PLAN No. 1032. BLACKSMITH SHOP
Here all sorts of blacksmith work is carried on. The shop is usually inclosed, but owing to smoke from the forges is generally kept more or less open, so that it is not usually warmer than the weather outside.
Among the tools used are steam or compressed air hammers, oil furnaces, large coal furnaces, forges (coal or gas), cranes for handling heavy work, dies, sledges, and hammers.
Much of the work is generally carried on by angle smiths who work angle iron, usually from wooden patterns called templates, and blacksmiths who work on all sorts of light machine and hand forgings. Smiths are aided by helpers. Much of the work is heavy and calls for considerable physical exertion and requires practically continuous standing. Some of the lighter work in a blacksmith shop is of a higher grade and calls for wide experience, good judgment, and close observation. Such work is that of the tool dressers, the spring makers, and the die hardeners or temperers.