Thread: Timbertown Blacksmith

Love the white shirt!

I'm glad you enjoyed Timbertown Fred.
Did you get up the hill to the Hastings Woodworkers Guild Shed.
Great fellas and ladies and a wonderful clubhouse.
The blacksmith's name is Doug and he has many a tale to tell about his time in the railway workshops.
Here is a pic that I took of him back in January this year
Cheers
SG

1-DSC_1356.jpg

SG, Great photo perfect timing, I hope you were the only (other) one in the shop at the time!? Graeme

Originally Posted by anglesmith

SG, Great photo perfect timing, I hope you were the only (other) one in the shop at the time!? Graeme

Thanks Graeme.
As luck would have it - yes, at the time of the photo, all others had departed to somewhere else. Interestingly, neither Doug nor I saw the shower of sparks. It was only the slow shutter speed of the camera that enabled their trails to show up.
Just lucky I guess.
Cheers
SG

Very interesting comment on the shutter speed versus eye speed. SG Never really given it much thought but I guess I have wondered why some photos look more spectacular than the real thing no matter which side of the forge weld you were/are! Certainly confirms my long practice of not fire welding and even being careful with forging over hot steel when the public (especially kids) were in the shop or likely to walk/run around those doors!. Graeme

Nowhere near as dramatic as the photo above but here are a couple of my BS photo favorites.

The first one is of Instructor Carl and a student forge welding at the BS course I went to earlier this yesr, while the other 3 are from the 2010 World Blacksmithing championships in Calgary.

DSC00060_red.jpgWBSC2010.jpgSparks2.jpgHotshoes.jpg

Originally Posted by Big Shed

One of the many interesting things to see there was a working village blacksmith.

IMG_7372.jpg

Just spotted the name in that photo....

That is Daniel Vickery White, my great-uncle.

It's actually a recreation of his original smithy in Wauchope.

Two stories to tell that might be of interest to the smiths on the forum.

I have just completed some family history and can trace Dan's descent from a long line of blacksmiths that go back for over three centuries (to 1640) in Wales. There had to be a lot of metal dust in the blood by then!

The other is less to do with smithing, but still interesting. At one time Dan was noticing some disturbance in the workshop when he went in first thing of a morning, but no evidence for the cause. This went on for some time, so he got up early one morning and found a waif sleeping near the warmth of the forge. Dan took pity on him, gave him a bed to sleep in and work. This arrangement lasted for some time and with the constant heavy hammer work young Wally grew into a very strong young man. One day Wally lost his temper over something and picked up the anvil and threw it out of the workshop into the road. G-uncle Dan quietly told him to go and fetch it and if he wanted to pull any stunts like that again he could go and join the circus, which he did... becoming the Strongman "Don Athaldo". I'm not sure if he was much good as a blacksmith, but was quite showman.

Members on this forum might like to see the sketch layout of Daniel White's blacksmith shop drawn by his grandson, David Stoupe who spent many hours in the workshop as a child. Here it is as a Word docx.

Sketch from memory of D V White's Blacksmith shop by grandson David Stoupe.docx

You might also enjoy reading Daniel's apprenticeship indenture agreement, dated 1899. Can't imagine an apprentice signing that nowadays, although some might benefit from doing so.

Daniel White apprenticeship indentiure.docx