Traditional blacksmiths survive in Klaten market

Mon, September 2, 2019 / 02:53 pm

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Metal tools produced by the Karno workshop. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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The metal must be heated before being hammered into shape. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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Asmorojati continues the business that his father started in 1968. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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Dhadi helps Asmorojati in the workshop, house and market. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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A knife blade is hammered into shape. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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A blade is sharpened on a grinder. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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Traditional pumps are used in the ignition process. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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The workshops also offer maintenance services for agricultural equipment. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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The name of the founder Karno is stamped on the workshop's products. JP/Boy T. Harjanto
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Various tools needed by a blacksmith. JP/Boy T. Harjanto

Boy T. Harjanto

The heat from the afternoon sun halted my stroll through the crowd at the side of the highway connecting Yogyakarta and the city of Surakarta in Central Java.

At a traditional market named Plumbon in Klaten merchants and shoppers could be seen engaging in transactions or simply browsing the displayed items.

At the east corner of the market were two forges in which the blacksmiths were noisily working on traditional agricultural and kitchen tools such as knives, axes, sickles and hoes amid the flames from the searing piles of charcoal.

One of the blacksmiths, Asmorojati, has been working there since 2005 after finishing vocational school, continuing the business started in 1968 by his father whose name, Karno, is still on the sign over the forge. [kes]