Ohio Rusty Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) I like all aspects of blacksmithing, but what really floats my boat ....twangs my string if you will ..... is historical documentation. Being a historical re-enactor and a blacksmith at a historical village, I truly enjoy Ohio historical history and going back to the 18th and 19th centuries and reading the account ledgers and diaries of the people that lived back then. It gives is a true window, albeit a small one, to look thru to the past and see how people labored and lived. I have come across several blacksmith diaries and account ledgers online and I am currently perusing "A day in the life of a Blacksmith". https://blacksmithaday.wordpress.com/1869/07/ An apprentice blacksmith in a wagon shop had the forethought to make notes of some of the daily work he was doing in a wagon/carriage shop. As I intently peer thru the portal of the past, here are some of his narratives:September 15, 1869Blacksmithing again. Set eight tires and worked on a plow wheel and other jobs. Bullard and I made nails in the eve, fifty cents again.September 11, 1869Blacksmithing again, jobed and made two seat springs. Bullard and I made nails in the eve, made 200 nails in two hours and a half.September 10, 1869Blacksmithing again, set nine tires and worked on wheels. Bullard and I made nails in the eve, fifty cents more.September 9, 1869Blacksmithing again, worked on two express wagons and set nine tires. Bullard and I made nails in the evening, I guess I made more than fifty [cents].September 8, 1869Blacksmithing again, worked on wheels and plows and axles and so forth.September 4, 1869Blacksmithing again, set four tires and worked like a tiger all day. Then Bullard and I went to making nails, I made about 50 [cents] tonight and feel pretty tired to pay for it. Mr Daniels is laid up with a boil.September 3, 1869Blacksmithing as usual, set 16 tires, two of them was five inches wide, hard work I tell you. I retired pretty early for I [felt] tired. You have to realize this apprentice isn't getting up at noon and working for a few hours. As an apprentice he would be up after dawn and get the forge up and running (running the fires he calls it) and get all the tools and iron set out for the days work ahead for himself and he master smith. He would work all day helping to forge wheel rims and set those on the wooden tires. He mentions working into the evening, sometimes until 9 at night making nails they would use building horse drawn wagons.He mentions often making 50 cents a day for his work !!!!! Forging all day for 50 cents !! ..... It makes me appreciate my paycheck and not needing to 'work like a tiger' as he calls it for his low wage. Eventually .... he would become a journeyman, maybe strike out on his own and set up his own shop where he would make a living wage and hopefully obtain prosperity, a family and a home --- That was the American Dream. It is these types of historical readings I truly love to immerse myself in so I can get a good understanding of the past, and try to re-create what they actually did and how they did it when I run the fires and hammer the iron. This deeper understanding is what gives me my deeper satisfaction as a blacksmith. I also love making nails but I could never make 200 in two and a half hours ...... Whew !!!Ohio Rusty ><>The Ohio Frontier ForgeS.E. Ohio Edited February 26, 2015 by Ohio Rusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) $1 of 1869 dollars would be worth: $17.54in 2014 So think of working a 12 hour day nowadays for $8.77!(no guarantee of how good the inflation calculator is...) Edited February 26, 2015 by ThomasPowers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) Not having the entire narrative to go by, I may be reading between the lines too much.What I got from that was that they worked after the master smith went home for the day, if they were not worn out themselves, making nails as extra income - fifty cents an evening. Young whipper-snappers are like that, they can stay the extra innings. In earlier times, contractual Apprentices were seldom paid in anything other than room, board, clothes, and tools. That ended, along with slavery, with the constitutional amendment. Employees were treated differently after that point. "History of wages in the United States from Colonial times to 1928. Revision of Bulletin No. 499 with supplement, 1929-1933" shows that blacksmiths in Ohio worked a 60 hour week for $1.50 per 10 hour day. Some states had a 78 hour work week back then. (Google is your friend.) So fifty cents was an extra 3 hours wages for a working man. And a one ounce gold coin was officially worth $20 at the time, $1200+ today. 