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Place where blacksmith or swordsmith or metalsmith works. Where swords are forged (together making alloys) or swords are cast from bronze, etc.

For example, a clinic is for doctors, or an office is.. well, ambiguous in nature. A school is for teachers.

If I had to name that "shop" would it be called a factory or a foundry, or were they called something different and more concise?

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    Under a spreading chestnut-tree / the village smithy stands; / the smith, a mighty man is he, / with large and sinewy hands.
    – MetaEd
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 18:31
  • A forge enables forming of metal by heating it until it is malleable. A foundry melts the metal and forms it in a mold. Note that companies which design fonts are often still called type foundries, even though of course they now work in software instead of metal.
    – Eric Lippert
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 21:00
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    Please change your accepted answer to the highest-voted one, or explain in a comment on the answer why the extremely archaic form is better for you than the correct, modern one.
    – anon
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 11:09
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    @QPaysTaxes " 'were' " - The OP is looking for an archaic term. Due to specialization, not many smiths start from ore anymore, and they haven't had to for a very long time. Forge is incorrect (today) if the smith also "makes alloys" as that is work done in a foundry. If you did both, you worked in a smithery, as a blacksmith, tinsmith, etc.
    – Mazura
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 23:57

5 Answers 5

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Consider, smithery

the work, craft, or workshop of a smith.

[1615–25]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

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    Also smithy and (notably in Hamlet 3.2) stithy. Of the three, smithy is much the most common.
    – Brian Donovan
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 14:43
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    Somehow my WPS writer does not give me a red line under smithy as it does under smithery.
    – Keval Domadia
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 15:15
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    Smithery is not the correct term, at all. Perhaps it was in 1625. I have never heard this as a native speaker. Forge is the correct term, smithy is archaic but passable.
    – rw-nandemo
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 16:46
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    @rw-nandemo thats because it is shortened to smithy. Forge is generally used for the hearth itself. Most places called 'something forge' are actually a Pub not a Blacksmith's at all.
    – JamesRyan
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 19:22
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    just commenting that smithy should definitely be an answer. i'm a native speaker and have heard smithy numerous times and have never heard smithery.
    – user428517
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 22:27
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You could call it a forge, but it's basically the same thing as a blacksmith's workshop, or a smithy. Blacksmith's is also a fairly commonly used pronoun, as in 'I'm going to the Blacksmith's later.'

A blacksmith’s workshop; a smithy.

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    Plus forge brings to mind the place where the irons are actually heated, rather than the entire workshop.
    – Wayne Werner
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 22:10
  • A blacksmith has different skills than a weaponsmith, and uses different tools. Yeah, there's some overlap.
    – Tony Ennis
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 16:33
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Armory

a place where arms and armor are made; an armorer's shop; arsenal.

Dictionary.com

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    Commonly understood to mean the place where such weapons are stored, though.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 11:56
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All of the answers have some merit:

In UK english 'forge' is commonly used for the entire building as well as the specific piece of equipment where metal is heated for forging. Similarly the actual heating apparatus may be called a 'forge' 'hearth' or 'fire' (when lit).

It is very common to see buildings in the UK called 'The Old forge', 'Forge Cottage' etc. Similarly working blacksmiths premises and businesses will often be called Something Forge.

Smithy is also correct but much less commonly used, an hardly ever for contemporary working forges.

As an aside it is also common to see the words 'forge' and 'foundry' confused. Forging involves shaping metal (usually hot) by striking with a hammer or shaped die whereas founding is casting molten metal into moulds.

Where we are talking specifically about producing weapons and armour 'armoury' and 'arsenal' may be appropriate but this tends to be more archaic for actual production of weapons and in modern usage implies more a place where weapons are stored or maintained rather than made.

Also an individual or company specialising in the production of blades could be called a cutler ( famously Wilkinson Sword) . Bearing in mind that historically the manufacture of the blades themselves would often have been separate from the hilt and other 'furniture' which were separate crafts.

This comes from my own experience of working in the blacksmithing and blade making industry in the UK.

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    "Smithy is also correct but much less commonly used, and hardly ever for contemporary working forges." That's what the OP's after: non-contemporary.
    – Mazura
    Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 0:24
  • IME forge is also often used to refer to the entire building in American English. There was a road near where I grew up called "Drop Forge Lane". A drop forge is a special kind of forge and again, the term drop forge refers to the whole building.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 9:48
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Surely the forge are the tools and equipment within the smithy. The place where the metal is heated. And then used on the anvil, with a hammer?

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    I'd tend to agree, but rather than phrasing this as a question, you should phrase it as an answer, with supporting citations such as dictionary quotes.
    – herisson
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 21:38
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    "'forge' is commonly used for the entire building as well as the specific piece of equipment" –Chris Johns
    – Mazura
    Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 0:22
  • Maybe, but I was going on what my blacksmith husband advised me, after a lifetime of being a blacksmith.
    – Rosie
    Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 5:48

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