Forged Connections: Early Medieval Bladesmithing and Metallurgy with Dr. Andrew Welton
October 22 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm CDT
Forged Connections is the Metal Museum’s after-hours conversation series exploring how metal connects art, people, place, and everyday life. Each month, artists, metalsmiths, scholars, community partners, and professionals from fields such as engineering, design, public art, preservation, and city planning come together for accessible conversations about the role metal plays in our communities. From jewelry and sculpture to bridges, buildings, tools, and public spaces, Forged Connections invites lifelong learners to look more closely at the material world around them.
Join Dr. Andrew Welton for an after-hours talk on pattern-welded swords, early medieval metallurgy, and the relationship between swordsmiths and the warriors who carried their work into combat. Drawing on a decade of hands-on experimental archaeology, including smelting iron in medieval-style furnaces and forging recreated blades, Welton will explore why smiths used this difficult technique even when it offered no clear performance advantage. This talk is designed for anyone interested in the connections among metalworking, materials science, and the history of bladesmithing.
