Blacksmiths on the Goldfields

The following information was put together to assist Sovereign Hill staff in the interpretation of the Blacksmith’s role on the Ballarat goldfields. Some basic facts on early blacksmiths on the goldfields are included, plus some further information about the DILGES family, whose business Dilges' Blacksmith Shop has been recreated at Sovereign Hill Museums Association.

The second part of the document comprises answers to various questions which the Sovereign Hill blacksmith is often asked by visitors to the outdoor museum. These answers equate to a quite substantial body of information on the trade of the blacksmith, and the way in which the trade was practised.

Blacksmiths on the Goldfields

The blacksmith played a crucial role in sustaining mining activity during the early days of the gold rush. His ability to work and shape metal using hammer and forge meant he was rarely short of work or money. Picks and shovels to break up the earth: windlasses and iron kibbles used to draw up wash-dirt from underground; ‘spiders’ which held candles when working in the dark – all these items could be found in a blacksmith’s shop. Besides manufacturing equipment for gold seekers, the blacksmith also made a handsome profit from mending, repairing and sharpening these tools. The demand for the blacksmith’s skills was evident in the number of blacksmiths on the Ballarat goldfields. In 1855 there were at least 16 blacksmiths; two years later there were at least 25.

As deep lead alluvial and quartz mining developed in the latter half of the 1850s, foundries started to take over much of the gold-mining orientated work that blacksmiths had performed. Although some mining companies, like Sovereign Hill’s recreation, had their own blacksmith workshops for minor repairs, the foundries were better equipped to make and repair the complex steam-powered machinery involved in deep lead alluvial and quartz mining.

The emergence of the Ballarat foundries however, did not spell the end of the blacksmiths’ trade for they were versatile tradesmen who were willing and able to adapt their skills and business to the needs of the community. Some blacksmiths applied their skills to farriers’ work – shoeing horses – as well as repair work of axles, carts and coaches and wheelwrighting. With horses remaining the dominant mode of transportation for the rest of the 19th century, blacksmiths would never be short of work in these areas. Some blacksmiths made a living by turning their hand to making and repairing agricultural as well as domestic tools.

Sovereign Hill’s Interpretation of a Blacksmith

Sovereign Hill’s recreation of a blacksmith shop was opened on 29 November 1970, when Sovereign Hill started. This recreation attempts to interpret the diverse role of the blacksmith in the 1850s. The exterior of the building is based on Dilges’ blacksmith shop. From the sign on the building, we know that Dilges was a general blacksmith who engaged in wheelwrighting and shoeing horses. Our current understanding is that this business originally operated on Main Road Ballarat; our earliest reference to this business is 1862. By 1865, Dilges had relocated his business to Albert St, Sebastopol. The exterior of Sovereign Hill’s recreation is based on a photograph of the Albert St business.

John Matthew Dilges ran the business, however the front of the building bears the name G. M. Dilges. This may have been a reference to John’s father, we cannot say for sure. Later on, Jacob, one of John’s sons took over the business. Most likely, John Dilges came from West Germany - he married his wife Christina in Niederweisell, a small town in West Germany.

Dilges and his family

See also http://www.niederweisel.com/zeissc.html

“Johannes Zeiss supported his family on the produce from a very small landholding - about the size of three suburban blocks in present-day Melbourne or Sydney - during the hazardous times of the Thirty Years War. The family did not flourish and Konrad was the only productive male of that name in the village thirteen years later. His son Nikolaus and wife Susanna nee Hildebrand, had four sons of whom Konrad born in 1795 was to be Christina's father. Konrad's eldest brother lived for less than a day and the other two died before marrying, so it was left to Konrad to carry on the Zeiss name. He and his wife, Katharina nee Hauser, did produce three sons, but two of these died in infancy and the one surviving boy migrated to North America. Konrad's death in 1865 saw the end of the Zeiss name in the village.

Born on 23rd February 1835, Christina was the last of six children in the family. Her mother died in 1847, by which time her two older sisters were married, so Christina had to help with the domestic tasks. She was confirmed on Whitmonday 1849, which meant that she was able to finish up at school and take over the running of the household full-time.

