Taking name and inspiration from the ancient forest where its Smith first worked hot iron, Boreal Forge is operated by Doug Morlock. From our shop on Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment, we continue the millennia-old craft of blacksmithing, working hot iron with hammer and anvil.

If you have a design in mind, or would like us to create something for you, please contact us to discuss your idea. We can work in almost any metal for almost any purpose; We can forge out hardware, fine tools, blades, furniture, architectural work or jewelry with equal ability.

Our work is not cheap, and it isn’t ordinary. It is labor-intensive, and our finished pieces show the effort put into them, through attention to detail and refinement of design. Browse our available pieces, or Contact Us to discuss an idea.

Blacksmithing is an art nearly as old as Civilization itself, refined by untold generations of skilled artisans, and given new life in the modern age. The dawn of industrialization displaced the blacksmith as a tradesman - Tools and hardware are much more easily -if not necessarily better- made by machinery. Properly applied, modern machinery can make many objects as well in minutes as the best smith could in hours or days.

But no machine can replace the creative force that makes us human. Objets d’art, objects of beauty and individualized tools remain the exclusive domain of the Artist-Blacksmith.

All art bears the cast of its maker. Regardless of design, objects shaped by hand will always seem much richer, more vital than objects stamped out by unthinking machines.

Consider these two simple sconces. The one on the left was made overseas in a modern fabrication shop, the one on the right is our copy, built with traditional techniques. No flat spots, no ugly welds, no visual dead ends.

 

 I’m a Blacksmith because I can’t imagine being anything else. For the last decade, all I’ve done is study metalwork. Like every smith, I know that there is more than a lifetime’s worth of knowledge to absorb, but that only adds to the craft’s potential.

Metalwork is my passion, I live and breathe hot iron. (Figuratively, anyway) My training as a Goldsmith has given me skills for delicate work, and the exacting standards of Jewelry manufacture lend a fine line to my larger designs.

Blacksmithing is an ancient craft, with tremendous versatility. Perhaps it is this versatility - the endless room for invention - that holds me. For a blacksmith, metal is as malleable as clay, and with skill, all metals can be worked. Truly incredible
things are possible with little more than hammer and anvil.

I don’t believe in art for arts sake - my work has a purpose beyond selfaggrandizement.
In my mind, form and function are one, but function and ornament are distinct. Balancing these is where I look for beauty.