Welcome to the Wareham Forge, the work of Artisan Blacksmith Darrell Markewitz of Ontario Canada. Here traditional hand forged techniques are blended with original custom designs to create distinctive objects for garden or architecture. (What is called 'wrought iron work' by some.) A specialist in the Viking Age, creating reproductions for Museums and re-enactors. Offering training courses various aspects of Metalsmithing, plus instructional DVD's.
the Wareham Forge - Artisan Blacksmith

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Main Sections

GALLERY

CUSTOM WORK

ARCHITECTURAL

for GARDENS

REPRODUCTIONS

TRAINING

IRON SMELTING

VIKING AGE

SITE INDEX

Objects Created from
Bloomery Iron
'Vinland 1' bloom

'Bloom Bowl' Series
offering bowl
Offering Bowl
Fall 2008
forged bloomery iron

'Offering Bowl' is forged from part of the 'Resurection' Bloom made at in 2005.
I envisioned creating a bowl like form that was sold in the centre and preserved the ragged edges of the natural bloom along the margins. Fragments of the bloom were welded into athin plate, roughly 8 inches long by about 4 wide and roughly 1/8 thick. There was some splintering and cracking in the centre of the plate, specifically retained to show the origins of the material. The plate was forged with ball peens into a deep dishing form. This created the final partial sphere shape.

More Details available on 'Hammered Out Bits'

offering bowl
bloom bowl 2

Bloom Bowl 2
Summer 2011
forged bloomery iron

The parent bloom was created at the 2005 Smeltfest event. The metal itself was made from ore smelted using a direct reduction furnace based on those from the Viking Age. (In this case the same Econo-Norse type being demonstrated by DARC on Thursday at CanIRON 8.)

The original bloom mass was quartered by hot cutting. This section was flattened under the air hammer, working at welding temperature. Only one compaction series was undertaken, intentionally to allow cracks and fissures to develop along the margins of the plate. The roughly rectangular plate was then dished hot to create the bowl's shape. The inner surface was roughly polished with a flap sanding disk. The outer surface was given a fast wire brush to remove any loose scale. To finish, the piece was sealed with a spray matte varathane.

 

'Iron Blooms to Working Bars' is a special project from Feburary 15 to May 15, 2012.
It is supported by a Crafts Projects - Creation and Development Grant.
The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario.

The purpose of the grant is to cover three months deicated time to allow development of a practical understanding of how to covert raw blooms into working bars, and if time permits, into finished objects. Part of the process will be to document the ongoing project, and publish the results via a dedicated blog, this web site, through demonstrations, formal papers or jounal articles.


Who is Darrell Markewitz?

OTHER WEB PUBLICATIONS


www.warehamforge.ca

Unless otherwise indicated :
All text and photographs © Darrell Markewitz, the Wareham Forge.