Thanks for that. I had a real jolt of nostalgia watching it, not just for historical reasons but because I miss this sort of forging. Had to give up blacksmithing a number of years ago after tearing up the biceps tendons in my hammering arm.
In a number of out of the way corners of Maine, as in some other parts of the country, there are still remnants of this sort of thing that are not there as tourist attractions, have no gift shops, and are there because it is a matter of getting by, not making the big bucks - lineshaft shops, winter icecutting on ponds, a shop making barrel staves, makers of hand hewn furniture, etc.
It was interesting in the video, which was made I believe in the '60's, a half century ago, to hear the narrator saying that shops like the one shown were disappearing due to mechanization and the press of foreign imports. And in the same vein, the narrator mentioned that one of the guys in the shop was about to leave for a better paying job pushing a broom, the equivalent back in the day, I suppose, of a job at WalMart.
-Marty-
