ElementFe is my trade name for the Guemes Island blacksmith shop; designing, forging, and building handcrafted forged steel and iron furniture, gates, railings, candlesticks, spoons, kitchenware and all manner of repair and fabrication.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009






Here's a tool commissioned by a neighbor on Guemes.
A sickle for cutting the bushes that grow so enthusiastically around here, the original was beautifully forged long ago by a local logger/blacksmith/wild-man.
In hopes of a simpler, more rugged attachment, I drilled and bolted the tangs to an axe handle- Phil was thrilled, and the recipient of the gift, I'm sure, thought that it looked like a lot of backbreaking work was coming his way...since there's no way to dodge it, why not use a tool forged with love?
Both the original and my reproduction were forged from automotive leaf springs, hammered out to the proper thickness, split, flattened, and ground to a robust and mean edge.