The ancient trade of blacksmithing at Kowhai Forge
Blacksmiths might be few and far between, but Rob Pinkney’s workshops are getting a new generation hooked on the craft. Avina Vidyadharan reports.
Rob Pinkney’s trying to save the blacksmithing craft from a forge in rural Waikato.
One of his students came to the Waikato for a month, but the discovery of Kowhai Forge has kept him around for three years and counting. Another is a 15-year-old hoping to make the ancient trade a career.
Pinkney runs a variety of workshops, rooted in blacksmithing, from the forge about 30km south of Te Awamutu.
Seven years ago Pinkney switched from being predominantly a horseshoe shop with a small blacksmith workshop to putting the blacksmithing in the forefront.
He still does the odd horseshoe job, but the work model is “saving the blacksmithing craft”.
James Grafton, 22, arrived with a strong interest in the trade and having watched a lot of blacksmithing videos on Youtube.
“I started mucking around with it in engineering at high school and didn’t really know what I wanted to do after school.”
Grafton is from Canterbury and started working in the high country while he saved up to learn blacksmithing in England.
“I left my job down there and came to the North Island for a month to help a mate out on a dairy farm.
“I came here (Kowhai Forge) for a day workshop, and never left. One month trip to North Island has turned into three years and still going.”
“I'm so lucky to have met Rob because it is very hard to know if you are doing the right thing without somebody looking over your shoulder.
“And that's one of the reasons why it's a dying art, there aren't that many experienced guys out there.”
Pinkney said, once he’s trained his students in blacksmithing for about two years, he would introduce horseshoeing.
“Then they're gonna have the deeper skill sets under them as blacksmiths that are farriers, not farriers that are trying to be blacksmiths.”
A farrier works with horses but needs training in blacksmithing in order to make the shoe properly.
In the early days, Pinkney said, the job of a blacksmith was to create everything needed to run a village - from making knives, anchors for ships, carpenter tools right down to the nails, horseshoes, and more.
However, bulk manufacturing in factories almost killed the trade.
“Luckily enough for us, people are getting a little bit over the mass producing and want to get their feet back on the ground, learn a little bit more about how things were done before industrial time.”
He runs full-day workshops and said the demand had been consistent since they opened.
“We're probably a luxury day out - for someone to take their time off and come here and pay us to for our workshop for a day - and our starting prices is something like $360...
“We get people that can easily afford that and buy the extras, but also those who save up for weeks or months to pay for a single workshop.”
Then there were those who did numerous workshops, set up their studio in the backyard and continued it as a hobby.
While that was part of the goal - to spread the craft, Pinkney also wanted to ensure a future for young people wanting to become blacksmiths.
“There hasn't been much of a future in it and that’s why there's no blacksmiths, because everything's been taken over by factories.”
There was a growing demand for handmade knives, Pinkney said.
He wanted to tap into ornamental work and collaborate with interior designers for commissioned art pieces.
“So then we can say to these young fellas, you put the mahi in here, you put the miles in, you do four or so years, build the skill set, and there’s a future for you. “I couldn't have said that 10 years ago.” Thousands of people had attended Pinkney’s workshops so far. However, there was still no apprenticeship for blacksmithing in New Zealand.
“We looked at starting here, but it would have been too much red tape.
“So these boys are here under their own accord and there's no real qualification, but they come out with a skill set that they can adapt to anything.
“And of course we will teach them how to shoe horses too, so they’ve got that as a backup.”
One of Pinkney’s students, Samuel Dobbs, did a knife making course with his brother and father two years ago.
Earlier last year, he came back for an axe making workshop and started working at Kowhai Forge about five months ago.
Dobbs, 15, fell in love with blacksmithing and wanted to pursue it as a career.
“I don't really see myself doing anything else. I'm currently using the Gateway program to come here once a week and if I can, I'm gonna see if I can get that to maybe two or three days a week.”