Spike G Martin

Blacksmith and Anvil Hog

Bearded Pig forge is run by myself who having a long-standing interest in the history and craft of blacksmithing decided to pursue it as a career full time.

My Journey into the amazing world of blacksmithing started with four basic course days with Ross Berry at Kaos Blacksmiths, after gaining a strong foundation from Ross I started to develop my skills at my own forge and anvil by practicing the items I had been shown how to make and then by making new pieces I began to find my own style.
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 Over several years now I have continued to develop these methods and teach myself more about this fascinating craft, expanding my knowledge and practical skills, including branching into mixed medium work such as the knives and tooling I produce.

The forge is based in the grounds of Quex park in Birchington a historical site and wonderful country estate.

Future projects

Having a love of history I have begun reproducing more items from the past and branching into multiple time periods. Whilst all my pieces are inspired by history and the function of the piece it is nice to put oneself into the mindset of a smith of the past when making something to be used, the amount of material and function of each piece should be reflected in how it is made.

The majority of my work is suitable to be used from the Migration era into late medieval I have a great love of 17th and 18th century history so now make a few replicas and heavily inspired pieces for those time periods.

From Fire to tools

One of the main aspects of smithing I love is the ability to make items with a purpose, a function and a use. Traditionally one of the main things smiths made was tooling, both for themselves and for other crafts, It is with this in mind that I have started making more tools for craftspeople. I have started with something I know which is knives so now make leather working tools and I am slowly moving into wood working and other crafts.

Hand forgeed

Each tool is hand forged in a coal fire and refined to shape by eye

Small batch production

Tools made as a batch are kept with their handle and test fitted throughout the whole making process so each one is perfectly fitted and unqiue

High end finishing

Every tool is finished individually and hand polished for that perfect finish