane. In the most frequently used method,
one of the forged pieces will be split for a length somewhat longer than the cross section
of the piece to be driven through. By upsetting and driving in a drift the split will be
separated to make a suitable opening for the second piece to pass through. This is in
contrast to the cabinetmakers overlap joint; an old technique in which no loss in cross
section occurs. But what evasions could be made, to agree with the demands of the drawing
pencil! To that, I give as an example a simple grating (screen) in which as the simplest
procedure would be to pierce either the horizontal or the vertical bars. Variations may be
made by passing the bars through either flat, or diagonally, or that some vertical, and
some horizontal bars are pierced. However, that cannot be done arbitrarily; it must be
limited to definite, suitable areas. Often an architect will prescribe that horizontal and
vertical bars will be pierced alternately. Instead of calling this error to the attention
of the architect, the following expedients have been brought into use, in fact it has been
described in a technical journal, explained with drawings, and recommended as the only
possible ways of producing this erroneous design.
The first expedient consists of making the bar to be driven through the pierced hole
not as a continuous length, but in separate pieces that, covered by the bar at the hole,
come together at this point and only seem to go through the other bar.
In the second expedient, the bar to be driven through is indeed in one length, but the
pierced holes are sawed through, opened up, and the bar is laid in place. The sawn opening
is then bent back down over the bar that then appears to have been driven through. The saw
slot is then hammered over to cover the deceit. Such work cannot be represented as
pierced, but at most inserted work. Without the erroneous design requirement, the work
would be both more valuable and cheaper.
The second book in this volume follows:
"My Life As Artist-Blacksmith"
TOP
|
