A forge to be reckoned with
Iron grit in an old world trade
May the forge be with blacksmith Roger Chudzik. He’s keeping an anachronistic trade alive in an era of mass production, working the iron at his shop in an old mill complex in Dorchester. His is not the domain of horseshoes and hubs but decorative metalwork: customized furniture, spiral staircases, sign brackets, and chandeliers – as well as bread-and-butter jobs like iron railings. While some blacksmiths came to the craft as part of the DIY, self-sufficiency wave, Chudzik of Iron Bear Forge has swung his hammer for decades, apprenticing under master smiths. Globe correspondent Cindy Atoji Keene spoke with Chudzik about why he forges ahead in the factory age.
“How does one get from zookeeper to blacksmith? I was working with bears and timber wolves as a Lincoln Park zookeeper when I saw an ad for a blacksmithing workshop. I took a six week leave-of-absence to try out the trade and fell in love with the smithing process. Eventually I started working in a blacksmithing shop, and here I am, almost four decades later, still swinging away. Thus the name of my shop, Iron Bear Forge, in honor of those carnivora that I used to take care of.
“Most people don’t know the difference between mass market ironwork made in China or Mexico and the hand-made goods made in my shop. There’s been a dumbing down process that is both infuriating and funny. It’s almost unheard of to do stuff by hand and I don’t make a lot of money but I make a living. If I make a wrought iron table, it will cost three to four times as much as one you might buy from Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn because of the craftsmanship and labor involved. If I’m working at the forge, using heat and a power hammer, I charge $145 dollars an hour; straight-up fabrications are $75 an hour. Even though the price of steel has gone up, materials are inconsequential. I recently had about $600 dollars of steel delivered and you’re looking at a $4,000 job, so it’s less than a quarter of the price of the actual work. I get real satisfaction from taking an inanimate object like steel bars or plates and turning them into something completely different. I use the blacksmithing techniques that have been around for literally thousands of years and add modern technologies to them – gas fueled torches, powered hammers, and mig and tig welding. If you know how to work metal, you can make things that are useful and also beautiful. I love the way straight lines and curves work together and I try to push toward a certain aesthetic; I have my own sensibilities to satisfy, a sense of grace and beauty. Obviously there are things that machines can do but I can design circles around a lot of people and there’s always going to be a place for blacksmiths. Every morning when I walk into my shop, where my anvil and hammer await, it’s a wonderful thing. It’s an honor to carry on the blacksmithing tradition.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com