History Help - Blacksmithing

[CChartreux]

Hi All -

I am not a blacksmith or metal-worker; however, I'm writing a book right now (fiction) in which one of the main character's father is a blacksmith...in Philadelphia, PA, around 1820s-1840s.

I was hoping there might be some folks here that could provide information, recommendations and/or advice for me towards making this character (the blacksmith) as authentic and historically accurate as possible. I have a few questions to ask - but if anyone thinks of anything else (not asked), please feel free to comment. I'd be most grateful for any assistance.

What I've done so far: All of my blacksmith research so far has been conducted on the Internet - which is fine, there's some pretty basic stuff I have which is pretty useful. Where I start having a little bit of problem narrowing down information is placing it in a historical context. For example, there is a video available from Williamsburg (VA) tourism that illustrates and talks about blacksmiths in the Colonial period. I plan on checking this video out, however, I have no way of knowing how much technological change might have taken place between, say, the Colonial period and the period I'm looking at (1820-1840). It would seem that there wouldn't have been a whole lot of technological change in that 50 years...however, I don't know. If not much changed between the Colonial period and 1820-40s, then perhaps the video might be useful to me. Can anyone help/comment on this?

Also - (this might sound like a stupid question)...are there any 'blacksmith demonstrations'. For example, places (museums?) that might have blacksmiths working where I could observe them? Would these be 'historical' or do such demonstrations (if they exist) basically show modern blacksmiths? [That said, however, based on your all's experience and expertise, perhaps having the opportunity to observe modern blacksmithing would still be valuable for my purposes - perhaps the difference isn't that great?] I live in Northern Virginia - so if anyone knows of any such thing, that would be most helpful. What I would really like to get a sense of in such a demonstration would be the sounds and smells of a blacksmith shop - the more vivid and accurate I can make these kinds of details, the more authentic and vivid I can make the character in my book 'come to life' (so to speak).

Any assistance or recommended reading, etc., would be most welcome for my project.

Thank you very much!

CC

[Woody]

Check the following link this is the website of Artist Blacksmiths Association of North America they will be able to help you with everything you need.


[ABANA] The Artist Blacksmith's Association of North America, Inc.

[irnsrgn]

Williamsburg, Virginia has a working blacksmith shop and its right in your home state.
Blacksmithing tools have stayed basically the same except for the difference in anvils from the colonial period to the mid 1800's.
The larger factory shops would have access to water power, so therfore they would have had some power machinery, helve hammers, grindstones, etc. The smith shops in the mid 1800's would have still been using bellows to power their forges and a few other technical innovations would have been evident.
But basically the small one and two man shops of the mid 1800's would have been almost the same as the colonial period.
The small one and two man shops would also have done horseshoeing, wheelwrighting and wainwrighting as a matter of necessity, but the larger shops in the bigger cities, would have not have in most instances.

[Ed Thomas]

CC: There is a temptation to think of all American blacksmithing as primitive utilitarian stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth in the high population centers such as Philadelphia. Check out the Dover book: "Colonial Ironwork in Old Philadelphia" ISBN 0-486-40300-9 to see stuff that would be tough for many blacksmiths to be able to do today. As Irnsrgn noted, some of the better large city blacksmiths would have been highly skilled artisans trained in the best European tradition to do ornamental architectural ironwork and high-quality domestic wares.

For the best contacts in your area, use the Blacksmith Guild of the Potomac (BGOP). Their web page is:
http://www.bgop.org/

There are several blacksmiths that live there in Alexandria who will be more than happy to hook you up with a demo, and take you to their guild meetings. If you have any trouble, post here again and I'll put you in touch with specific people there.

[Frosty]

Another thing a city blacksmith is s/he'd probably be a specialist rather than the all round smith you'd find in a small town. Philly was already a pretty sophisticated city by the revolutionary war.

Farriers, bladesmiths, locksmiths, gunsmiths, hardware, housewares, industrial items, tools, etc. etc. Almost anything turned out in quantity, say nails would have been made by someone who did little if anything else and spikes would've been made by another person. There were large (relatively) competetive factories by then.

