Mali blacksmiths working in forge

[davepen16]

amazing work



[sunmanpatoo]

all the way back to OGUN. the blacksmith of the gods

[blackcatsmith]

sweet double horn anvil.

[segway001]

@blackcatsmith looks more like a ferriers anvil then a double horned looks English to me but id have to be there to tell ya more.

[humboldtdf]

awesome!

[HumboldtMike]

Yep, that DF is for you, humboldtDF!

[HumboldtMike]

I don't know -- must be some kind of cool blower thingy in there. My guess is that it's some kind of recycled auto engine part.

[fletcher0102]

how does the wind blowing device work ? the inner disign must be cool

[segway001]

@fletcher0102 more than likely its just a pully with a fan blade attached to the bike rim with and outlet at the bottom of the Tuyere and Ash Dump to add oxygen to the coals

[davepen16]

@fletcher0102 probably an old car fan driven by a pulley using the bike whee. that's what I think

[barflewk]

Yeah and they haven't changed in ten thousand years.

[fletcher0102]

that's because they lived in a environment relatively stable for ..."ten thousand years"...

if the environment doesn't change , they need not to adapt it !

the vid is cool

[HumboldtMike]

Thanks for the comments. I've read that West Africans probably developed blacksmithing independently many centuries ago. But I don't think they are thought to necessarily the first blacksmiths. Being first is kind of arbitrary -- being sophisticated enough to develop smelting and ironworking that long ago without outside influence is what seems interesting. There was great science and philosphy in that region when Europeans still thought the world was flat-e.g., the libraries of Timbuktu.

[BOBAbladeMAR]

very nce. boba from serbia.

[HumboldtMike]

Thanks. One of the things I love about YouTube -- a Serbian seeing an American's "home" video of Malian craftsmen. My Malian friends also think it's really cool that people all over the world can see them in action. Maybe one day they will have their own video cameras and internet access so they can post their own videos...

[BOBAbladeMAR]

first, i wanted to say very NICE, not very NCE, i apologice, and second, i wonder how long is old ther tradition as blacksmits? in their envirement, they couldn`t learn on their own. i think also, that aldo we improwe their lives by interducing new tehnologies, we also add to global globalisation, which is yet another problem.

as i am a blacksmith i learn a lot about other ways of forging, so i can improwe my own, not to find something else wich will comletly replace my methods.

[HumboldtMike]

Good point, but simply introducing new technology isn't what I'm talking about. My thought is that a better economy and level of education must come first, which would then enable them to prevent so many of their children dying of preventable illnesses-and maybe even stop female genital mutilation-without losing their culture and language, of course. Anyway, they would be so much better off in so many ways before they'd have the means/time/desire to post YouTube videos. I can dream, can't I?

[HumboldtMike]

Supposedly they did develop their own technology several centuries B.C., including smelting iron from ore. But today they use scrap iron and do not smelt anymore. There's an excellent book called The Mande Blacksmiths by Patrick R. McNaughton, which explains their historic and modern techniques as well as their very important role in Mande society. To me, the blacksmiths were (are) the most interesting people in Mali. I lived with this family for two years and was amazed every day.

[BOBAbladeMAR]

also nice of zou for uploading this video so all the world can see this people, and learn more about them.

[butkatrello]

Raw, mate, to the heated metal. Art in action, but the smoke..

[P0wningPrince]

Bloody cool that! Thanks!

[Colhane]

Very cool video.Some things don't change the world over. Mac, Brazil

[kiwicoote]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this. Best wishes....Coote, New Zealand.