Blacksmith Keith Sommer / PHOTO Midwest Settlers and Threshers Association

From www.BlufftonIcon.com

MEDIA RELEASE__On Saturday, June 14, the Swiss Community Historical Society will host a blacksmithing demonstration by Keith Sommer, SCHS curator. This is the first of three Second Saturday events to be held at the homestead in 2025.

Blacksmithing was a once-common task at the Schumacher Homestead. Sommer will work with various blacksmith tools for hammering, punching and welding wrought iron and steel, while using a forge fire to heat the metal to “white hot” before shaping into the desired end result. 

Sommer explains that the purpose of blacksmithing is to manufacture and repair “whatever comes in the shop,” including machinery, tools, and farrier’s work (shoeing, trimming horses’ and mules’ hooves).

A display will include tools and blacksmith-made items from the 1850s to recently made items, along with some reference books.

Second Saturdays take place from 1-4:00 p.m. at the Schumacher Homestead, 8350 Bixel Road, between Bluffton and Pandora. On July 12 the theme will be trapping and hunting; on August 9 there will be hearth-cooking.

Members of SCHS and anyone 16 years old and younger are admitted free of charge. The cost for others is $5.