The anvil is a 114-pound chunk of iron, heavily scarred from hundreds of hammer strikes against red-hot metal pieces over the years. In the corner, a modest furnace is filled with charred coals. The ...

With a resounding CLANG, Dave Kauffman brings the hammer down on the magma-red steel, showering the area around his anvil with glowing, 2,000-degree sparks. Kauffman is a blacksmith, and showing ...

ATHENS, Alabama -- Al Stephens has a hard time keeping his hands still. Most days, he puts them to work in the blacksmith shop behind his house here in rural northern Alabama, practicing an ancient ...

Fire, steel, and a steady hand can turn a common metal bar into something you want to stop and admire. Blacksmiths create objects that work hard first, and then surprise you with small moments of ...