Hannaway Shop expands class offerings in hand-forging

Also now features a wheelwright

LINCOLN - In response to a growing interest in metal crafts, the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop on Great Road in Lincoln is expanding the opportunities to learn hand-forging by adding classes on Sunday mornings as well as a weekday evening for beginning students, to supplement the Saturday morning classes that have been taking place for the past six years.

Taught by blacksmiths, the process called hand-forging is done by heating iron and then shaping it as it cools with a hammer on an anvil into a variety of household items and implements.

The classes run for two hours and class size is limited. Materials are provided in the cost of the class.

While many think of horseshoeing when they hear "blacksmith," today's blacksmith carries on the trade by hand-forging household items such as fireplace tools, decorative wrought iron hooks, curtain rods, handles, drawer pulls and cabinet knobs.

"The expansion of hand-forging classes and the addition of a wheelwright to the Hannaway Shop is just one more way that Friends of Hearthside is meeting its mission to preserve not only buildings, but to preserve important history, such as these traditional crafts that were essential in everyday life a hundred years ago," said John Scanlon, vice president of the Friends of Hearthside and manager of the Hannaway Shop. "With these classes and demonstrations, the traditional skill of blacksmithing will carry on to future generations."

There's also a wheelwright shop in the building, to make and repair wheels for horse-drawn vehicles. Rolf Johnson of Scituate is the shop's new wheelwright. Johnson learned the craft in the early 1970s when he bought a motorcycle and needed its wheels fixed. He went on to work for the shop where he had it fixed, designing brake and wheel systems for custom racing cars and motorcycles. He fixes different types of wheels, including spoked bicycle wheels, compression wheels seen on early automobiles and horse carriages, and even wheels on modern cars. Visitors can stop in and watch this craft being demonstrated; look for the wheel hanging outside the door on a Sunday morning, which is a signal that the wheelwright is in.

The Hannaway Blacksmith Shop is owned by the town of Lincoln and managed by the Friends of Hearthside, the volunteer group serving as stewards of the Hearthside Homestead and the Hannaway Shop.

Originally a lean-to adjacent to Great Road's Moffett Mill in 1850, the Hannaway Shop was moved in 1901 by William Hannaway into a carriage house across from Hearthside. Small shops like this one were commonplace in Lincoln during the 19th century. Hannaway's smithy was successful until the proliferation of the automobile forced him to close the shop in the 1920s. The shop was moved to its present location at Chase Farm Park and restored by the town of Lincoln in 1989.

The Hannaway Blacksmith Shop is located just down the street from Hearthside at the entrance to Chase Farm Park at 669 Great Road. The shop is open to the public for demonstrations during class hours, typically 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and 8 to 10 a.m. on Sundays.

To sign up for classes or for more information, contact John Scanlon at john.scanlon@hearthsidehouse.org or call 726-0597.