Enclusa i manxa

What is

The heart of the forge: the fornal (forge) where the iron is heated, the manxa (bellows) that stokes the fire and the enclusa (anvil) where it is shaped by beating. With them the ferrer made and repaired the tools of all other trades.

How is

• Enclusa — piece of iron with a flat upper face, a quadrangular part and one or two triangular parts (the horns) to bend and curve (DCVB).
• Manxa — box with two rigid sides and flexible leather sides; When closed, it expels air through a narrow duct. Ferrer's manxa is the large size, for the fornal.
• Maça (from the Manxa) — in Mallorca, a square box-shaped piece between the bellows and the canó that carries the air to the fornal (DCVB, Mall.).
• Fornal — brick, stone or iron hearth combined with bellows. In Mallorca, the burner that heats the boiler is also called fornal, for example in the tafona.
• Mall and martell — long-handled mallet and hammer.
• Flat — ferrer hammer with a very flat face for hot smoothing (DCVB, bal.).
• Tenalles — tongs to hold the piece to the red.
• Measurements and weights of the Majorcan pieces: please verify.

How is fa

• The lock: forged or cast piece, purchased abroad or inherited; lasts generations (origin of the Mallorcan ones to be verified).
• La manxa: wooden and leather frame, the work of Fuster and Baster or Ferrer himself (to verify).
• The fornal: work of a stonecutter.

Com s'usa

1. Light the fornal with charcoal (see carboners-i-sitges ) and fan it with manxa.

2. Remove the red-hot iron with tenalles.

3. About the lock: stretch, emphasize (thicken), bend, twist, open.

4. Temper in water and reheat as many times as necessary.

• The apprentice or an assistant pulled the handle; the teacher carried the hammer; the assistant, the mall.

Vocabulary

• enclusa: anvil.
• manxa / manxes: bellows; manxa de ferrer, the great one of the forge.
• fornal: forge; in Mallorca also a boiler stove.
• maça: in the Majorcan manxa, box between the bellows and the barrel.
• mall: long-handled mallet.
• plana: hot smoothing hammer.
• tenalles: tongs.
• ferrer: blacksmith.
• esser capaç de no fer-ne abastament amb una enclusa: being a big man who, with good tools, still does things badly (DCVB, Mall.).

History

• 1299: "una anclusa et uns mancles", document cited in the DCVB.
• 1395: «una fornal e manxes» for an alchemy workshop, document published in the BSAL (DCVB, sv fornal).
• 1926: the family workshop that today is Eines Mallorquines (Sineu) opens, three generations.
• 1986: the BSAL publishes an inventory of irons from the Museum of Mallorca (see official document).

On veure'n

• Museu Etnològic dels Calderers (Sant Joan): the house preserves its ironworks (according to the tourist guide; please verify status).
• Museum of Mallorca, Etnològica Section (Wall) : tools of the trade (unconfirmed ironworks).
• Living workshops: Eines Mallorquines ; ferrers of the Cercador d'artesans of the Government.

Why is it design

• Machine making machines: without enclusa there is no aixada, escoda or reixa.
• Form that teaches: the flat face, the horn and the holes of the anvil are a catalog of operations.
• Air as a tool: the manxa converts an arm gesture into temperature.
• Built-in repair: the ferrer reinforced edges and remade worn parts; The tool was not thrown away.

For the project

• Visit and audiovisual recording of a forging day in Sineu; series of forged domestic objects (molls, trespeus, hooks) with current design.
• Trade: ferro-forjat · ganiveteria · bellers-i-fonedors .
• Related files: eines-de-marger , eines-de-picapedrer , foganya-i-estris-del-foc .

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=enclusa
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=manxa
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=fornal
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=maça
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=plana
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=mall
• einesmallorquines.com

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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