Forging a new craft
Scot Snook resurrects the art of blacksmithing
Most people are taught that it is up to them to forge their way in life.
Scot Snook of Portugal Cove has taken that literally.
A lifelong interest of blacksmithing has turned into a hobby for him. So much, in fact, he set out to make a shop for himself … something he said happened quite by accident.
“I have always had an interest in blacksmithing. I have read books and watched the TV show ‘Forge and Fire’ on the History Channel and my interest grew from watching those guys,” Snook said.
“I work with steel by trade — a welder — since I got out of high school. Watching that show made me wonder, what does it take to do this. What do I need — things like a forge, fire, anvil etcetera.”
Because of his background, and watching what was being presented on television, he said to himself, if they can do it, then why can’t I. So he founded Broad Cove Blades and Blacksmith.
Being the curious type, he set out to find the answers. He achieved this by doing a lot of searches on the internet, watched a lot of Youtube howto videos to pick through what he had to do and started to pick away at his newfound hobby of becoming a blacksmith, a metalsmith who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend and cut.
His canvas to craft his objects comes from old truck and car parts that he gets from his friends, and at times from scrap yards.
“Coil springs, for example, have a higher carbon content which makes it harden better after heating — and leaf springs are already flat, so they are easy to work with,” he said.
He also uses railway spikes, some found here in Newfoundland, some from other places and some he has had to order in.
He takes those metal offerings and crafts them into bottle openers, pocket knives and chef knives, and even made-to-order items people may be seeking, all the while honing his skills.
He even lucked into an anvil while on his day job as a welder and was able to get a Vulcan 250, which is a craftsman anvil made in Great Britain.
He has a brick garage attached to his house that is the perfect shop, safe for his newfound craft, and even made a lot of the tools and forge he uses to craft his items.
To learn his craft at a more in-depth level, Snook has employed the book “The Art Of Blacksmithing” by author Alex W. Bealer as his guide. Bealer was an old-time craftsman of woodworking and blacksmithing from Atlanta, Ga, who died on St. Patrick’s Day in 1980.
The book has more than 500 illustrations, and is perfect for someone like him, a novice, in setting up a blacksmith shop, Snook says.
It describes and illustrates the equipment and techniques developed in more than 6,000 years of working iron by hand, covering every aspect of a fascinating and little-known craft that was the fundamental skill on which the civilization of the Iron Age was built.
“I consider myself a hobbyist, so it would have been nice if someone was out there like me that could have invited me to watch and learn. That would have been extremely helpful,” he said.
“I made several knives before I got into this. It is not easy, but it is a simplistic process that is essentially the same.
From making a bottle opener to a shoehorn and other items, the process is different. It lets you be creative.”
If you want to know more about what Snook does, or place an order, he can be reached on Facebook at https://www. facebook.com/broadcovebladesandblacksmith/.