Ted Bannings Blacksmith Wisdom : The Future Blacksmiths have always adapted and used new tools and techniques as they became available. Research used to be limited to books and personal contact, but now the internet, youtube, google, and forums are the primary means for many. Things like gas forges, power hammers, and Oxy Acetylene torches are now common in our workshops, so how will this trend continue in the future ? Cutting can now be done by Plasma Cutters, Laser cutters, and water jets. Huge presses are coming into vogue for shaping metal, and were seeing induction forges at events. Then on the horizon there are new types of welding , joining, and forming processes using CNC, and last but not least the 3D printer. All of these could find their way into a Blacksmiths repertoire ! It will be interesting to see what such creative people do with this new technology...
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:19:02 +0000