N.S. blacksmith keeps tradition alive

Blacksmith Jeff Helmes continues the ancient craft at Fortress Lousibourg.

Jeff Helmes, working at the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, is keeping a centuries-old tradition alive, one piece of metal at a time.

Helmes is a blacksmith, forging new creations with fire and willpower.

“I got interested in blacksmithing 20 years ago,” Helmes said. “The original appeal was that it didn’t require a massive startup to get going. I could improvise.”

Helmes said the march of human progress has altered the art of blacksmithing, but it’s still fundamentally the same.

“I would say it was relatively consistent from its earliest periods to the Middle Ages, and it began to change as we became a more industrial world,” he said. “It still remains kind of the same because what we’re doing is, essentially, heating up metal and changing its shape.”

At the Fortress, Helmes relies on archaeological finds and artifacts to do his work. He notes that despite the relentless march of technology, blacksmithing will stick around.

“I do think blacksmithing will continue as a craft,” he said. “There’s a lot more interest in it nowadays.”

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