On 16th August 1855, Christina married Johann Matthaus Dilges, (also known as John Matthew Dilges) a journeyman blacksmith whose family were long-time farmers in Oes, a hamlet a few km west of Nieder-Weisel. The young couple moved into the Zeiss house where, on 21st July 1856, Christina gave birth to a daughter, who was named Katharina. Her husband had decided to join the emigration to the goldfields of Victoria, now reaching its peak so, when their child was old enough to be left with a foster mother, Christina and Johann Matthaus left for the English port of Liverpool where they took passage on the ship "Sir W F Williams", bound for Hobart Town with more than 200 bounty passengers. There were also 60 Swiss and German emigrants who were heading for Melbourne; 25 of these were from Nieder-Weisel. They cleared port on 27th May 1857 on what became a frightening experience. Captain Bentley took his ship into the high latitudes so as to ensure that they would clear Tasmania; this put them into the path of extremely boisterous weather, causing the loss overboard of the ship's purser. From the Derwent River, the tramp "City of Hobart" took the Nieder-Weiselerns to Melbourne on 31st August.

Whilst her husband set about establishing himself as a blacksmith in Ballarat, Christina devoted twenty years to producing their family. She bore a son, Jacob, in 1858 but the little boy succumbed to an attack of croup the next year. Elizabeth arrived in 186O and a second Jacob in 1863. Matthaus then moved his business to Sebastopol and built a more modern smithy. In 1866 Christina produced another daughter, whom she named for the little girl they left in Nieder-Weisel and who died in 1857. Sadly the second Catherine also died just after turning one. A fourth daughter, Annie, was born in 1868; she was followed by a third Catherine in 1872. A sixth girl took her mother's name but she died of pneumonia three weeks after birth. Henry, born in 1878, became the second son to survive.

Just two years later, Christina's eldest daughter married and grandchildren began to take the place of the sons and daughters who moved away from the Dilges home; eventually there would be thirty. In later life, Matthaus and Christina ran a hotel in Sebastopol, which kept them in touch with many of their compatriots. Their family gathered in 1905 to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary. In 1914 Christina was widowed. During the Great War she became naturalised and lived out her last few years as a citizen of her adopted country. Death came to Christina on 1st September 1919 in her 85th year; she was buried two days later in the Ballarat Old cemetery.”

ABOVE: The original site of Sovereign Hill’s recreated blacksmith, Mr. Dilges’ shop in Sebastopol, next to the Guiding Star Alluvial Mine in Albert Street, Sebastopol. [photograph origin unknown; this illustration taken from An Historical Survey of Early Sebastopol .. compiled for the occasion of the celebrations of the Sebastopol Borough Council, 1864-1964, E. D. Jenkins, p.7.]

Frequently Asked Questions

WHY IS IT SO DARK IN THE SHOP?

“The forge and the tools should be located in the darkest part of the shop, so that the heat of the steel can be judged correctly, in a semi-dark space. In broad daylight too hot a steel can hardly be seen, and overheating may then ruin it structurally. This is why the outdoor rivet-heating forges, used in bridge building, always have a shading hood to shield the fire from sunlight. These little forges, if you can find them, are ideal in a hobby shop. …”

“It should be fairly obvious that you need enough light to see the work that you are doing, but many smiths ignore this important consideration. Working in direct sunlight can be a problem. It is difficult to see the colour of the hot metal and to ascertain the temperature.”

“If smiths would go to work and wash their windows, clean out behind their bellows, pick up the scrap that lies promiscuously about the shop, gather up the bolts, etc., they would be surprised at the change that it would make, not only in the general appearance of their shop, but also in the ease and convenience of doing work. One great disadvantage under which most smiths labour is the lack of light. Frequently blacksmith shops are stuck down in a basement or in some remote corner of a building. It is a fact, whether it be disregarded or not, that it is easier to do good work in a clean, well-lighted shop than in one which is dirty and dark.”

WHAT IS THE METAL YOU USE?

The blacksmith's materials

When iron ore is smelted into usable metal, a certain amount of carbon is usually alloyed with the iron. (Charcoal is almost pure carbon.) The amount of carbon significantly affects the properties of the metal. If the carbon content is over 2%, the metal is called cast iron, because it has a relatively low melting point and is easily cast. It is quite brittle, however, and cannot be forged so therefore is not used for blacksmithing. If the carbon content is between 0.25% and 2%, the resulting metal is tool grade steel, which can be heat treated as discussed above. When the carbon content is below 0.25%, the metal is either "wrought iron (wrought iron is not smelted and cannot come from this process) " or "mild steel." The terms are never interchangeable. In preindustrial times, the material of choice for blacksmiths was wrought iron. This iron had a very low carbon content, and also included up to 5% of glassy iron silicate slag in the form of numerous very fine stringers. This slag content made the iron very tough, gave it considerable resistance to rusting, and allowed it to be more easily "forge welded," a process in which the blacksmith permanently joins two pieces of iron, or a piece of iron and a piece of steel, by heating them nearly to a white heat and hammering them together. Forge welding is more difficult to do with modern mild steel because it has a narrower band of temperature at which it will weld. The fibrous nature of wrought iron required knowledge and skill to properly form any tool which would be subject to stress. Modern steel is produced using either the blast furnace or arc furnaces. Wrought iron was produced by a labor-intensive process called "puddling," so this material is now a difficult-to-find specialty product. Modern blacksmiths generally substitute mild steel for making objects traditionally of wrought iron. Electrolytic-process pure iron is sometimes used. Many blacksmiths also incorporate materials such as bronze, copper, or brass in artistic products. Aluminum and titanium may also be forged by the blacksmith's process. Each material responds differently under the hammer and must be separately studied by the blacksmith.

