BLACKSMITHS

​Early settlers had to be very resourceful, creative, inventive people.    Resources were very limited to the tools, items they brought with them.  When something broke it had to be repaired or a new one made from bar stock of iron or steel.

An important person in the early settlement was the blacksmith. He was a skilled craftsman, who heated iron to shape it, using a forge, anvil, hammers, tongs, chisels and punches to create, repair, and make needed metal items. With a vise and files, he refined the rough edges.
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A forge (furnace) burning coal was used to heat iron placed in the forge to a high temperature. The temperature of the forge was controlled by air being pumped into the forge using large leather bellows, the more air the faster the coal burns, the higher the temperature.
 
Color changes in the metal indicate when the metal was ready to be worked.  It was taken out of the fire and hammered on an anvil until the desired shape or repair was achieved. The reheat process is repeated until the desired shape, repair or weld was made.  It was then dipped in a tub of water or oil to cool quickly or slowly to the desired temper of hardness.
 
Allentown had a blacksmith shop that was located at the corner of Wulff and Howells Ferry Road.  (Allentown was a town with a church, school, store, cemetery and blacksmith shop that was named for the Allen families who homesteaded in 1820.  The only thing that remains today is the Allentown Cemetery and Allentown Holiness church)

Semmes blacksmith shop was located at the corner of Wulff and Hwy 98, just north of the Tift-Pringle grocery store. The shop was owned and operated by Mr. Wulff.  Horses and mules were shod, and all types of agricultural equipment were kept in repair. Knives and other useful items were made. 
 
 Russell Wulff would later build a home and operate a grocery store at this location. Today in 2019, Walgreen’s Drug Store occupies this property.
 
 

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