Mirror WORKS: You're FIRED! RODNEY CRANWELLIS ONE OF BRITAIN'SBEST BLACKSMITHS. HERE HE TELLS HOWTHE OLD SKILL STILLGIVES HIM A THRILL BACK TO BASICS.

Byline: EDITED BY TRICIA PHILLIPS

WITH their clanging tools working on red-hot metal, blacksmiths seems to belong to a different era, along with chimney sweeps, rag-and- bone traders and coachmen.

But some - like Rodney Cranwell - are keeping the old skills alive. The 74-year-old from Stowbridge, Norfolk, has been smithying for half a century.

Here he tells us the secrets of this fascinating trade...

'A BLACKSMITH uses time-honoured techniques of hand, hammer and fire to forge or mould wrought iron or mild steel. We make stuff for the home - such as gates - as well as tools and more decorative work.

I started out as a lad, helping my dad. He was a farrier - meaning he worked with horses, making their shoes as well as cartwheels and other agricultural equipment.

I left school at 14 and went to work on the land, but I carried on helping dad and at 20 I joined him as an apprentice. When I joined him it was a difficult time. The age of the horse was coming to an end and his way of life was changing.

I was offered the chance to study working with wrought iron and I learned the basic skills in London.

I loved the artistic side of it and I got stuck into making gates, fences, fire irons and the like.

It took some time for me to establish the business. I was working in the old forge and had made all my own tools. Not like now - you can buy them easily.

But over time word went round and I started to build up a lot of business, particularly conservation work.

The National Trust and English Heritage have used me on big restoration projects. Over the years I've worked in dozens of places from historic houses such as Sandringham and Highgrove to churches.

I did actually retire at one point and sold my business. I then met Richard Hurcomb, a farrier, who was interested in blacksmithing.

He runs the Dancing Anvils Forge at Wallington in Norfolk.

I now work on small projects but concentrate on passing on my blacksmith skills to him and his students including John Hipkin, who hopes to become an apprentice.

It can be hard to get hold of the equipment we need. There's also only one supplier in the country of wrought iron so we use mild steel.

The furnaces are much the same but the tricky part is getting coke which is the correct size to create a small, neat fire, which we need to heat the metal we're working with. There are only two suppliers of that.

The trade is struggling but the commitment of people such as Richard, who is vice president of National Association of Farriers, Blacksmiths and Agricultural Engineers, keep things going. It is expensive for tradesmen to take on apprentices as well but there is still a good system up and running.

We also have our work cut out convincing people that while they can buy factory created goods far cheaper, our items are of much higher quality.

I feel an enormous sense of peace when I'm working in the forge. I also love that I am passing down the skills.

Over the years I have had five apprentices of my own and now Richard. I get a sense of the timelessness of it all. Continuing the world my father gave to me is what it's all about.'

THE National Association of Farriers, Blacksmiths and Agricultural Engineers at www.nafbae.org have a guide to Advanced Modern Apprenticeships for Farriers and a link to the British Artist Blacksmiths Association and a list of courses. Warwickshire and Herefordshire Colleges both run courses.

THE Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths has been looking after the interests of blacksmiths since the 14th century and is online at www.blacksmithscompany.org.uk

CAPTION(S):

BRIGHT FUTURE: Rodney (right) and student John Hipkin

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	The Mirror (London, England)
Date:	Apr 20, 2006
Words:	646
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