Blacksmith

Ohio History

In the Blacksmith's Shop

Here is the farm blacksmith shop in action. As we watched, the blacksmith heated this spike of metal in the fire, then went over to shape it with his mallet, and then brought it back to heat some more. His helper in the background was pumping the bellows to keep the fire red-hot. We could feel the heat even from outside the building! Afterward, we got to look at some nails the blacksmith had made—somewhat rustic compared to today’s hardware!