Iron production and its adaptation were started already in prehistoric time. The first forges were the places where a village’s own blacksmith worked for all the villag-ers. They were called ‘kyläseppä’ in Finnish. After that, forges became gradually a normal part of everyone’s yard. In general, forge was placed further away from the other buildings of the curtilage because of fire risk.

The traditional forge is one room made of logs. The door is located in the gable and if there is a window, it is on the other sidewall. The forge has an earth floor, and its roof is made of timber. The most important elements in forge are the fur-nace, the bellows and the anvil. The furnace and bellows are typically located back of the room. The early type of furnace was so-called openforge. Later, it was replaced by a forge chimney. The anvil is on the top of a block dug in the ground. The earliest anvils were made by blacksmiths.

The biggest change in forges was the introduction of electricity. Both the tools and the methods changed. Also the lightning of the forges improved and the bellows were replaced by electric blowers. That is why a could be part of the other yard now.

In the summer of 2013, a new forge according to a traditional model was made for Ähtäri local museum. It is a functioning forge. The building was transferred from the area of Moksu to the yard of the museum. It was lifted on natural corner stones. The furnace was built of rocks apart from the corners, which were made of logs. The top of the furnace was molded from concrete. The leather of the bellows was replaced by a new one and the anvil was located the middle of the room. The blacksmith’s tools were put on display on the walls.