Terminology

• Iron is a naturally occurring metallic element. It is almost never found in its native form (pure iron) in nature. It is usually found as an oxide or sulfide, with many other impurity elements mixed in.

• Wrought iron is the purest form of iron generally encountered or produced in quantity. It may contain as little as 0.04% carbon (by weight). From its traditional method of manufacture, wrought iron has a fibrous internal texture. Quality wrought-iron blacksmithing takes the direction of these fibers into account during forging, since the strength of the material is stronger in line with the grain, than across the grain. Most of the remaining impurities from the initial smelting become concentrated in silicate slag trapped between the iron fibers. This slag produces a lucky side effect during forge-welding. When the silicate melts, it makes wrought-iron self-fluxing. The slag becomes a liquid glass that covers the exposed surfaces of the wrought-iron, preventing oxidation which would otherwise interfere with the successful welding process.

• Steel is a mixture of iron and between 0.3% to 1.7% Carbon by weight. The presence of carbon allows steel to assume one of several different crystalline configurations. Macroscopically, this is seen as the ability to "turn the hardness of a piece of steel on and off" through various processes of heat-treatment. If the concentration of carbon is held constant, this is a reversible process. Steel with a higher carbon percentage may be brought to a higher state of maximum hardness.

• Cast iron is iron that contains between 2.0% to 6% carbon by weight. There is so much carbon present, that the hardness cannot be switched off. Hence, cast iron is a brittle metal, which can break like glass. Cast iron cannot be forged without special heat treatment to convert it to malleable iron.

• Steel with below 0.6% carbon content cannot be hardened by simple heat-treatment enough to make useful hardened-steel tools. Hence, in what follows, wrought-iron, low-carbon-steel, and other soft unhardenable iron varieties will be referred to indiscriminately as just iron.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER TYPES OF FORGES?

The central feature of the shop was the forge, which was an essential masonry or metal platform for the blacksmith’s fire, usually covered in part by an exhaust hood which was an extension of the chimney. Sometimes the forge was constructed to accommodate two separate fires for two or more working smiths. The air for the fire was blown from and controlled by leather bellows, generally two to four feet across, through a pipe or nozzle (tuyere) to the base of the forge. These bellows, if protected from dampness and rot and kept pliable, could last generations.

Other styles of forge included a ‘medieval’ style. These forges often had a rear wall and a pillar of stone or brick at the front of each side upon which the hood was supported. This allowed access both to the front of the forge for normal small or short bars, and long bars could be placed through the sides so to heat the middle of those longer bars while the ends of the bars extended clear out both sides of the forge.

The most notable difference between the old medieval enclosed forges and the modern styles is size. While the medieval style is a massive structure owing to its masonry or stone construction, the modern style tends to be smallish and built much lighter out of steel.

Small forges were used for small work – knife making, and horse shoes. They take up little room and are very portable and light in weight. Larger forges were used for scrolls used in driveway gates and large railings. Hoodless forges – also known as side-draft forges because the smoke will bend side ways to enter the draft up the chimney. The hoodless style forge actually needs no large hood to remove smoke from the shop. However some hoodless forges will have a small hood or corbelled masonry extending over the fire slightly to help guide smoke into the chimney. The absence of a large hood over the fire is what gives the hoodless forge its name.

WHY DO YOU USE CHARCOAL?

“Charcoal was considered to be a better fuel for the blast furnace and the blacksmith’s forge than wood, or even coal, when it came into common use. Charcoal was a cheap fuel that burned cleanly and generated more heat than even the best dry hardwood. The vast stands of timber in the new country provided what appeared to be an inexhaustible supply of readily available cheap fuel. The heat given off in the combustion of charcoal – the so-called calorific weight – was twice for charcoal as for the wood from which it was made. Charcoal produced temperatures that were even higher than those needed for blast furnace smelting. This led ironworkers to pack the charge very carefully in the bosh to avoid the possibility of accidentally producing a batch of steel.

