Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Grave site of fellow blacksmith


Paul B

Recommended Posts

My son and I were working in Pocomoke City last week. We turned in to the local library lot I happen to see an Anvil and Hammer Grave Marker. I did not have a camera with me to take a picture. You could not read the stone. A little investigation came up with this:

107280545_136423937337.jpg
107280545_136423937337.jpg

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=47947508&GRid=107280545&

 

Pretty cool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 2 years later...

The story of Smith's that proceeded us is very interesting and informative. Maybe others have information on other Blacksmith's grave sites that can be included in this thread.

Here is my Mentor Isaac (Ike) Doss site. He was a master blacksmith, who gave demonstrations at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. Sadly we had too little time together.

47011516_126427467578.jpg

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12600840/isaac-labin-doss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Findagrave has a grave for Samuel Yellin in the Har Nebo Cemetery of the Oxford Circle neighborhood of Philadelphia (although there's not photo and the dates are wrong). I'm going to be in Philadelphia on business in December; maybe I'll be able to go by and visit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I ran across this in my old computer about Ike Doss.

Courier News, Blytheville, (Ark. (-Tuesday, December 9, 1975 Old-Time Blacksmith Still Pounding Hot Iron By Faune Conner Travel Writer When 75-year-old Isaac Doss of Berryville shakes your hand, his grip is like a vise. It should be strong -- he's spent his lifetime pounding hot iron against an anvil. Doss is one of the few old-time blacksmiths left in the U. S. His years of experience have made him/ a master of his craft, and he has demonstrated his skills to a million plus people at the Smithsonian Institution Despite a ready opportunity for fame and travel, Doss still works daily in the blacksmith shop he's operated for over 40 years on Spring Street in downtown Berryville. He has no plans to retire. In fact, he's now planning for a new shop bordering the courthouse square so that if the day ever comes that Isaac Doss isn't around, his work will be. Doss has a fine legacy to look back on. He picked up his first heavy hammer in 1918 and went into the blacksmith business with his brother Lewis Doss, who had already established a shop in Berryville. Isaac learned fast and, three years later, bought out his brother's horseshoeing business and opened his own shop in a local lumber company. In eight years he moved his general shop to Spring Street. Here, a wooden shingle identifies him as the "Village Blacksmith." The forge and anvil have made a good living for Doss, his wife Beulah, and their five children, and Doss believes newcomers to the business today can do just as well if they learn their trade. Oddly enough, Doss says, at a time when blacksmiths have a vanishing breed, there is a bigger demand than ever for their work. Most likely, he believes, the hot, hard and dirty work scares a lot of would-be blacksmiths away. Doss recalls his early days in the business when his first salary was $6 a week and his first raise lOc a day. Later, if he made $10 a day, he had done exceptionally well. Charging $1.10 to shoe a horse, it took him 40 minutes to make four shoes and 20 minutes to put them on. Although a blacksmith now gets $12 and upwards for horseshoeing, Doss has given up this work in favor of making things he enjoys. Doss has seen a lot of changes in the blacksmith business over the years. For one, he has regular hours instead of working 12 hours a day with no breaks. He still uses a lot of his old-time tools and does forge welding, but his shop now contains such modern equipment as power saws and electric welders, too. He has also had to be versatile in his business, switching from making wagon beds to truck beds when modes of transportation changed. Though Doss has never had any of his work patented, he says he has invented and designed many pieces that could have been. He now spends a good deal of time making fireplace equipment which he sells for $65 per set. The set, finished with a flat, black paint, includes the andirons; a poker, shovel and tongs in a stand; plus a decorative bean pot rack for those who like to cook over an open fire. Doss also makes some 400 garden hoes a year and axes, chains and tools. He boasts that he makes the best anvil in the country, whether it be a miniature paperweight made from an iron bar or a large one made from a railroad rail and topped with steel. Watching Doss work, especially if he is demonstrating at an area craft fair or folk festival, is an educational experience. He has studied for years the history of ironmaking and enjoys telling his audience about this ancient craft. As he shapes a horseshoe with his hammer, he explains that the Egyptians were doing this same thing 2,500 years ago. People are often surprised at the lengthy processes involved in blacksmith work, even the time required to make just one square nail. Doss begins by readying the fire in his open forge. He fans the smouldering coals with the huge tiger blower, or bellows, he has used for over 50 years. With the fire hot, Doss lays an iron rod in the coals and heats it until it is a glowing red. He then places the rod on the anvil and hammers it down to a point, a slow task because the rod must be reheated several times in the forge. When the nail is the right size, he marks the spot for the head and breaks off the rest of the rod. In shaping and flattening the nail head, Doss again reheats the nail several times and compresses it in a vise. Finally, he dips the red hot nail in a bucket of water to temper it -- a lot of work for just one nail. Doss now hopes to set up an antique blackmsith shop in a building on the west side of the Carroll County Courthouse. He has accumulated a collection of antique tools and equipment during his career and wants to display and preserve them in this way. Although he has taught many the skills of blacksmithing, he has never had a partner to whom to turn over his business. He prefers to rely on his own work. Doss says with justified confidence and pride, "I know what I can do!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today, I visited the grave of the great Samuel Yellin in Har Nebo Cemetery in Northeast Philadelphia.  After cleaning the dirt and old grass clippings from the inscription, I recited the Mourner’s Kaddish and left a stone on the grave in keeping with Jewish tradition. Coal seemed appropriate. 

67BCEB87-8477-47CA-8DAC-2D061696FEFF.jpeg

Many of Samuel’s family are buried with him, including his son Harvey who continued the business after Samuel’s death. 

2B669AF6-F28B-4501-95B9-DF98EB049D83.jpeg

AB751B75-77F7-462E-B6D0-D7F421157E49.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...