Forging Through the Ages: From Fire and Hammer to Robots
In brief
Forging has shaped how humanity farms, travels, builds and manufactures for thousands of years. From blacksmiths making horseshoes and tools to today’s steel and aluminium forgings used in vehicles, aircraft, machinery and infrastructure, the principle remains the same: heat, force, material knowledge and timing. Extra Forge continues this tradition as the third generation of a family forging story that began in 1959.
Before there were cars, aircraft, modern bridges, industrial machines or robots, there were blacksmiths.
For thousands of years, people have shaped metal with heat, force and skill. The tools changed, the machines grew and the forces became enormous. Today, forging combines industrial hammers and presses, controlled heating, precision tooling, digital measurement and increasingly automation.
At Extra Forge, this history is not something we know only from books. It is part of our family story.
Heat the metal. Apply force. Control the material. Create something built to last.
The first smiths changed the world
There was no single moment when the world's first blacksmith appeared. Metalworking developed across different civilisations over thousands of years. The decisive discovery was that metal could be heated and shaped while remaining solid.
With fire, a hammer, an anvil and tongs, people created stronger tools, agricultural equipment, weapons, fittings and components. Fire. Hammer. Anvil. Tongs. The technology around them has changed almost beyond recognition; the principle has not.
Before sensors, the blacksmith was the sensor
A historical blacksmith needed far more than physical strength. Before digital temperature measurement, he read the colour of the heated metal. Before process monitoring, he listened to the sound of each strike and felt how the material moved.
It was metallurgy learned through experience. Modern forging is far more measurable and controlled, but material knowledge and human judgement still matter.
From the horseshoe to a world in motion
For centuries, the horseshoe was one of the blacksmith's most familiar products. The horse was one of humanity's most important means of transport and work, and the blacksmith helped keep it moving.
Then horses gave way to engines, wagons became cars and trucks, humans learned to fly and infrastructure grew more complex. The components changed, but forged metal remained essential.
Today forged parts work inside vehicles, aircraft, industrial and agricultural machines, lifting equipment, energy systems and demanding infrastructure. Forged alloys are also used in selected medical implants.
From the horseshoe that helped move a horse to forged components that help move cars, aircraft, machines and modern industry — forging has helped keep the world in motion.
From human strength to industrial power
For centuries, forging power was limited mainly by human strength. Water-powered hammers increased the available force; steam and later mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic machines transformed the scale of what could be forged.
The blacksmith's hammer became a machine. Forging did not disappear — its possibilities multiplied.
1959: for us, the story becomes personal
The history of Extra Forge did not begin in 2021. Our family's forging tradition reaches back to 1959, when our grandfather began his journey in the forging trade.
By around 1970, aluminium forging had also become part of his work in Slovenia, at a time when machines, process control and available knowledge were very different from today. Practical knowledge continued from one generation to the next. Today, we represent the third generation.
2021 was a new chapter — not page one. Machines can be purchased and factories can be built, but practical understanding of how metals behave under heat and force takes years, sometimes generations, to develop.
Steel and aluminium: two different forging worlds
Today, both steel forging and aluminium forging are part of our core expertise. The principle is related, but the materials behave differently.
Steel is used where strength, toughness and demanding mechanical loads are critical. Aluminium combines low density with attractive mechanical properties and is valuable where weight reduction matters. Each material requires its own temperatures, process windows, tooling strategy and metallurgical understanding.
The forge has changed. The physics has not.
A modern forge looks completely different from a workshop two centuries ago. Industrial hammers and presses, controlled and induction heating, precision tooling, CNC machining, measurement technology, extraction systems, machine guarding, digital process control and automation are now part of the environment.
But forging remains real heavy industry: heat, noise, vibration, heavy machinery, powerful forces and hot metal. Technology can reduce exposure, improve safety and increase repeatability. It cannot repeal physics.
Behind every forging are people
This may be the most important part of the story. Modern machines and robots are impressive, but a forge still depends on people and knowledge.
Operators need to understand temperature, positioning, lubrication, tooling, wear, material behaviour and process discipline. An experienced person may hear that a machine sounds different or see that material fills a die differently before the change becomes obvious in a measurement report.
These people are part of the invisible network that keeps the modern world moving. They may never see the vehicle, aircraft, machine or infrastructure in which their part works. Their work is there nevertheless.
Automation can replace movements. It cannot replace understanding. Behind many things that move, lift, carry, build and connect our world, someone first had to shape the metal.
From tongs to robots
The evolution of forging is almost a condensed history of industry: human arm, water-powered hammer, steam hammer, mechanical and hydraulic machines, controlled heating, precision dies, digital measurement, sensors, robotics and automation.
Each generation removed some physical limitations. None removed the need to understand the material. A blacksmith from centuries ago would be astonished by a modern forge, but he would still recognise the glowing metal, the force, the timing and the people watching the process carefully.
Why do we still forge?
Today we have advanced machining, casting, additive manufacturing and many other technologies. Forging remains essential because it does more than create a shape.
In a properly engineered forging process, metal is plastically deformed under compressive force. Material flow and process design can contribute to the strength, reliability and repeatability required from highly loaded components. Modern forging therefore combines ancient physical principles with modern engineering control.
1959 to today: continuity, not nostalgia
1959 — our family's forging journey begins. Around 1970 — aluminium forging becomes part of that experience in Slovenia. 2021 — Extra Forge d.o.o. opens a new chapter. Today — the third generation continues forging steel and aluminium while adopting digitalisation, automation and new manufacturing technology.
We respect the past, but tradition has value only when it helps us build what comes next.
Forging the Future
For thousands of years, people working with metal have helped humanity build, travel and progress. From the horseshoe beneath a working horse to forged components inside modern vehicles, aircraft, machines and infrastructure, the scale has changed enormously.
One thing has remained constant: behind the technology are people — people who understand heat, force and metal, and whose work often remains invisible even though modern industry depends on it.
Our family has been part of this story since 1959. Today, as the third generation, we continue it in steel and aluminium — and we are focused on what comes next.
Extra Forge — Forging the Future.
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