Historically Smiting as it was known is around 5000 years old and it has been a slow process in developing from the possible accidental discovery of iron in the ashes of campfires.  I have provided a very interesting link on the history of Blacksmithing and thoroughly recommend reading it .

http://www.appaltree.net/aba/education/historical/history.htm

 

We owe so much to the Blacksmith , We do need to appreciate the man who really built our modern world, the blacksmith.  In peacetime and in wartime, the blacksmith was called on to do many tasks.  Ben Franklin, in his Poor Richard's Almanac, wrote, "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.  For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.  For want of a horse, the rider was lost...".  In "The Village Blacksmith", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow praises the blacksmith:  " His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man."