blacksmithing q and a

Week in, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his bellows blow; You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell, When the evening sun is low.  From Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith When my brother told me he was going to start blacksmithing, I was very intrigued. The term “blacksmith” conjures up in my mind the image of a humble villager from centuries past who hammered out horseshoes, pulled the occasional tooth, and gave us the…