Blacksmithing for a new generation of makers
For Catherine Shook Hendershot, it really all began when she was 12 years old.
“Dad gave me my first pocket knife,” she said, “I thought, ‘this is cool, I want to figure out how to make this stuff.’” Youthful curiosity grew and expanded until now, still in her early 20s, she is a full-fledged blacksmith, a traditional trade that has, historically, been the domain of husky, broad-shouldered men. Needless to say, Catherine does not check off any of those boxes.
Homeschooled through high school, she found that she was very tactile when she naturally took to knitting and crocheting. At age 17 she joined the Junior Apprentice program at Exchange Place - a living history farm whose mission is to preserve and interpret the heritage of mid-nineteenth century farm life in Northeast Tennessee.
She randomly chose blacksmithing as an elective. Soon, she was hooked.
When the living history farm holds its annual Spring Garden Fair on Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28, Catherine will be in the blacksmith shop, as she has since the fall of 2014, demonstrating what the smithy would have done on the Preston farmstead in the 1840s and 1850s.
Practice makes perfect, and since Exchange Place generally only fires up its forge four times a year, she has been proactive in learning her craft. In addition to working with and learning from Graysburg Forge’s Will Vogt out at Exchange Place, she attended a blacksmithing class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, which proved to be extremely intense, enormously educational and, as she puts it, “very cool.”
Hendershot has also become a regular at Bristol Forge, which meets at Rocky Mount every month. Watching and listening to the more experienced blacksmiths helped her improve to produce better-quality ironworks.
Quality is important, but she Hendershot that thinks what she makes should serve a purpose. She is really not interested in making decorative items; “the long, skinny, elegant things,” as she put it. Give her something practical every time. “It can look pretty,” she said, “but it has to be useful. If it can’t be used, what’s the point?”
Can a 19th century skill find relevance in the 21st century? Hendershot thinks the answer is yes. She said she would like to utilize the small business management degree she earned from Northeast State Community College to build a forge to produce her own works; things such as knives, arrowheads, hooks and hook racks, door handles and latches – again, items that are practical and useful.
She thinks she could sell things online, or out at Exchange Place during festivals, or even on a commission basis. And she also sees a need to perpetuate blacksmithing. “It can be a dying art if we let it,” she said.
When working the forge at Exchange Place, she has had a great deal of interaction with curious, wide-eyed youngsters. The ideas of teaching blacksmithing isn’t out of the question.
Hendershot will be part of the 35th edition of Exchange Place’s Spring Garden Fair, on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Sunday, April 28, from noon - 5 p.m. The weekend is filled with artisans displaying hand-crafted items, in addition to plants, seasonal produce, music and food.
Admission is $5 for those over the age of 12; there is no charge for anyone under 12. All proceeds benefit the animals who live year-round at Exchange Place, as well as the continued restoration and preservation of the site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For more information call Exchange Place at 423-288-6071, write to email@exchangeplace.info, or visit our website at http://exchangeplace.info