Blacksmithing

This is a different sort of post for me as I do not have any notes. I'm not sure what I will say. I'll let my fingers do the writing.

On Monday, Christine and I met up with Dan, The Hebrew Hammer Blacksmith. For me this journey began a month earlier when I saw a flyer at Lawrenceville's annual Spring Fling about blacksmithing lessons. A couple of weeks later I signed up to go on an archaeological dig at James Madison's blacksmith shop this September. I thought it would be fun to do some hands-on blacksmithing before then.

I reached out to Christine to see if she would want to join me. Christine knows Dan from her work at Howell Living Farm. She is also the type of friend who is always up for a new adventure. Unbeknownst to me, in 2019 she won a blacksmithing lesson but between the pandemic and life, she hadn't cashed it in.

We were good team. More importantly, Dan is a great teacher.

Dan is currently the sole blacksmith at the shop in Trenton. When I parked my convertible across the street, my immediate thought was this is a sketchy part of town. One I don't visit very often. There is litter strewn about on the side street. His shop is on North Olden Avenue, directly across from an abandoned factory, where there is talk of building a skating park (as in skateboard). As I was leaving, though, I was warmly greeted by a woman walking her dog. I should try to be less judgy. If you feel inspired to take blacksmithing lessons after reading this, please note that he has his own parking lot.

The shop has been a blacksmith shop since 1823. It was originally smaller, later expanded closer to the sidewalk, eliminating the space where a carriage may have once parked.

Don sports a wiry, red beard. It seems to match his identity as an historic blacksmith. He fell in love with blacksmithing when he was seven years old and met his first blacksmith at Howell Living History Farm. He is only 34 years old, born two weeks after I graduated from college.

In addition to running his shop, he is an historic blacksmith at several sites. I saw him in 2024 on a super hot July afternoon at Howell Living History Farm barely break a sweat working with the hot fire demonstrating his trade to the crowd gathered as we fanned ourselves and stuck to the shade. It was impressive. He works at other historic sites, as well as Renaissance Fairs, and other places a blacksmith is welcome. He has a travel-sized forge he takes on the road.

He also told us about the time he was in the background in the recent Springsteen movie Springsteen: Deliver me from Nowhere. He met Springsteen for about ten seconds and had the wherewithal to have a coherent conversation about a musician they are both fans of.

Having Christine along was perfect. As coworkers, she and Dan fell into easy conversation as we waited for the iron to heat up. It made the experience more relaxing than had I gone alone.

Dan told us in addition to homeschool he has hosted bachelor parties where the gents bring pizza and hang out for a few hours while making items. Christine is now thinking of creating an event for a singles group she belongs to. He is comfortable working with groups of up to ten people. While his workshop is spacious, there is still a lot one could get into.

His first question to use was the hardest: what do we want to make? 

We decided to make low hooks perfect for hanging plants on. Oddly, neither one of us had given it any thought. He suggested a piece of jewelry, or a hook, or a nail. We both wanted something practical that we would use. Dan explained we would each leave with a plant holder.   

This was actually my second biggest challenge of the day. The first was finding clothes to wear that are 100% cotton. I have plenty of shirts I thought were 100% cotton, only to read the labels and see they have a lot of polyester or spandex in them. I wore one of the shirts Don used to wear when he worked for corporate America. Christine wore an old t-shirt. We both tucked our hair back from the embers.

At first glance, the shop is dark with the walls painted black, and many pieces of metal all over the place. As I relaxed into the place, I noticed just how neat and tidy it all is. The floor is swept clean. The metal pieces are organized in crates, bins, and on shelves. Tools are exactly where they belong. I have the sense that if you quizzed Dan, he could find anything immediately. 

Dan did the heaving lifting. After cutting our piece of wrought iron he heated it in the furnace and explained the rules. We were each given a hammer. He would point to a spot. I would whack it, then Christine would take a swing and we would repeat. When it came time to create the curve, Christine paused the swinging and took pictures of me. When we made the next one, I took pictures of her. 

We worked as a good team. We both trusted the other would not swing and miss. We both wanted to work. We both wanted to take pictures. Most importantly, we both wanted to enjoy the experience.

Dan said the plant holder we made, he could create in seven "heats." I tried to keep track of how often we had to reheat the iron, but it was much more than seven. We both felt the second one went much faster, but again we lost track.

An hour after we arrived we said good-bye to Dan.
Christine wants to create another outing and do this again. I'm looking forward to my dig in September.

More pictures: