Blacksmith Shawn Taylor
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Even a fairly simple piece like this poker at right requires multiple steps and lots of discipline.
The photo at left shows one of two forges that Taylor uses to get the iron red hot.
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A native of Prince Edward Island, Shawn Taylor moved to this area about five years ago and now operates Brokkr Forge in Centreville NB. (Brokkr is Old Norse for “blacksmith”.) He has a background in engineering and, on the Island, owned a property management company and a pest control firm. His work can be viewed at the O’Toole Gallery in Grafton NB, the McCain Art Gallery in Florenceville-Bristol NB as well as craft fairs in the Upper St. John River Valley region.
Shawn, it seems to me that it’s quite a leap from the work that you were doing five years ago to becoming a blacksmith. How did that come about?
Back in P.E.I., my work was very structured, working from engineering plans for example, and that didn’t allow much creativity. When I was younger, I worked as a machinist and welder. After I sold my companies, it was a perfect opportunity to do something different and I’ve been interested in art as far back as elementary school.
So you jumped at it right here…
It took a year of studying blacksmithing through books and videos and YouTube before I ever picked up a hammer. They were my stand-in mentors. So I had a primitive craft combined with high-tech learning. Amazing.
With what result?
The feel for the metal took a few months to develop and I found that I liked the way metal moves when it’s heated. You can manipulate it, add, subtract, stretch. Some think blacksmithing is just brute force but, really, it’s about delicacy and knowing your metal. A lot of it is auditory as well. Think of the old saying: “That’s got a nice ring to it,” for hammering. Or “Strike while the iron’s hot” referring to not abusing the metal or your tools or your body by beating iron that’s cooled down too much.
Looking around the workshop here, all this equipment must have been hard to find.
I gradually picked up what I needed through auctions and online classifieds ─ mostly locally or at least from the Maritimes. I did a lot of driving that year.
You have two forges here…
The larger one is a coal burner which gives a better heat than the smaller propane-fired oven that I’m using today. I made that from plans I found on the internet and it’s nothing fancy. In fact, I used scrap to build it.
Where do you get the steel?
I order it locally and buy it by the truckload. I’m also big on recycling. I can take an old piece of equipment and a little while later it might become a flower. And I can re-purpose railroad spikes, for instance, into knives. They really hold their edge.
What’s next for you then?
I might get into teaching this craft once I get a bit more experience. I had a Sunday School class here a while back and they really enjoyed the demonstration and they were especially excited by the anvil which they’re familiar with from video games. Who knew?
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Part of
Taylor’s sample collection, this 6-inch salamander, actually a door pull, nicely
demonstrates how artistic blacksmithing can be.
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