The Town Blacksmith: Solomon K. – 2015

My name is Walcott Caden, the local blacksmith. It was an early morning in the city of Williamsburg. I walked outside and saw the carriages rolling down the street. The walk to the blacksmith shop that I owned wasn’t that bad and I had been excited to be working for my first year. It was good knowing that people needed my skills as a blacksmith. Once I arrived I opened the door and assembled my tools onto a table by my anvil. The cloth that had covered the coals was black with soot. Being careful not to burn myself, I lifted the cloth and saw the orange tinted coals. Without looking I reached above my head and found the lever that was connected to some pulleys. I heaved downwards and the coals glowed red. I Repeated pulling up and down until the coals sparked into a flame as furious as the sun. When the fire was a substantial size I walked over to the door and moved a sign that said I was open for business. I waited in a chair that I had in the corner, only getting up to keep the fire going until a man walked in with a chipped axe. He asked if it was possible to repair but I told him no. He responded with a sighful, “Alright i’ll just get a new one.” He gave me my pay and left with his broken axe in hand. I grabbed an iron brick and lowered it into the fire with my tongs. The white light blinded me and I took out the now orange brick. I set it on the anvil and picked up my hammer. With tremendous force the hammer bent the iron and sent sparks flying. After repetitive strikes onto the metal, the shape of an axehead started to appear. With a quick rest I looked at the iron and heated it up again, only to make adjustments after. When that was finished another man came in talking about how he had just arrived in Virginia and how he needed a job. He told me that he had experience in blacksmithing and wanted to join my shop. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind and I told him the following, “I would love the help but you need to supply the things for your own hearth. But until that’s built you can help around.” He responded with a delightful “That sound wonderful! I’ll be glad to help!” He walked behind the counter and to the very back of the shop, estimating how big he could make his hearth. We spent the rest of the day planning for the amount of materials that he needed. It started to rain so I went home, he decided to stay and make more measurements. I woke up and started over to the shop. I walked in and he had managed to somehow stay the whole night and build his hearth! It still wasn’t functional but it looked darn good. He asked me if I could start replicating some tools for him and I silently nodded. I walked over to the hearth and started up the fire. I began creating the tools and slowly my shop started to expand, becoming more important, more efficient, and more helpful.

 

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