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Blacksmithing hasn't changed all that much over the centuries, the basic techniques
are still the same.
When I forge archaeological reconstructions of weapons I try to be as accurate as I possibly
can.
I use charcoal, I use bellows, I use a hammer and I have an anvil.
There was a distinct difference between the way the Normans fought on horseback and the
Saxons fought on foot. The Saxons used the spear, the axe and the shield, the Normans
used their horses with their spear come lance, and their sword.
I'm Hector Cole, I'm a specialist in archaeological reconstructions of iron artefacts, and what
I'll be doing today is forging a spearhead of the 1066 period using the techniques,
the materials and the tools that the smiths of that time would have used.
It's coming out now.
It's made up of two parts, the blade which is two pieces of soft iron with a piece of
hard iron or steel between them like a ham sandwich.
They're welded together and then they're welded on to a piece of soft iron to make the socket
and that is the start of making the spearhead.
That's nice and solid now that's one piece of iron.
The next stage is to make the socket itself and that means to hammer it out wide enough
so that it can be folded round to make the cone of the socket.
I then come to the most important part and that is forging the shape of the blade. But
the socket allows me to hold it securely so that I can do that.
Nearly finished now the forging. Just a case of truing it up.
Once that blade is forged, the final stage will be the actual grinding up and finishing
of it.
There we are. That isn't too bad.
The grinding of the blade would have been done on a big whetstone, I use the modern
equivalent, a belt sander, a linisher which does exactly the same and then I like to finish
as they would, with a file or filers stones to get a good surface on to the face of the
spear.
The spearhead is finished now apart from it being heat treated. It has been fitted to
the shaft and once the heat treatment has been done on the spearhead it will be put
back on to the shaft and there will be a pin going through the socket and through the shaft
to hold it on securely.