Mont De Lancey Hammer In

On the weekend of October 12/13th 2024 was the first Hammer In of the Australian Blacksmithing for Beginners Facebook group held at Mont De Lancey Blacksmiths at Wandin, VIC.

The 1hr 45min drive from Traralgon to Wandin was easy going as it was a pleasant spring day, upon arrival at Mont De Lancey my first impressions of the place were good, everything was neat and tidy and well looked after for a historical site.

The organizers and members of the Mont de Lancey blacksmiths did a amazing job of keeping everyone fed and hydrated, big props to Leo slaving away for us cooking the German Sausages (yum).

You could close your eyes and be transported back in time to the sounds of the hammers striking hot steel on the anvils and the smell of burning coke (Charcoal like material)

As a keen Knifemaker/Blacksmith myself seeing the old tools made me feel like a kid in a candy shop, i particularly liked the German pattern anvil in the middle of the shop (Double horned one in the photos)

German style Double Horned Anvil

All in all it was a great day out as my first visit to this location, catching up with old friends and making new ones, having a bash on the anvils, having lots of laughs. Its what Hammer In’s are and should be about, having fun and learning new things. If you have never been to one i highly recommend attending one, even as a spectator.

Big shoutout again to the Organizers, Volunteers and Members of both the Facebook group for organizing the event and the Mont De Lancey crew for so generously hosting the event for the weekend

Very cool double stationed coke forge, they had 3 of these setup

This monster was outside of the Smithy, would have loved to have taken it home with me haha

I'm a big fan of the old bellows, too bad they weren't useable at the time