Is the metal fabricating shop “The Modern Blacksmith”?
I have a friend who has a large shop, and in my and other’s opinion a fabricating shop; advertises his work as Blacksmithing. If a blacksmith in the 1800s had a welder, bending machines etc, do you think that he would have used them? Wait, what is a blacksmith? I have one definition in Webster that has it as “a smith who forges iron.” Wait, what does forge mean? Again I found one definition that supports my friend’s point of view in Webster “to form (metal) by a mechanical or hydraulic press with or without heat.” So what is the correct answer? That depends on the dictionary that you use. • What does a blacksmith do? This word blacksmith means something different than it did years ago. Today, when you ask someone what does a blacksmith do? The likely answer will be shoe horses. I thing Mr Webster will be changing the definition in another few years with the definition of the word farrier. Again the answer is: that depends on whom you ask. • What is “traditional blacksmithing”? That dep
