L. Proctor Ironworks LLC

I use traditional forging techniques and joinery to create contemporary work. I start with raw metal and heat it in the forge. I then use a pneumatic power hammer and hand hammers at the anvil to shape and bend the material. I have made the majority of my tooling, I use different tool steels for hot cutting chisels, slits, drifts, punches and hammers. The style I have developed is in part inspired by the use of industrial forging tools used in an unconventional manner to shape and push the metal gaining length, width and texture at the same time. I focus on keeping clean lines and forging every part of each piece to shape the metal hot. The joinery becomes an aesthetic part of the piece, a focal point, it represents hard honest work that is thought of to be sophisticated in its simplicity.

This work represents an idea of focusing on forms and line, texture and functionality. Ideas come from many places including the natural world I see every day outside the studio in south west Wisconsin’s “driftless area”, industrial blacksmithing techniques from the early years of the Industrial revolution. The joinery is out front to be seen rather then trying to hide it, it becomes an aesthetic part of each piece. The fronts of all the cabinet pieces have a story to tell, wether it’s an abstract representation of our agricultural area or a connection to historical steel industry.

The metal is coated only with bees wax and linseed oil so the hammer marks can be seen and the areas where metal scale came off during the forging process and where it did not.

The paint used is tractor and implement colors, this represents the strong connection between blacksmithing and agriculture.