Looks like an older version of the man on the right in the original photo, similar build and jaw line.  The man on the left in the original photo has a stockier build.  Did this photo have a date?  I don't think it is the same shop, the angle on the forge hood is different.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I thought the forge hood was the same but a different camera angle. I agree it is a little older picture of the man on the right though.

I agree this is the man on the right in the first picture, jaw line, eyes and his posture is similar. He looks a little stockier in the second pic but that could be his angle to the camera.

I'm pretty sure that's the same forge, brick base and tall hood just a little above John B's head. The blower is mounted high on the left and you can see a little of it mounted in the same area a little lower in the first pic.

The cabinets on the right of the forge in the first pic have been replaced with a rack for horse shoes. The shop's been rearranged, no big thing I do it to suit what I need. 

All that said, I'm not sure but I think the corrugated(looking?) section of wall starting about head high looks different in the second pic and I can't tell if the lower half of the wall is block or cladding. 

If he changed shop location it wouldn't be unreasonable to build or have built the same forge as he used before and remount the hood. 

I agree George it's not a reversed image, you looked at different details while I was stuck on the reversed Billy the Kid tin type.

Thank you Donald, I'm really enjoying this, I might have to try a web search.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

13 hours ago, Nodebt said:

  I'm told people aged fast back then due to hard work and a shabby diet.

No doubt, and starting work at a young age with little regards to safety..

Sad but true, in a lot of cases.  I think facial expressions on a lot of these old photos are interesting.  They usually look stern as can be.  

  Will pm you Will.

"Da boys" trying to look tough.  Today they'd be in middle school.  Looks like they are working in a mine given their cap lamps.  Interestingly, they appear to have some sort of oil burning lamps.  I would have expected carbide lamps.  Maybe only the adult miners got carbide lamps and the boy helpers only go the older and dimmer oil lamps.

Any date to go along with the photo?  I'd guess the first decade of the 20th century.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

rarehistoricalphotos . com is a site worth checking out, for the collections of pictures mostly. The commentary and captions are somewhat lacking at times.

It's too hard to hold a smile for the length of time necessary to take a photo in the early days. A frown is about as relaxed as a person could hold. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Also, in the 19th century, besides having to hold a pose and an expression, having your picture taken was considered a serious event.  If you were smiling it meant that you weren't taking the moment seriously and were frivolous and inappropriate.  This carried over into the early 20th century.  I think smiling for a photo became a thing in the '20s and 30s.  Of course, this was for more formal photos.  Snapshots where you might be goofing for the camera or which were taken at casual events might catch a smile.  Snapshots became more common with the introduction of the Kodak box camera around 1890.  You'd take a roll of film and mail it off to the Kodak Company and, in time, you would get your pics back by mail.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

16 hours ago, George N. M. said:

 

Any date to go along with the photo?  I'd guess the first decade of the 20th century.

 Coal breaker boys. Between 1890 and 1910. They separated impurities from the coal. 

A sit down job maybe but the stern looking overseer carries a whacking stick. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lunch? You can eat while you work.

I'm thinking these are good pictures to refer people to who say they were born a century too late. 

Frosty The Lucky.

  I noticed that sawed off cane looking stick too.  

  Heres one I have no idea what's going on in.  If it's obvious or been posted before, sorry.  What are they doing to the clevis and what is that the middle guy has in his right hand?  Stern looking bunch....

 

Well, it's a posed photo (for one thing, the clevis wouldn't have its pin inserted at any time during the forging), so they're not actually doing anything. That said, the fellow in the middle is holding a large top swage, used to clean up the forge weld on each link of chain.

 Looks like they are posing with the clevis they forged. 

I'm more confused about the chain hanging down from the middle guys belt area. Maybe connected to the tongs? If I had to guess, I'd say he bends the links out of wire with his teeth when waiting for the clevis to heat up and that is one he made during that forging and he is proudly showing it off as well. Lol that is a Tough looking bunch. 