The charcoal carbon served a dual purpose. It was the reducing agent essential to bring about the changes in the ore that would result in iron. It was also the fuel: when ignited it furnished the combustion heat necessary to raise the fire to the required smelting level – about 1200 degrees Centigrade. The smelting of wrought iron by this process was a reduction process, not one of melting; the iron was never brought intentionally to the fluid or molten stage. Reduction created conditions that were ideal for the mutual attraction of iron particles in the ore on the one hand, and for the isolation of the residual impurities in the form of slag on the other.”

DID THEY WELD IN THE FIRE?

Yes.

“By this ancient process, the blacksmith joined two or more pieces of iron into one. He could make strong right-angle corners, or weld several layers of iron into one thick chunk. It had little in common with the modern welding methods except that they all accomplish the union of pieces of iron.

The iron was first heated to white heat. In this near-fluid state the pieces actually fused and became one. But preparation and care were essential to good welding; both surfaces had to be in complete contact, and of course air bubbles or pieces of scale in the joint made this impossible. To avoid this and assure a tight closure of the joint, both pieces of iron were first scarfed; the ends of the pieces were upset and both surfaces were slightly beveled and rounded. As a further guarantee against scale in the weld, the blacksmith sprinkled a little flux on the two pieces of iron clay as they lay in the fire. Flux lowered the melting point of scale, sand being used for wrought iron and machine steel, and borax for tool steel. By the time the iron reached white heat, a large percentage of the scale would have melted. The white-hot pieces of iron were then taken to the anvil. The smith held one piece in his tongs, flat on the anvil face. He laid the other piece at an angle over the edge of the anvil, tipping it up until it touched the first. The semi-molten iron surfaces stuck to each other on contact, and with a light stroke of his hammer the smith started the weld. As the hammer strokes worked on the scarfed ends, the joint was “rolled’ shut, squeezing out air and scale and allowing both surfaces complete contact. The best welding was done with a few swift strokes; belabouring the work was sure to ruin it.

If the welding had been done correctly the work was now as strong as a single piece of iron. If it failed, however, the practical smith took new stock and began again, for he knew that the difficulty of getting iron to weld increased with each additional attempt.

Depending on what he was making, the smith cut his iron to make one of several types of joints. The lap weld, faggot weld, cleft or split weld, were selected according to need and durability, as were the T weld, and jump welding. In all these types of joints, the welding principle was the same, and the blacksmith prepared his iron with the same concern for the exclusion of air and scale.”

WHAT IS THE TEMPERATURE OF THE STEEL?

It was difficult to find a specific answer to this question.

I suggest you refer to the comment made by Aldren Watson, included earlier…

“The charcoal carbon served a dual purpose. It was the reducing agent essential to bring about the changes in the ore that would result in iron. It was also the fuel: when ignited it furnished the combustion heat necessary to raise the fire to the required smelting level – about 1200 degrees Centigrade.”

As well, Andrews comments regarding the smelting of iron, thus…

“When a piece of metal is placed in the fire, it rapidly oxidises, forming a layer of black scale. At an orange heat (1,740 degrees F.), the scale will fall readily off, but at a light cherry (1,550 degrees F.), the scale adheres and the iron remains black.”

WHAT IS THE SWAGE BLOCK USED FOR?

The swage: the ‘saddle’ that is grooved to form steel and fits into the anvil’s hardy hoe (bottom swage), and a similar tool, fastened to a long wooden stem, placed over steel to form it (top swage).”

Weygers, Alexander G., The Complete Modern Blacksmith, 1997, p, 300.

“When uniformity of thickness or exact diameter was important, as in the making of a batch of bolts, the smith used a pair of matching swages whose inside, half-round surfaces produced identical shanks. The big chunk of iron called a swage block, with its variety of holes and cutouts, gave the blacksmith the means for shaping hollow and curved articles, such as ladles and bowls.”

WHAT IS THE FLOOR MANDREL USED FOR?

“Mandril/mandrel: a bar inserted in the workpiece to shape, hold, or grind it, as in a lathe.”

“Mandrils are used to form circular shapes and rings. The smaller mandril fits into the hardie hole. The larger mandril weighs 100 pounds or more and stands on the floor. When the small mandril is bent over, it is called an anvil beak, because it is a smaller version of the beak on an anvil. It may even be shaped like a small anvil.”

WHERE DID YOU LEARN YOUR TRADE?

How to become a blacksmith …

In England: “Many village craftsmen were of a family tradition, the skills passing from father to son. … As the need for village blacksmiths lessened during this century, some of them adapted to kindred occupations such as motor and agricultural engineering or ornamental ironwork, whilst other advised their sons to follow another career altogether.

