[TheForge] Help with info

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> > My son is doing a report on blacksmithing due Dec 5, we are having a
time
> > finding info, can someone help us the time 1800-1840.  The sites we have
> > found so far are modern day forging.  What a wonderful art you all craft
> > amazing work.  If any one has any info we would greatly appreciate any
> HELP.
> > He is in the forth grade, Pioneer Days for history is the subject.
> Thanks.
> >
> Can you give us a clue as to what kind of infromation you are looking for.
> Like what did they use for fuel and tools or what did they make and how
did
> they fasten things together.
>
> I know that it is hard to figure out what to ask if you know nothing on a
> subject. The more you know the more questions you can think of.
>
> Dan Rathburn
> Elgin, IL USA

Dan's thought train is a good one, but it will take some asking, in order
for you to know what to ask. I've been thinking about this all day, and it
occurred to me that an effective line of research might be to look at
inventions of the time period you're asking about.

Blacksmiths, being the lazy gits we are ;-), tend to find easier ways to do
things, and we tend to make an effort to do ourselves out of work. It
occurred to me that if you were to research inventions which were patented
and proliferated through that period, you'd get a good idea of what they
were doing, and how they did it better and more easily with each new gadget.

Weren't treadle hammers invented about then? What about greater availability
of consistent steel alloys? And like that....

Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....