Forge FourBlacksmithing

Forge Four Blacksmithing is the workshop of David Southgate, a Sheffield blacksmith who took on a forge inside Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in 2014 after a three-day taster course in Lincolnshire, later passing the Design and Forgework Skills course at the National School of Blacksmithing in Hereford with distinction in 2017. He works from a hearth inside the Hamlet, a former scythe and edge-tool works on the south side of Sheffield preserved as a working industrial museum, continuing the hand-forging trade the site was built for. Southgate takes on ironwork commissions and runs experience days and short courses teaching visitors to forge their own piece using hammer, anvil and coal fire rather than machine tools. Sessions run for individuals or small groups and are booked in advance through his website rather than offered on a drop-in basis, since the forge is lit only on course and commission days.