A coppersmith works with copper and other metals to create and repair items. Because most household goods are made of materials other than copper, and many copper objects are manufactured using industrial processes, coppersmithing has become more of an arts occupation in the modern world. Coppersmiths continue to produce a small number of highly technical devices as well as a number of pieces of high-end copper artwork, and there is still a niche market for copper goods.
Copper was one of the first metals humans worked because it is a soft metal. It can be used to make decorative objects as well as functional items such as pots and griddles. Copper could have been combined with tin or, more rarely, arsenic an ancient coppersmith to create bronze, a much harder metal. Bronze could be used for both decorative items and long-lasting tools and weapons.
The various metalworking trades were carefully divided one from another in the Middle Ages, a division that has persisted to some extent to the present day. A coppersmith in that era would have been a member of a guild and known as a redsmith, a reference to the color of the metal they worked with. Blacksmiths worked with iron, while whitesmiths worked with metals like tin.
When working with copper, a modern coppersmith will usually work with cool metal, shaping it with hammers and presses into the desired shape. Copper is occasionally heated and then cooled, but this procedure, known as annealing, is used to ensure that the metal retains its flexibility and workability when it is cool, rather than as part of the working process. Copper can be worked while hot or cast on occasion, but unlike iron, it can also be worked cold under normal conditions.
A modern coppersmith’s trade tends to focus on artistic rather than practical products. Upscale kitchen and fireplace accessories are frequently made to order for the specific rooms in which they will be used. Elegant and decorative copper pots and kettles, meanwhile, have a sizable market, despite the fact that they are rarely used in modern cooking. Coppersmithing is also used in sculpture, which is more of a pure artistic endeavor. Copper is a popular choice for small sculptures, but bronze is more commonly used in larger works due to its greater strength and durability.