Basketry tools & blacksmiths

Martha Bird demonstrates use of a rapping iron on her hand-crafted basket arts.

(This story is, uh, FIVE YEARS overdue! I have so many things to share with you, but, uh, things have been very busy!)

I ran into Martha Bird in late 2017 at the John C Campbell Folk School. She is an absolutely INCREDIBLE artist, specializing in both traditional and sculptural baskets. Check out her work here!

She'd recently learned a technique in (I believe it was) Ireland that helped keep the weave extra tight and even using a tool called a "rapping iron". This tool allows the basket weaver to gently "rap" the fibers to push them down and keep them in place. When she asked her teacher where she could find a "rapping iron", they told her to "get one from her blacksmith!"

Martha told me merrily that she supposed it was a normal thing in some parts of the world to have a blacksmith to go to for custom tools, but that certainly wasn't the answer she was expecting! 

I happened to have a bit of extra time (ah, that was a long time ago!) and I made a rapping iron to her specifications. 

This piece was made from stock that was 3/8" x 1.5" x ~9.5". 

The process is very similar to making a bottle opener: slit and drift a hole for the handle, neck in slightly behind the hole, offset the hole a bit. 

You can see other rapping iron designs here. 

The finished "rapping iron".