The ancient and refined tradition of the swordfish harpoon makers, the so-called *ferrara*, has now disappeared:
highly skilled craftsmen and jealous custodians of knowledge passed down from father to son, capable
of forging, with expertise and passion, only a few perfect tools each season.
Among the last representatives of this art was Master Orazio Chirico, known as “‘u Grecu”, a central figure in
this story, who, in his small workshop leaning against the castle of Scilla, tirelessly worked iron, serving for over
half a century the fishermen of Scilla, the Calabrian coast and the Sicilian shore of the Strait.
He was a skilled blacksmith to whom fishermen turned for the *ferru*, the detachable point of the harpoon
used in the age-old swordfish hunt.
About twenty-six centimeters long, this steel arrowhead was entirely hand-forged and tempered according to
a process he jealously guarded.
For more than half a century he produced *ferri* and *draffinere* for the fishermen of the Strait, disdaining
the use of electric machinery: iron had to respond only to the strength of the arm and the sensitivity of the eye.
Each piece required two or three days of intense work; in a season he produced barely a dozen, while maintaining
hundreds of points entrusted for use.
The tools, in fact, were not sold: they remained his property.
He entrusted them to the fishermen, thus participating in the fishing economy and receiving in return both money
and a share of the catch.
At the end of the fishing season, in Sicily, all the tools were returned for inspection; in Scilla, for as long as he
lived, only the damaged ones were returned.
He loved engraving the initials “O.C.” on every *ferru*, a mark of pride and a guarantee of quality; in the past,
a cross was also engraved on the upper part to indicate the exact point where the knot — the *testa i moru* or
*buttuni* — connecting the line to the point had to be fixed.
Even today, harpoons bearing his signature can still be found among the fishing communities of the Strait.
During the off-season, *ferri* and *draffinere* were washed, coated with olive oil, covered with fine sawdust
and carefully stored, since the survival of both the fishermen and the blacksmith himself depended on them.
The heart of his craft was tempering, the true key to giving the harpoons their hardness and functionality. The
arrowhead, once brought to its final shape, was heated until it reached a cherry-red color, plunged into cold
water, then coated with olive oil and returned to the fire until the oil blackened the metal; finally, it was left in
ashes to cool slowly.
But this was only the visible part: the true secret lay in the measure of the heat, the exact moment of immersion,
and the wise timing of waiting.
To those who asked for more precise explanations, Mastru ‘Raziu would respond with an evasive smile or a
stubborn silence.
He never wished to reveal to anyone the secret of his tempering process, learned from his father Rocco and
perfected through a lifetime of experience: he guarded it until the very end and took it with him to the grave,
leaving behind perfect harpoon points but a body of knowledge now impossible to reproduce.
At times he would tell, with an air of mystery, of a great-uncle who had discovered an extraordinary tempering
method thanks to a powder obtained from ox horn; that secret too, he said, was never revealed and was buried
together with its discoverer.
With his death, an ancient era came to an end, one in which every *ferru*, calibrated like a surgical instrument
and possessing an unfailing grip, embodied not only technical skill but also a secret that no one will ever be
able to reproduce again.
Giuseppe Ribuffo
