A few comments on Blacksmith shop floors.
 
Dirt floors in blacksmith shops have the advantage of allowing the smith to
change the height of an anvil or other fixed tool, like a vise, by digging a
depression or scraping up a mound of dirt as needed so the level on which he
stood was higher or lower in relation to the tool.  So its not surprising to
find humps and hollows on the surface.
 
The Early American Museum in Mahomet, IL, removed the remaining tools etc.
from an early 20th century blacksmith shop several years ago, and this shop
originally had a wood floor which had been removed due to problems with the
joists.  The square stumps which supported the two anvils had been pulled up
and one was about 4 feet long with the end rotted off and the other seemed
to be complete and was about six feet long.  Presumably there would have
been "pits" to match them if an excavation had been carried out.
 
The trough is intriguing.  I have a photograph taken in a c. 1900 shop in
Iowa which has a long trough in it which ends in front of the anvil.  The
trough appears to be made of two boards much like a rain gutter.  Iron
straps cross the top and are spaced closely enough together that using the
trough to cool tires on wheels would be difficult.  It is located far enough
from the forge that it would not have served as an air conduit.
 
Most shops with dirt floors seem to have  quantities of scrap that has been
ground into the floor.  And certainly any active shop generates enough ash
and clinker that disposing of it becomes a problem.  Bottom draft forges
usually have a dump in the pipe to the tuyere to empty ash etc. which
accumulates in the bottom of the fire pot.  This would accumulate under the
forge which is also a convenient spot to put similar material which is taken
out of the forge from above.  But obviously this has to be cleaned out
periodically.
 
The shop in which I work was used from about 1916 to the early 1930's by a
man who specialized in welding up broken cast iron pieces.  The local
residents who knew him said he often built a fire in the middle of the shop
which he used to pre-heat the castings before he repaired them.  After
welding he used the same location to allow the necessary slow cooling
period.  Something similar might account for the  pit with reddened edges.
 
Charles M. Keller
Collections Manager
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