What does a blacksmith do at Colonial Williamsburg?
Ken Schwarz: Blacksmiths work with iron and steel, so with those raw materials and a fire, we use the fire to soften iron and steel and a hammer and an anvil to hammer the material into useful shapes. Lloyd: What’s a useful shape? Ken: Useful shapes include tools for other tradesmen, household utensils, things like fireplace equipment, cooking implements, tools for agriculture – plows, hoes, rakes, harrows, wagon and carriage hardware. There’s really almost an endless list. Lloyd: I haven’t heard horseshoes. Ken: Horseshoeing was sometimes part of the blacksmith’s business, but in an urban setting like Williamsburg, you find that as a specialized trade – a farrier’s trade. In rural area, it wouldn’t be uncommon for a blacksmith to include horseshoes as part of the work. Lloyd: How many blacksmiths are there? Ken: Within our shop, we’ve got five full-time blacksmiths. Within the United States, there are probably thousands – many of them doing the work as a hobby. The professionals in th