You might try looking into historical business listings of the time. Perhaps tax records would give you names, places and relative volumes of business.

Let me know if you need a proof reader.

Frosty

[CChartreux]

“The small one and two man shops would also have done horseshoeing, wheelwrighting and wainwrighting as a matter of necessity, but the larger shops in the bigger cities, would have not have in most instances.” [irnsrgn/#736]

“Farriers, bladesmiths, locksmiths, gunsmiths, hardware, housewares, industrial items, tools, etc. etc. Almost anything turned out in quantity, say nails would have been made by someone who did little if anything else and spikes would've been made by another person. There were large (relatively) competetive factories by then.” [Frosty/#71]

All – thank you very much for all the information and recommendations. It’s been most helpful; truly.

Can I just clarify with you all just to make sure I understand?

What I envision for my book character is that he is an independent blacksmith in Philadelphia. Based on what I’m understanding from you all:

(1) There are iron works facilities in Philadelphia that would most likely have done larger metal/iron work (i.e., larger items/objects). [To this end, I could attach him to one of these iron work facilities if I chose to, right? I’d rather keep him independent – but it’s nice to be aware of my options.]

(2) Independent (1-2 man shops) existed, but these smaller shops would have specialized more in specific things. Therefore, my character will be more realistic if I select one or two things (horseshoeing and wheelwrighting?) for his shop.

One more question, if I may. If he’s an independent blacksmith…is it likely that he’ll work out of an area in his own house; or rather, perhaps, that his shop would be adjacent to his house?

Thank you all again very much for the information.

On this:

“There are several blacksmiths that live there in Alexandria who will be more than happy to hook you up with a demo, and take you to their guild meetings. If you have any trouble, post here again and I'll put you in touch with specific people there.” [Ed Thomas/#471]

Ed – thank you for this; this would be great. It’s an excellent opportunity to be able to see ‘the real thing’ (so to speak) for research purposes. If you can put me in touch with a specific person, that would be most helpful.

Also – this might sound a little silly – but, in such instances as these, is it appropriate for me to offer to pay for a demo and, if so, how much is appropriate? While nearly all the various people I’ve come in contact with for assistance in some aspect of research for my book have gladly done so free of charge…I never want to assume anything is free – especially a person’s time. I’m perfectly willing to pay any charge (or certainly offer to pay) if that’s the normal protocol and manners in such things. I just don’t know…so, if you could advise to that end, I’d be most grateful.

Thanks again – very much.

CC

[irnsrgn]

If your character is an independent Blacksmith, his usually small shop would be close to his house and he would probably have one journeyman smith in his employee as a striker/helper, and 1 apprentice/gofer/student. He would more than likely make his living doing whatever job walked in the door as those of us who ran small one man shops as a living did.

[Glenn]

CC Find a blacksmith and spend a day in his shop. Or build your own forge and get some metal hot and beat on it. This will get you more experience than reading a whole book on the same subject.

No one can "tell" you about the heat of the fire, the heat of the metal, the feeling of the sweat when it runs down your face and into your eyes, or the dark gray shampoo when you take a bath of an evening. Oh yes, be sure to wash your hands before you eat. <grin>

[irnsrgn]

jeez glenn, wash my hands before eating, you want me to go on geritol cause I got iron poor blood.

[Ed Thomas]

CC: Try contacting the BGOP using the link I posted earlier. You should get help pretty quickly. I'll email some BGOP folks I know and see if I can find someone near you, in case you don't get good help.

If you can wait that long, the BGOP Spring Fling is the 3rd weekend in April. There you can watch a Colonial Williamsburg demonstration, or else George Dixon who was the head blacksmith of the Yellin shop in Philadelphia some years ago. George would probably know more than anyone about the era you want specifically in Philadelphia. It will be held near you in Berryville VA, and is an extraordinary event for your money.

Here is the link to information about the Spring Fling:
Blacksmiths' Guild of the Potomac
You have to pre-register... there is no walk-in attendance.

I concur strongly with the recommendations to participate in some forging. There is no substitute for feeling it in order to write about it.