I make no claims about the accuracy of my depictions of blacksmithing (or archery, or martial arts, or…) But I do spend time thinking and reading about this stuff. I think it would be fun to share some of those resources as they show up.

So… Today’s reference: Constructing a traditional Japanese swordsmith forge and Tarascan copper metallurgy.

In designing their forge, I wanted to give a nod to pre-Columbian metalworking in the Americas. But as with most things in Indigenous America, and especially Mesoamerica, it’s difficult to find detailed and reliable info on the internet. Even within academia, misinformation abounds… the role that western science plays in the exploitation of indigenous knowledge systems is not pretty. Still, the book above ended up being a fun resource to thumb through.

Of course, the kind of smithing that Morgan does is a little more involved than casting metal, so the gaps are backfilled with Dave J Frieson’s reconstruction of a traditional Japanese swordsmith forge, on which the layout of this forge is referenced.

Circles and closed loops are major motifs in Morgan’s culture—immigrant Ser culture—so I imagine that their forge is actually two workspaces organized in a circle around the same, central forge. Don’t… worry too much about what that means when it comes to managing the temperature of the fire for two separate projects. Plenty of room to fight over the bellows.