The Elisha Winn House

The Elisha Winn House. Blacksmith Shop. Dr. Donald S. Bickers, MD, donated the Blacksmith Shop in 2000. The building was built about 1910 by his grandfather, Alfred R. Clack, who used it into his old age, dying in 1948. The shop came from his farm off Fence Road in Dacula and Dr. Bickers kept the setup intact including his grandfather's blacksmith tools. When donated, the building needed only a 110-pound anvil, stone foundation, and stone forge. The blacksmith shop was moved to the Winn property from Alfarminda Farms on West Union Grove Circle in Gwinnett County., A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal (i.e. by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut). Blacksmiths produce such things as wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agriculture implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, horseshoes, and weapons. In colonial America, a farrier would have done much the same work as well as shoeing horses but modern day farriers usually specialize in horseshoeing., Blacksmiths work with iron, the 'black' metal, and recently steel, its derivative. The black color comes from fire scale, a layer of oxides that forms on the surface of the metal during heating. The term 'smith' originates from the word 'smite', which means to hit. Thus, a blacksmith is a person who smites black metal., Blacksmiths work by heating pieces of wrought iron or steel until the metal becomes soft enough to be shaped with hand tools, such as a hammer, anvil, and chisel. Heating is accomplished by the use of a forge fueled by propane, natural gas, coal, charcoal, or coke., Modern blacksmiths may also employ an oxyacetylene or similar blowtorch for more localized heating. Color is important for indicating the temperature and workability of the metal: as iron is heated to increasing temperatures, it first glows red then orange, yellow, and finally white; then it melts. The ideal heat for most forging is the bright yellow-orange color appropriately known as 'forging heat'. Because they must be able to see the glowing color of the metal, some blacksmiths work in dim, low light however most work in well-lit conditions. The key is to have consistent lighting that is not too bright. Direct sunlight obscures the colors., The techniques of smithing may be roughly divided into forging (sometimes called 'sculpting'), welding, heat-treating, and finishing.