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modern-day blacksmith
Roger Chudzik forges a hot
metal taper with his
100-year-old Champion
hammer, which has an
electric motor that he
engages and controls by
working a foot treadle.
Time-Honored
The blacksmith has gone from essential tradesman to an artisan who still
uses hammer and tongs to turn hot iron into something useful
written by bruce irving • photographed by kelly davidson
WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING AN HONEST LIVING, few can rival the blacksmith, and any
self-respecting New England settlement had one. Though covered in soot and
sweat, he was often called “the most important man in the village,” making the
tools necessary for other trades, outfitting farmers with plows, woodsmen with
axes, coopers with hoops, and, of course, horses and oxen with shoes. ➺
