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When Sherman Brickett stepped into an old building nestled on a hillside in New Sweden several years ago, the amateur blacksmith from New Hampshire thought he’d stepped back in time.
The structure contained a newly restored blacksmith and wood-working shop of one of the small Aroostock County town’s settlers. Lars Noak, who immigrated here with his parents from Sweden in 1871, operated the business for about 40 years.
Last week, Brickett was on hand to demonstrate century-old blacksmithing and woodworking techniques as part of New Sweden’s “Midsommar” Celebration, an ethnic event marking the summer solstice. During the festival, local residents dressed up in traditional Swedish clothing and danced around a pole decorated with wildflowers. A smorgasbord of pickled herring, potato salad, rye bread, meatballs and other Swedish food was served up.
In addition to preserving Swedish traditions, this year’s celebration sought to preserve a skill that maintained the Swedish community during its early decades. The hope is that a local student apprentice will learn enough about blacksmithing to do demonstrations at the blacksmith shop during the town’s special observances.
Closed in the 1940s, with all the red brick forge and all the blacksmithing and woodworking tools inside, Lars Noak’s shop stood forgotten for decades until a group of people interested in local history and preservation decided to restore it.
“When I walked through the door, I went back 60 years,” Brickett said.
Brickett knows of no other old blacksmith shop in the United States, other than those at large museums, which is as complete as Noak’s shop.
For two days last week, he gave 18 blacksmith wannabes a crash course in blacksmithing techniques. There may be more than enough up-and-coming “smithies”, judging from the good turnout at the two-day class.
“I’ve always wanted to know about it and get into the field,” said Eric Still of New Sweden, one of the students.
The first day was taken up in lecturing about the art of blacksmithing and woodworking and the trades’ historical importance in communities.
“In Europe and Colonial America, every community regardless of size depended on the existence of this skill,” Brickett said at the class’s outset. Still and his friend, Robert Montgomery of Connor, were anxious to heat and mold iron. They watched intently as Brickett started the fire in the forge with wood shavings and shoveled soft coal around the rising flames.
Although the fire was hot enough to soften iron, the blacksmith shop’s temperature remained comfortable since the fire’s heat was taken up the red brick chimney.
To coax the fire, Brickett turned the crank of the blower that forced air underneath the firebox. If there’s too little air, the fire goes out. Too much, the fire doesn’t get hot enough.
“It’s actually not a complicated process,” Brickett said. “You just have to keep your eye on it.”
The whirring of the turning crank was the only sound heard as Brickett continued to operate the blower and shovel coal onto the fire.
As the flame turned a bright yellow-orange, he took a long piece of metal, a quarter-inch in diameter and shoved into the coals. At about 1,800 degrees, the fire yielded enough heat to make the metal quite malleable.
Brickett removed the metal with a pair of long tongs with one hand and began to pound the metal with a hammer with the other as the iron piece rested on an large anvil supported by a decades-old block of wood.
In less than a minute, the blacksmith fashioned a hook that can be used to holds pots, plants or hats.
To bring the metal immediately back to room temperature, the hook was plunged into a bucket of cold water.
“Although there’s heat involved, it’s (blacksmithing) not dangerous,” Brickett said.
At this point, it was the students’ turn to weld the hammer and bend the iron.
Still was the first to volunteer to work the forge. While his friend Montgomery turned the blower’s crank, Still made a fireplace poker with a rounded handle and twists in the bar section of the piece.
To make the twists, one section of the iron was heated and then placed in a foot vice while the metal was turned by hand, during various tools.
Cutting the iron to an appropriate length required a shear, a large tool worked with both hands and a foot. The shear was part of Noak’s original shop.
Theresa Nicholson, along with her husband, Darrell, and son, Caleb, came to the class in hopes of learning enough to conduct demonstrations.
“Theresa’s great grandfather was a blacksmith is Island Falls,” said Darrell Nicholson. “She used to go and watch him when she was a little girl.”
Kevin McCartney of Caribou chose to make a holder for a hummingbird feeder. As he heated the metal, one could hear Brickett offer advice.
“Need a little more heat,” the instructor said. “Turn the crank.”
Montgomery decided to bend a piece of iron into a triangle that his wife could sound to call him from the woods for supper.
Throughout the class, Brickett continued to offer historical tidbits about the craft of blacksmithing. His discourse, which he delivers without notes or other aides, was interrupted at times with advice to individual students. The advice was always accompanied with a hearty chuckle as he rests his hands on the front of his leather apron.
As Ben Fuller, 14, of Caribou, approached the shear to cut his piece of metal, Brickett jokingly asked him if his measurements were accurate. As the boy asked for help to cut the piece, Brickett showed how to use the shear himself.
“You’re a blacksmith and you didn’t know it,” Brickett said as the metal piece was split in two.
As a mechanical engineer for about 40 years with General Electric, Brickett was involved in shipbuilding for the U.S. Navy. As a child in Derry, New Hampshire, he was introduced to the craft of blacksmithing.
“I have been practicing the craft as a hobby ever since,” he said.
After accidentally finding New Sweden on a trip to Fort Kent, Brickett started giving demonstrations at the blacksmith shop on special occasions.
“I know of none like the Lars Noak shop, anywhere in the USA which is in its original location, complete with original equipment, all of which is fully operational capable.”
After the course was completed, certificates of completion in the history and art of blacksmithing, wheelwrighting and woodworking were handed out to the students.
“It means I’m a hobbying blacksmith,” said Darrell Nicholson of the certificate. Nicholson said he plans to volunteer his newfound skill at the New Sweden shop.
“Then I’m going to build our own forge,” Nicholson said, adding that he plans to make various items for his family’s house in Caribou.
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