13.3 days labor, with no taxes taken out. Edited February 26, 2015 by John McPherson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Greywolf Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Fascinating reading, I just had a quick check as to how much an apprentice would be earning here in England this year...What about rates for apprentices? The apprentice rate will increase by 5p to £2.73 ($4.21) an hour. This rate applies to apprentices aged 16 to 18 and those aged 19 or over in their first year. All other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum Wage for their age.So a 12 hour day would yield £32.76 ($50.48).What floats my boat with Blacksmithing? I want to be able to make something.I work in a "soft" profession, I care for folk that are elderly. I suppose my end product is a corpse but hopefully due to my care it takes a long long time to make one.To be able to take a hard substance and mould it like playdough through heat and hammer into a beautiful/useful object is my goal. At the moment I'm still sourcing parts for my forge. Then I have the learning to do, then maybe I can make something that I can be proud of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Employees were treated differently after that point. "History of wages in the United States from Colonial times to 1928. Revision of Bulletin No. 499 with supplement, 1929-1933" shows that blacksmiths in Ohio worked a 60 hour week for $1.50 per 10 hour day. Some states had a 78 hour work week back then. (Google is your friend.) So fifty cents was an extra 3 hours wages for a working man. And a one ounce gold coin was officially worth $20 at the time, $1200+ today. 13.3 days labor, with no taxes taken out.John look at your numbers: A smith was making 15 cents an hour and an apprentice making more than that making nails? No I think the apprentice was making 1/3 what the smith was for a full day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) Again, I may be drawing assumptions from incomplete data. There is only about a year of diary entries, seldom more than a few sentences per day. He only mentions making 50 cents an evening, never 50 cents a day in any entry that I read.He states that he is very close to becoming a Journeyman, 20 years old in the first post, so is not a child, but very nearly or actually an adult. He is a member of a Lodge, has a team of horses and carriage that he takes ladies out in after church, takes dates to exhibitions, rooms and boards somewhere else than the wagon shop, sends his laundry out, and has to pay for it all out of pocket."I was payed off today for 19 days amounting to $23.75 and payed my board for three weeks and a half amounting to $14.00..."And the chart from the book was wages for employees, not shop owners earnings. Edited February 26, 2015 by John McPherson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Whatever is was they earned, they worked long, hard days for every penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 He may have been payed contract rates for the nails, which could be a lot more than wages, I used to work at a sawmill and often made a weeks wages working Friday arvo and Saturday morning on contract rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) His name was Albert M. Stone, of Stow, MA, outside Boston. There is an account book that was in the back of the diary, where among other things he notes getting raises, and separate pay for nails. "Oct. 23rd, rec'd for wages 24 days: 13 days at $1.00, 11 days at $1.25, $3.00 for nails.After he turns 21, he gets his own fire, and an assistant. No longer paired with another trainee, but not yet a full journeyman. Edited February 26, 2015 by John McPherson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Thank you for posting all of this; I squinted and saw the comma instead of the period in between the nails and the money; Time for new glasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 (edited) Low wages are more recent than we might think...my grandfather was a self-employed smith in the 1920's and 30's; I have his old ledger in front of me as I type this. "May 31, 1928: Sharpened 4 sweeps for Emil Herbart, $1.65 total". The next day, June 1, he made one hitch for a Binder for $.75 (also for Emil - must have been a good customer as the list of entries is quite long).The list goes on and varies with the work done...on February 26, 1929: "Baled corn for one day, $1.50". On August 15th, "Shrank 6 Wagon Tires, $4.50 total".The most expensive thing I could find was this: "4 new wheels for wagon, $36.80". I wonder how many hours that took? Did he have to cut down the tree for the wood or did he buy the raw material?On October 20, 1928, his bank balance was $715.50 after a deposit of $22.50. My mother was born in July of 1931 and always said they never had much cash in the Depression but they never went hungry. My grandfather built his own house and lived in it until his death at 92 - I consider myself fortunate to have known him for the first 32 years of my life. Reading his ledger, I understand why he used to say that I didn't really know what hard work was. Edited February 27, 2015 by HWooldridge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 For me the main driver is that I have always been a creative person. Besides smithing I also enjoy drawing, ceramics, leather working, wood carving, and more. I am also a great proponent of recycling, as I hate waste. Being able to take something that others think is trash, and turn it into something else is pretty cool in my mind. Last, but not least-show me a guy who does not like playing with fire.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.