Community & Business
1 July, 2021
Blacksmith welds future to past
GROWING up in remote areas amidst a family of gold and tin miners, it is not hard to see how a young boy could become fascinated with machinery and steel.
BY SALLY TURLEY
GROWING up in remote areas amidst a family of gold and tin miners, it is not hard to see how a young boy could become fascinated with machinery and steel.
"My family were mining near Irvinebank and up at the Palmer River and when you live out of town and operate mining plants, you have to learn how to fix whatever breaks down yourself. My father can make anything and fix anything, so I guess I learned a fair bit from him," Artist Blacksmith, Alex Byrne said.
"I always liked metal work, but hated the processes of grinding and welding, so just gravitated toward the traditional art of Smithing that was practiced by the old timers who used rivets or forge welding, back in the 18th and 19th centuries."
In forge welding, the pieces being joined are cleaned, heated to near molten, or welding heat, then the smith carefully shapes the mating faces to squeeze out any foreign material as the metal is joined, so that when finally brought together, the center of the weld connects first and the connection spreads outward under the hammer blows.
Often the joint is weak and incomplete, so the smith reheats the joint to welding temperature and works the weld with light blows to "set" the weld and "dress" it to shape.
Finally, depending on the item's use it is finished in one of a variety of techniques including paint, varnish, bluing, browning, oil, or wax.
With no real mentor or any kind of formal training, Alex simply set about teaching himself the techniques that would eventually earn him his daily bread in his business "Byrne's Iron Art".
Starting out in an Atherton garage, with a "really dodgy" old forge made from a kitchen sink, Mr Byrne has come a long way.
The game-changer for Alex Byrne was his first market – the Cairns Hand Made Expo, which he attended five years ago.
"I took most of my stock and it nearly all sold on the day, which meant I could pay my rent. I was ecstatic and have kept going, trying to catch up with orders ever since," Mr Byrne said.
"As I made sales, I continued buying new gear, building up my collection of tools."
Unable to afford a blacksmith's striker, an apprentice to swing a hammer all day, Alex said his power hammer, the force of which is equivalent to two strong men with sledge hammers, has sped things up considerably.
Now located in a cottage on the old Rankine's sawmill site, on the way to Lake Eacham, Mr Byrne has the use of a large, well-ventilated shed to work in and is happy spending most of his daylight hours there amassing stock for the Yungaburra and Mareeba markets.
"Since winter started, I have been getting a lot of orders for fire pokers and toasting forks, but I normally make a lot of door handles, hinges and towel rails and fix quite a few gates. I must have made 3 to 4000 coat hooks over the last few years," Mr Byrne said.
"Working for myself is very relaxing. It means there is no schedule, so I don't have to hurry. I don't take jobs that don't interest me, because if I can't put my spin on a design, I don't feel like I can do my best work on it.
"I want everything I make to outlast me, so I want to do it well. Since COVID took most of the Victorians out of the markets, I have opened my own Etsy shop online, and it has been ticking along nicely," he said.
"A lot of my pieces are made from scrap metal picked up on old farms, stuff that was going to be thrown away, so it is satisfying to recycle an old bit of junk into a piece of art for future generations to enjoy.
"When I am not making items to sell, I am often in my shed making things for my wife Katie's kitchen or a knife blade for myself, which is being re-fashioned from a recycled spring. I would like to perfect axe-making when I get some time, but that probably won't happen for a while," he said glancing through his burgeoning order book.
Traced back to 1500BC to the Hittites, blacksmithing is one of our most ancient arts. The "black" in "blacksmith" refers to the black firescale, a layer of oxides that form on the surface of the metal during heating.
The origin of "smith" is debated, but it may come from the old English word "smythe" meaning "to strike," or it may have originated from the German word "smithaz" meaning "skilled worker."
Back then, blacksmiths made an immense variety of common objects used in everyday life: from nails, screws and bolts to plowshares and axes, hammers, candlesticks; swords, shields, and armour; wheel rims and ship spikes and cables.
But since the rise of factories and the decline of blacksmithing in the 19th century, it has become an uncommon enterprise.
Alex has turned the ancient craft into an art-form, fashioning one-off pieces that beautify and individualise modern homes.
