So, I’m on a journey to start blacksmithing this coming summer, but I don’t know all that much about how to go about it. I’m an aspiring Wiccan, and before getting initiated into a Coven, I have to spend a year and a day in the wilderness re-connecting with the God of Hunting and the Goddess of Nature and Fertility. By the time my Year-and-a-Day is up, I want to have established a homestead basically, and the most important aspect of this sacred space I want to create, is that everything seen there will be 100% made by my own hands; I don’t just want to buy all the stuff needed; I basically just want to run off into the woods butt naked and emerge a man lol. (I’m told I’m a little odd; I know this, I just don’t care). I already have wilderness survival, hunting, trapping, and fishing all down pat, as well as sheltercraft and campcraft, so I know I’ll at least be able to survive, but I want to do a lot more than just survive; I want to thrive. And guess what would be a huge help in being able to thrive? METAL! Lol. Metal tools, metal artwork and jewelry, metal dishes and utensils, etc, etc, metal is kinda super important in being able to advance beyond “just surviving” lol.
Currently, all I know in this subject matter is that I’ll need to be near a source of raw materials like iron and copper and other metals; I’m thinking it would have to be a bit of a process seeing as some materials may be easier to aquire, and some materials may need to be aquired and crafted first before being able to make a more quality version of it from better materials. I also know that they’ll need to be a natural source of clay nearby for me to fashion a kiln out of, as well as some large boulders or slabs of rock that I can use as a temporary anvil before crafting a better one in the future.
Anyway, I’m just looking for more information on the topic of primitive blacksmithing; how did the ancients do it? Surely the Goddess didn’t just say “Let there be hammers!” haha, SOMEBODY had to have done it the hard way first. XD Huh…wonder what was going through their mind; if they even knew what they were doing or not or if it was just some kind of freak accident and they connected the dots and replicated the process haha. Like the first guy who discovered you can get high by licking certain species of toads; what the hell was he thinking??? Haha, because he couldn’t have been trying to get high; nobody knew it would do that! He must’ve had some alternative motive for licking the toad. Just one of the many mysteries of the universe I suppose. Why are we here? Is there a higher power? …Where does Cat-Dog’s poop go? These are not easy questions to answer.