… The village craftsman of former times worked hard and long hours – 6am – 6pm being quite usual. There was no set retirement age, and money was not usually plentiful enough for them to retire on their own account, so they tended to remain at their work until they were quite elderly.

… in addition to teaching his sons his craft, a craftsman would sometimes take on an occasional apprentice, who would start by paying the master a small weekly fee, then gradually change to receiving a small sum himself as he became more useful at work.”

In America…

“A young man learned this trade with a local blacksmith. He normally began his apprenticeship when he was about 14–15 years old. He served his master for four to seven years. In exchange, he was taught the trade as well reading, writing and mathematics. The apprentice worked for the master and lived with him. In exchange for the work, the master also provided clean clothes, food, and a place to sleep. Like a servant, the apprentice would sleep in or above the shop. He was responsible for opening it, lighting the fire, gathering wood, and any other chores required. At first, his training was limited to watching the blacksmith do the work. This work would later be followed by helping with common tasks at first. It would be followed by more advanced training like smelting or bending iron and making pots.”

There were no trade schools in early America. Boys learned to be blacksmiths by working with an experienced smith. Boys learning a trade were called apprentices. Some apprentices had formal contracts with their masters, while others simply learned by working with their father (if he was a smith, of course!). Traditionally an apprentice lived with the master and became a part of his family, trading his labour for food, clothing, shelter, and an education. This system was breaking down by the 1830s, however, as some masters no longer took apprentices into their homes, but instead paid them a small wage instead. The length of an apprenticeship was not regulated, although they ended when a boy reached his majority at the age of 21.

WHAT WAS THE WAGE LIKE?

A blacksmith on the Ballarat goldfields was likely to earn about £300 per annum (without rations), or c. £200 with rations. This probably equates to around £5 - £6 per week, which is not a bad wage for those years. Keep in mind that a pair of long boots would have cost somewhere around £3, whilst a 4lb loaf of bread would cost about 5 shillings.

WHERE WERE THE ANVILS IN THE SOVEREIGN HILL SHOP MANUFACTURED?

There is little information about the origins of the anvils in the Sovereign Hill Blacksmith shop. When these items were first acquired, in the earliest days of the museum, record-keeping was poor, and so sadly, no documentation exists about the donors. However, we know that the ‘front’ anvil (probably donated by Jack Collins) is a Swedish made Soderfors anvil. The ‘Paragon’ anvil made by Soderfors was advertised as being of solid forged steel, although some think it may be cast steel. They are said to be excellent anvils. Soderfors has supposedly been making anvils since about 1200 AD; however the oldest known Paragon anvil dates to around 1902, with the newest dating to around 1934. Soderfors Bruks Akkticbolag was located in Falun, Sweden and exported blacksmiths’, farriers’, and sawmakers’ anvils to the United States.

The ‘back’ anvil was made by Hay-Budden, a Brooklyn New York company. They supposedly began operation in 1890 and went out of business in the era 1920-25. In 1905, Hay-Budden claimed that there were over 100,000 of their anvils in use.

WHY ARE YOU CALLED A ‘BLACKSMITH’?

Blacksmiths work with iron, the ‘black’ metal, and steel, its derivative. The black colour comes from fire scale, a layer of oxides that forms on the surface of the metal during heating. The term ‘smith’ originates from the word ‘smite’, which means ‘to hit’. Thus, a blacksmith is a person who smites black metal.

A WHITESMITH is a person who works with ‘white’ or light-coloured metals such as tin and pewter. While blacksmiths work mostly with hot metal, whitesmiths do the majority of their work on cold metal (although they might use a forge to shape their raw materials).

See Also

Blacksmiths

Dilges' Blacksmith Shop

John Matthew Dilges

External Links

http://www.niederweisel.com/zeissc.html

Further Reading

Andrews, Jack, Edge of the Anvil a resource book for the blacksmith, Rodale Press Emmaus, PA, 1977.

Bailey, Jocelyn, The Village Blacksmith, Shire Publications Ltd, 1977.

Ferguson, B, ‘Dilges’ Blacksmithy’, Preliminary Building Notes, The Sovereign Hill Museums Association, 5 May 1978.

Ford, T., ‘Dilges’ Blacksmith’, Staff booklet, The Sovereign Hill Museums Association.

Jenkins, E.D., An Historical Survey of Early Sebastopol compiled for the occasion of the celebrations of the Sebastopol Borough Council, 1864-1964.

Watson, A.A. The Blacksmith Ironworker and Farrier, W.W. Norton and Co, NY & London, 1989, reissued 2000, USA.

Weygers, Alexander G., The Complete Modern Blacksmith, 1997.