Hello!
I know that blacksmiths did a lot of repair work up until the beginning of the 20th century, and not nearly as much making new stuff as now. Are there still smiths who work as repairmen? I mean, using traditional blacksmithing techniques to repair things? Where would one learn how to do repair work (fixing hand tools for farming and such)?

be merry,
Archie

it is part of being a blacksmith i think... as fae as skills it is sumthin you pickup ... like the time i fixed the tow trucks hooks he straitened out ... he needed um bent back to a hook . he tried to heat with a rosebud (1 1/2 in or bigger round stock) no good.so in 10 minutes i heated um up in the forge and fixed um . fairly simple but without a forge it takes a lot of heat to bend .most repair for blacksmiths is going to be stuff like that... also you can use a forge to heat up cast iron items prior to welding...and leave um in the forge to cool slowly...hope this helps good luck!

One of the subways or cable car companies back east maintains a darned large blacksmith shop to keep everything working. I don't recall which city, Boston maybe, maybe not. Someone posted a link a while back but I have no idea where it is now. sorry.

Frosty

Almost all my work is fixing or making tools for the localm workers. Sometimes pretty dull stuff but I enjoy it. I use a 22ov glue gun as well as the traditional methods though.

I just straightened the thumb on a excavator for a guy . It was the heaviest piece I'd ever had to wrestle in and out of the coal fire. He was so happy to be back in business he paid me twice my asking price.
Chippers and big mowers are bent on self destruction and bring in at least $1000 a year.

I used to do a few plow shares but that work is about gone. Some folks have a good business sharpening air chisel points but you have to be in a fairly large city to get any appreciable volume (pavement breakers and such).

Frosty, You are right. It is Boston. The MBTA(Mass Bay Transit Authority) had / has 6 full time smiths, at least that is what I have been told. There are a group of us here trying to get a tour of their facility. I had someone tell me that a new head of the MBTA let all 5 go and then when things stopped getting fixed had to hire them all back.


Just found this link that tells the story:

Edited November 22, 200817 yr by Doug C

That's it Doug.

What really amazed me was middle management realized it takes skilled craftsmen to actually DO things. Wow!

Frosty