Northeast Blacksmiths

Our demonstrator for the weekend was Michael McCarthy from The Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Although he is only 30 years old, he has been working with metal for nearly half his life.

The son of a sheet metal worker and fabricator, Michael McCarthy has long been interested in making objects out of metal. His first exposure to smithing at age twelve, was with a family friend who is a farrier. While still in High School, he built a forge and worked with friends. Upon graduation in 1992, he toured the country and studied with several metal artists. In1996, he returned home and opened his own forge in Penn Yan, NY. His focus was primarily art, until 1998, when he began an apprenticeship with Paul Spaulding at The Farmers Museum. His exposure to the work and period of interpretation at the museum shifted his focus to pre- industrial methods of forging. After three years of apprenticeship Michael was chosen by Paul to run the shop at the museum. In 2003 he relocated his own shop to a building in Ames NY, where he works during the winter months, while the museum is closed. Michael’s current focus is on the tools and hardware of pre-industrial America, although he still produces contemporary items in both metal and wood.

On Friday evening, Michael had a slide show of the work at the museum. His demo was on the making of a laminated steel hammer and covered other tooling such as chisels, drawknives and different methods for producing a laminated steel edge or face. Also, a part of this was a discussion on heat treating the laminated tools.

Michael McCarthy on right			Knot Handle
Upsetting			upsetting
Drawknife			Forged items

Back