I have decided to expand my knowledge and test my skills by undertaking the lost art of Blacksmithing. No, I am not going to have acetylene torches and Lincoln welders. This is going to be a most primitive shop, reminiscent of those the pioneers would have constructed.
We are constructing our own shack out of fallen oak and elm timbers off our land. Everything that is going into this shop is going to be hand constructed. Even the timbers we are using have been stripped of their bark and are drying as I write this. To remove the bark, I used an ancient tool called a drawknife to slice away at the tree's skin. With long pulls of the razors edge, the bark peels away like the skin of a ripe banana.
Today, I laid over seven trees. With my team of mighty helpers, we quickly cleaned up the debris. We took the extra limbs that were of no use to the burn pile, which will be turned to ash to add to the garden compost; the larger pieces out of the trunk are being used for the corner posts of the shop, and the ends are to be used as firewood.
Drawknife at work.
My beautiful wife working so hard to get the bark off.
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