SReynolds Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Hi Guys...............( and girls too!) I have taken over the operations for the Ohio Historical Society in ZOAR Ohio. I will begin to conduct classes (for local residents) this summer. I generally make small decorative items and horse shoes. I have to interpret the trade AND make something at the same time. I just picked up an old Champion 401 portable forge and the (eight inch) 400 forge blower. Don't know if it is rare or not, but I am restoring it to like new and intend to use it at home and at the blacksmith shop. Just wanted to say "Hey" We are in Northern Ohio. >>>>>Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Looks like a lovely place; do you get paid for making repair items for other parts of the village? I believe I visited there once back in the 1990's...(And I know Paul Ailing the (ex)smith at Ohio Village in Columbus OH quite well) I must quibble that the anvil doesn't look 1834---that elongated heel and horn tends toward late in the 19th century... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 thats a nice lookin blacksmith shop ! kinda empty lookin tho... ide stick with the bellows for the time period your portraying ... most hand crank blowers were post civil war not pre..what kind of shop was it?(ie what was the main buisness?)looks like a fairly large building .. if you have questions about the history and what could have been made ive been researching this for most of the time ive been smithing (28+years) anyway good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 The shop is a reproduction of the original. We are "supposed" to interpret the village as if it were prior to the Civil War. I intend to use the Champion steel forge for the smithing class, NOT in the operation of the shop. For that I have the large stone hearth forge. The bigger anvil is a well worn ferrier anvil. I generally use it. But the smaller one is handy as well. The farriers anvil has the flat spot on top the horn and the other is simply a london pattern with the familiar round horn. This shop is just the blacksmith shop. We have an entire town, so all I do is smithing. The wagon shop is next door. There is a blacksmith supply store very near ZOAR and they have everything!! I'm told anvils/forges and tools are difficult to locate. They have everything. Old and NEW! They sell a quality smithing grade coal in bulk and bag. Their showroom/store room is FILLED with hammers, anvils etc.etc.etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I consider Ohio to be one of the easiest places to find smithing stuff in the entire USA! Remember that the folks who set it up might not know the difference between an 1830's anvil and an 1890's anvil---there was one of the woodwright's books where he showed an example from Colonial Williamsburg where they had toe nailed a beam with wooden trunnels because they didn't know any better back when that one was re-constructed. Wouldn't hurt to mention it and see if they would spring for an old Mousehole or William Foster. (I have a William Foster date stamped 1828; typical squat look---a bull dog rather than a greyhound!) Sure it's fine for the general public; but getting it *right* for the stuffy purist would be a feather in your cap I would think. I'm giving a talk next week on how medieval iron and steel differed from modern iron and steel so this is on my mind...took me a long time to finally get an anvil that looks right for pretty much any time between late Roman through French and Indian war and I sure wish I could use a double lunged bellows instead of two single ones; but I generally demo early medieval and not renaissance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Most of my visitors don't even want to be there. Many will not. They are there to see the gardens and walk through the homes. The staff must coax the folks to walk across the large parking lot (where an old hotel once stood) and take in the sights and sounds of the blacksmith shop in operation. I get many who hear the anvil ring and walk across the road from the old pub, after they have enjoyed a lunch. Folks who are NOT on the paid tour of the town. They are the ones who want to talk about smithing. The town; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWHII Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Most of my visitors don't even want to be there. Many will not. They are there to see the gardens and walk through the homes. The staff must coax the folks to walk across the large parking lot (where an old hotel once stood) and take in the sights and sounds of the blacksmith shop in operation. I get many who hear the anvil ring and walk across the road from the old pub, after they have enjoyed a lunch. Folks who are NOT on the paid tour of the town. They are the ones who want to talk about smithing. The town; The sound of a anvil ring is about the only thing that will get me out of a old pub. Looks like a neat place I will have to put it on the list of things to see in that part of the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Most re-enactors don't wear a baseball cap like I like to either as you can see from the picture. I **do** have the proper hat. It was costly. Made by Stetson. I hated to get it dirty at first, but now it is sweat stained and dirty from cinder/flyash and coal dust. When I took over the shop, it was stocked with hard coal. It got hot, but this soft (coaking grade)coal is easier to work with. I am told, they mined their own (Ohio) coal (and iron ore). I can't imagin what it would be like to forge with a low grade coal that is high in sulfer/shale. They really had their work cut-out. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Most re-enactors don't wear a baseball cap like I like to either .....I **do** have the proper hat. It was costly. Made by Stetson. .... I have made four hats (forage hats), but usually buy my historical hats for blacksmithing from Dirty Billy's [http://www.dirtybillyshats.com/oldsite/] especially since his store is nearby and I can try them on to make sure they fit. I applaud you for making the effort to present such a nice historic presentation. Thank you for your efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Hi Scott. I too reenact at a historic site. I'm the smith at Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site near Lerna, ILL. It's Abe's father's last home site. We portray 1845. Hear is a picture of the traveling forge cart with double lung bellows that I use. Also, a copy of a tin type picture of me and the Mrs. in our time period outfits. For those that are not familiar with tin type pics, the picture always prints backwards, as in, my wife was actually standing on my right side. As you can tell by the hat, I was not smithing on that day. We were having a celebration and that's my Sunday goin' ta meetin' hat!! Welcome to IFI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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