Metalworking processes

Metalworking involves the bending and reshaping of metals to produce practical items, components, assemblies, and large-scale constructions. The phrase "manufacturing" refers to a broad and varied set of procedures, aptitudes, and equipment used to create things on all scales, from enormous ships, structures, and bridges down to minute engine components and delicate jewellery. Metalworking has origins that go back far further than is known through written records, and it has been used for millennia by many societies. From forging tougher metals like iron and smelting ore to shape soft native metals like gold using basic hand tools, it has advanced to highly complex contemporary techniques like machining and welding. Even though they are many and highly specialised, modern metalworking processes may be divided into one of three general categories known as forming, cutting, or joining processes. Modern metalworking workshops, sometimes referred to as machine shops, contain a variety of specialised or general-use machine tools capable of producing extremely accurate, usable products. While some of the more basic metalworking methods, like blacksmithing, are still used in less developed nations for artisanal or hobby work or historical reenactment, many of them are no longer commercially competitive on a wide scale in industrialised nations.