Memories of an Oklahoma Farm Boy

by Virgle Chappell

Blacksmith

Some of the Chappell's of years ago were blacksmiths but of course I didn't know them personally. Nearly all Plantation owners of the Colonial era as well as farmers of later years, were fairly accomplished blacksmiths. 

Early American Blacksmith shop with firebox in the corner and bellows at the left

John Chappell of Charlotte CO, Virginia was owner of a large Plantation in 1810. He is said to have been a skilled Blacksmith, and could "forge a shoe or shoe a horse better than the regular Smith kept on his Plantation." But he had more important things to do than Blacksmith, with his large Plantation, his 27 slaves and his preaching. He was a minister (Baptist and/or Methodist) who didn't see eye-to-eye with others so built a church on his own Plantation, which he pastored in his "spare" time. At a Baptist Association meeting attended by laymen and pastors, he was one of the signers of a proclamation encouraging "greater unity and zeal among the different denominations of Christians in evangelistic work."

Thomas Baldwin Chappell, my distant grandfather, born in 1792 in Anderson County, SC, was a farmer and Blacksmith. While they were in Georgia, he was listed on the census as being in manufacturing. They listed his work as manufacturing because he made almost all of his products. He moved his family many times during his life and I'm sure with each stop would provide for his family by repairing farmers equipment and sharpening their tools. Most farms or plantations of earlier days had their own blacksmith tools and the farmer (Planter) did a lot of the work himself or had a skilled blacksmith on his plantation to do it for him. There would be several times during the planting season when machinery would need sharpening and during harvest there would be repairs of broken parts on other equipment. Off season there were many parts of machinery to be manufactured in preparation for spring. This was the work of a Blacksmith.

My Dad, Leon E Chappell, farmed in Northwestern Oklahoma, Ellis County, with horses or mules until 1939 when he got his first tractor. While farming with horses, nearly everything was planted with a "lister" which was sort of like a double moulboard plow. It was pulled by four horses hitched abreast. There would be long straight ridges and furrows going east and west (because of the prevailing south wind) in nearly all of the fields. He would plant corn, maize, broomcorn and cane and perhaps some other crops. The seeds would be planted in the furrows and the ridges formed some protection for the strong south wind which always seemed to blow. He didn't plant wheat until some time after he got his first tractor. It was necessary to sharpen the lister blade two or three times a year.

Mr. Pigg's blacksmith shop was in Spear-Moore, about 3 miles from our home. As I remember, he was a very large and muscular man. He wore overalls like the farmers did, but always had a leather apron on to protect them. Dad would always let me go with him when he wanted Mr. Pigg to fix or sharpen something. His shop was in a big barn on the north side of "town" I am calling it a town because at one time there were two grocery stories there. Mr. Spear had one and Mr. Moore ran the other. I don't remember what other businesses were in the town besides the post office as we always went to Catesby for our shopping.

Mr. Pigg's blacksmith shop was more modern than some I had seen earlier. He had one large motor ran nearly everything in his shop. There were overhead pulleys which all turned continuously and each piece of equipment was engaged with a clutch when it was used. He would place the lister blade in the coals which were always smoldering and hand crank a blower to excite the fire and make it hotter. He would check the blade from time to time and when it became white hot on the sharp edge, he would take it in his tongs to the trip hammer. Working back and forth on the sharpening edge he would beat it until it seemed just right. This process might be repeated several times with occasional pounding on the anvil with his large hand hammer. When just right, the blade would be immersed into a barrel of water which cooled and hardened the edge. He did have grinders, also run by the overhead pulleys, which were often used to put a finished edge on the blade. 

Horses hooves grow just like human finger or toe nails. Unless they were trimmed regularly, they would break off and often the horse would become lame Blacksmiths also cared for horses feet when farmers brought them in. Dad did his own work on his horses and mules, so Mr. Pigg was not employed to do that job. Our farms were always soft or sandy soil with very few rocks so there was no need to shoe the horses. Mr. Pigg would also make and fit the shoes for horses brought to him.

Harve Hamilton and Leon Chappell cleaning and trimming a horse’s hoof to prevent him from going lame

A piece of equipment which dad used was called a "knife sled" It was a sled with runners about a foot apart, with metal seat for the operator to ride on. It was made of two 2 by 10's with the front cut at a slant. There were two knives about 3 feet long, one on each outer side of the sled which sloped back at about a 45 degree angle. Two horses were the means of locomotion. The sled was used to cut and kill the weeds on the ridges on each side of the lister furrows. Mr. Pigg was responsible for making the metal runners for the sled which were about 5 feet long and slanted up at the front with a short extension of the metal turning back over the top of each runner. He would also be needed to sharpen the knives at least once during the year.

As the years passed Blacksmith's have gradually disappeared. I remember when Mr. Pigg died and his shop was closed. Much of the work they did is still being done and some of it in the same way it was then. But the larger part of the work as they did it is a thing of the past. A Blacksmith was more or less a handy man for all the farmer's needs. In the 40's much of the work was being done at Gas Stations (we called them "filling stations") where the proprietor would have a full garage for service work, though not really blacksmithing. 

My Dad loved horses and had spent his life around them until the late 1950s. This picture is of him when he was about eight years old and the family was living in Beaver County, Oklahoma. 

Leon Chappell when a young boy, with his colt about 1906

I don't know what fascinates kids today, but our visits to Mr. Pigg's Blacksmith shop will always be in my memory. I guess the power developed by the trip hammer fascinated me as much then as the thrust of a rocket leaving the earth fascinates a boy today.

Virgle L Chappell