Watch Ore to Axe
- 51 min
This documentary film details the process of smelting iron ore into metal and forging it into an eighteenth century-style axe. Follow blacksmiths with over 100 years collective experience as they demonstrate every step in the centuries-old bloomery smelting process. By combining earth, air, and fire, they create that "tool of necessity" used for generations. Blacksmiths Shelton Browder, Ken Koons, Steve Mankowski, and Lee Sauder take you on the journey of finding ore, making charcoal. building a furnace, smelting the ore to iron, converting the iron to steel, and finally forging the axe. If you have ever wondered how the tools so important to our ancestors were made, watch and see skills almost lost to history.
Ore to Axe is a documentary with a runtime of 51 minutes.