"When Samuel Yellin opened his Arch Street Metal worker's Studio in Philadelphia in 1920, most who shared his ancient craft had abandoned their tools in favor of other pursuits. Yellin was a blacksmith - he insisted on calling himself that, although clients flocked to him for his sculptural and artistic skill, rather than to have horses shod or plows mended. From his shop poured the monumental iron-work that graces dozens of cathedrals, institutions, public buildings and private residences designed by the nation's premier architects during an age of great opulence. Samuel Yellin was undoubtedly one of the finest blacksmiths who ever worked in America...He liked to say that he "sketched with a hammer for a pencil and the red-hot iron for drawing paper".
Oral Traditions Project of the Union County Historical Society,
Date of Publication
c1980.
Physical Description
80 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
Notes
"An Oral Traditions Project."
Includes index.
Bibliography: p. 76-79.
Summary
Examines the work and world of rural blacksmiths: wheelwrights; lock, gun, and spoonsmiths; cutlers, farriers, white smiths and general smiths; edge-tool makers and mechanics. It covers the two hundred year evolution of the smithies' shops and presents a portfolio of products of the general smith and the prices charged. Pennsylvania ironware is described through the materials and methods of handling, form and design elements. Biographies and work of over forty documented Pennsylvania smiths are included as well as a list of contemporary blacksmiths in the state. (Google Books )