Nah they ain’t forging that thing!

They got them big hammers trying to knock that rusty pin out! 

guy in the middle is just holdin it up for the other two! 

  I saw that thing hanging down and thought it was a piece of wire.  I still don't understand the circular looking thing on that swage.  Would they have welded a clevis? 

14 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

I'm more confused about the chain hanging down from the middle guys belt area. Maybe connected to the tongs?

3 minutes ago, Nodebt said:

  I saw that thing hanging down and thought it was a piece of wire.

That's a crease in the photo.

4 minutes ago, Nodebt said:

Would they have welded a clevis? 

No, but they could still use the swage to clean up the forging after making the bend.

The quality in this video isn't great, but you can see the use of the swage at about the 1:03 mark:

 

"That's a crease in the photo."

  Upon closer examination it appears you are right.  

  Thanks for the video, that clears it up!  I liked the anchor part too.... 

I once talked with a fellow that as a young man had a job breaking rocks with a 32# sledgehammer all day long  building a road in the mountains in the 1930's.  I cant recall now if it was WPA or CCC; but he was telling me that if you didn't get your "section" finished you didn't get dinner!  Folks used to wear out faster back then with jobs like that!  All my Great Grandfathers died in their 50's; of course my Great Grandmothers lived into their 90's---maybe my aversion to eating mushrooms has a genetic/Darwinian  basis...

There are still jobs that will wear a man out pretty fast.  Dry walling, tile laying, roughnecking on an oil rig, etc. tend to be young men's occupations.  You don't see many folk in their 50s doing those jobs.  If you start at about 18 or 20 by the time you are 40 or so your back, knees, etc.  have been pretty used up.  I worked in the steel mills as a young man and when I looked at the guys who had been there 20 or 30 years and their physical condition it was a great incentive to go back to college rather than make a career in the mills even though the money was very good.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

  Yes, and overtime, crazy shift hours and 7 day work weeks don't help.

  I remember getting off a 12 hour graveyard shift once and almost pulling out in front of a semi on the highway.  Half asleep.  It gets so you don't know what day it is.  I left shortly after that incident.

I remember the old guys at the steel mills telling me that it used to be 12 hours on, 12 hours off, 6 days/week.  And if you switched from one shift to another you worked a double (24 hours) to make the shift rather than skipping a shift.  I have worked a triple ( 3 8 hr. shifts) and was a zombie when I walked out.  It was the last day before my weekend and I slept most of it.  Did get time and a half for the 2d shift and triple time for the 3d.  Not something I would want to do regularly and doubt that I could do today.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Back when I worked in the oilpatch; my standard work hours were 12 on 12 off or 24 on 24 off 7 days a week until the well was finished and during the boom you generally went directly to the next one.  Worst job I did; we were working 16 on and 16 off---the worst as it continuously rotated your nights and days and then we had a mudlogger go sick and I was asked to pick up his tour so I worked 16 hours, drove 2 hours, worked 12 hours, drove back 2 hours and did my next 16 hour tour.  To make it even nicer, most jobs were a 3 hour drive from where my apartment was---I had black spots in my leg for years where I used to stab myself with a pencil to stay awake on my drive home.

I finally bought an old telephone company van and insulated it and put a bed in it and used to camp out onsite and only go "home" 1 night a week---why yes I was single back then...

On 4/8/2022 at 9:06 AM, Frosty said:

Why do you say that Billy, the smoke drifting away from the hood to the left? 

What drew my eye right off is how high the anvil appears to be mounted but that could be camera angle.

Frosty The Lucky.

Anvil face at the middle of the wrist is proper working height for a South German blacksmith.

The circular thing on the top swage is most likely part of the handle.  Round stock for the handle was wrapped around the striking end of the swage.  Probably a bit loosely to prevent impact shock to to the handle holder.  There were top tools wrapped like that in the shop I used to work at.