By Shelby Stewart
Staff Wrtier
Ortonville-It had been more than 70 years since the clang of a blacksmith’s sounded in the village.
That sound will return.
The Ortonville Historical Society is putting their new blacksmith shop to use. Tom Roberts, a Brandon resident and blacksmith, is teaching blacksmithing classes and his first classes are already full.
“After 20 years, they finally built this blacksmith shop,” said Roberts. “And some of the members there knew that I was a blacksmith, so they asked me to help them run it.”
The shop was completed in 2020 as part of the Old Mill Museum, run by the Ortonville Historical Society. Roberts has previously demonstrated blacksmithing there during Septemberfest, Witches’ Night Out, and Christmas in the Village. The first class, on April 2, was just about making J hooks.
“When I first got into blacksmithing over 20 years ago, one of the first things they taught me to do was make a simple J hook,” he said. “I have many hobbies, and blacksmithing is just something I wanted to try, so I took a weekend class and I fell in love with it.”
Roberts said currently, a lot of people are interested in making knives, which he said he will eventually have a class on. He is trying to offer classes at least once a month with a cost of $75.
“It’s a traditional, creative art, it’s very tactile, and any craft or art like that, it takes time to learn those skills,” he said. “And it’s a great confidence boost.”
Roberts himself makes small items like puzzles, steel knives, hinges, gate hooks, wall art and many more things, all by a hammer and an anvil.
Anyone interested in classes can reach out on the Old Mill Blacksmith Shop Facebook page. Both he and Alan Gallagher will be teaching the classes.
“If you learn how to make certain things, it becomes a stepping stone,” said Roberts. “I like the creativity of it. It’s amazing you can take a hunk of metal and just form it.”