Traditional blacksmithing, closely competitive with modern technology and in need of support

Traditional blacksmithing has a long history in Iran and once upon a time this profession was very popular among the people, especially the villagers, although now modern technologies have reduced the interest in this profession, but supporting the workers in this industry can be one of the traditional professions of the country. keep it up and active.

According to IRNA, an element cannot be found in nature that plays a role in the smallest details of human life like iron, and at the same time, it is a symbol of man’s distance from his own origin, which is the soil.

Iron is the most stubborn metal that has entered the daily life of humans.

The stubbornness that is even mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, however, the fingers of the master artists use this inflexible, hard element of life like wax in the service of the original earthly life of man, as if iron itself becomes a part of the human being.

For years, the world has been filled with modern machines and factories that pour iron into the mold and furnace in the blink of an eye and it takes no time to take it out as it likes, but still, the tools produced by master blacksmiths have features that No factory can make it.

Still, in some parts of Iran, especially in rural areas, blacksmiths, along with other compatriots, are working hard to meet the needs of the compatriots for the provision of iron tools, and on the other hand, they are keeping this native craft alive.

Blacksmithing industry has a history as old as human life and it has changed in each period according to the time and needs, and what made this industry permanent is the technology that has made it not forgotten and still standing.

Not long ago, master blacksmiths in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad provinces provided the necessary iron tools, especially agricultural tools, and they moved step by step with the nomads in Yilaq and Qashlaq, but the wheels of this old profession have been around for years. lame

In this report, the condition of the old profession of blacksmithing in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad and its problems were investigated and we asked about his heartache in an interview with one of the blacksmiths of Cheram city.

Bashir Haddadi is one of the artists who, on the verge of turning forty, boasts that in half of his life, he has hammered iron on a hard anvil and made it serve humanity.

He left the footsteps of fathers and forefathers who have a long history and reach Kaveh Ahangar, the same Kaveh that Hakim Tous Ferdowsi wrote a poem about in detail about its heroic qualities.

When Bashir Sobh opens his eyes in the morning, in his stone and mud workshop, which has no sign of modern life, he beats on an iron blacksmith’s anvil, and at night he rests on the bed, relieved that he has fulfilled the responsibility for which he stepped into this world. Lays.

Although the world is full of modern machines and factories that throw every tool out of the oven in the blink of an eye, Hadadi believes that no factory can make what blacksmiths can do.

He is worried that people’s dependence on industrial work tools will discourage blacksmiths, and for this reason, he seeks to advertise and promote the profession of his ancestors so that this local industry is not forgotten and to train blacksmiths.

Haddadi says blacksmiths make tools according to physical physics, geography and people’s needs. It is not the case that they produce a tool in large quantities and send it to the market.

He believes that in the work of blacksmithing, respect for all human characteristics created by God is the first word.

Haddadi says that a shovel is a shovel in everyone’s eyes, but every culture and geography needs it for something, and this important tool should be made according to the needs of that culture and geography.

When Haddadi mentions these issues, one can understand why farmers buy several shovels, pickaxes, and scythes so that they might like one of them.

Haddadi believes that blacksmithing is not a profession but a symbol of a deep-rooted nation and should be promoted because if the blacksmith profession becomes obsolete, a nation will be removed from history.

He also mentions the unprecedented history of blacksmithing and says: Blacksmithing is one of the oldest metalworking arts and its origins go back to ancient times.

According to Haddadi, great forces are used in this process and the work equipment is often very heavy. In the past, they melted the desired metal to the required extent and then held it on an anvil with a pair of pliers and hammered it to find the desired shape.

He continues: sometimes molten metal was shaped inside a mold with a hammer and the molten metal took the shape of the mold.

He also mentions the history of blacksmithing and says: From the study of documents, it can be concluded that from the second millennium BC, i.e., the Iron Age onwards, iron has always had a special place among metals, and different peoples prefer this metal. They were very important.

Making agricultural tools and equipment as well as making war weapons was a great success that mankind achieved after the discovery and extraction of iron, and a significant leap in the course of human evolution was made by using it.

According to Haddadi, metal oxide rocks such as copper, iron, tin and lead can be regenerated at a temperature of about eight hundred degrees Celsius, and providing this temperature was possible even with the technology of that era.

Haddadi says: Iron is a natural element that is pure, very soft and cannot be used, and in order to use it, this metal is combined with impure materials such as carbon, manganese and silica and it is converted into alloys such as steel.

In ancient times, to revive iron ores with charcoal in solid state, raw iron was first produced with other impurities, which had a spongy shape; At that time, sponge iron was produced in primitive furnaces.

Bashir has opened a small blacksmith workshop in his home in Al-Qchin village of Cheram city in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad provinces, but he plans to separate his workshop from his home and develop it so that he can be more active in this industry and train students.

This master blacksmith emphasizes that if he has a separate blacksmith workshop from the house area, he can create jobs for five people in this economic condition and on the other hand, he can provide the desired services to his fellow citizens in better conditions.

For almost a year, this blacksmith has been changing hands in the center of the province and Cheram city. He is passed from one department to another to get an inquiry. The Deputy of Handicrafts asked him to inquire from other departments in order to grant permission to build a workshop. To get the inquiry that is now going to reach one year.

Now, all the relevant organizations have expressed their positive opinion for handing over a piece of land to open a traditional blacksmith workshop of Ostad Bashir to the Samat Department, except the Road Department. and express their opinion.

The deputy of handicrafts and traditional arts of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad said in this context: the traditional blacksmithing field of the province is registered as a spiritual work in the country, and this department cooperates with artists for the development of this traditional field. It does what is necessary.

Mohammad Kazem Rahmani added: In addition to the fact that a license is issued for the activities of traditional blacksmith artists in less than 15 days, more than 1 billion Rials of facilities are paid to them with low interest for the development of this field.

He continued, based on the approval of the government board, all organizations are required to answer the inquiries required to issue business activity licenses within 15 days at most.

Even though Professor Bashir is disappointed by the non-cooperation of some organizations in the last one year, he still hopes and waits for the Road Administration to issue an answer to the request of the General Department of Cultural Heritage in the coming days, so that he can open his traditional blacksmith workshop next to Al-Qachin Cheram village as soon as possible. To give a new life to the thin body of traditional blacksmithing in the region.