The Bobby Bones Show - Episode #3: Master of a Dying Art

Episode Date: May 22, 2019

Jim Ellis is a master of a dying art. Meet this 80 year old blacksmith from Cape Cod who is committed to making sure one trade isn’t lost to time. What happens to an occupation like blacksmithing if the next generation doesn’t learn the skills needed to see it survive? What happens to these occupations when the ones who do them move on? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Express Employment Professionals understands what it takes to land a new position at a top employer or start a new career in today's job market. knows jobs. Get to know Express. Go to Expressprose.com. Welcome to On the Job. This season, we're bringing you stories about people finding their professional stride by virtue of who they know, whether it's breathing new life into an age-old profession, taking the reins in a family business, forging your own path with a new idea, or landing the perfect job doing something you'd never before even considered. Today, reporter Otis Gray brings us a story about a craft that is, no longer as needed as it once was, and a man whose job is to make sure it's not forgotten.

Jim Ellis lives on Cape Cod, and with the help of a very unlikely apprentice, he works to pass along an occupation that was once woven into the fabric of our society. Over to you, Otis. I don't know, just I think we're in too much of a hurry these days. Everything's too simple. Because I've got to remember how the old time has got us to this point. wasn't for them we wouldn't be here

so I drove out to Barnstable Massachusetts on Cape Cod to meet a guy named Jim Ellis he lives in this old historic looking house there's a plaque outside that says House of Ellis right on the porch which is a family name here dating all the way back to the Mayflower

and when I walked into Jim's kitchen he was sitting next to a pair of crutches and he was in a lot of pain it's just sharp I mean it brings tears the eyes I've had both rotator cuffs repaired over the years and I think I tore another one for the second time. But I might have it looked at tomorrow.

I don't know. We'll see what happens. In his line of work, a torn rotator cuff makes things difficult. It's really, really hard. But you can laugh about it. Hey, what else are you going to do? See, either laugh or drink beer. That's cheaper to laugh.

Not an ideal injury because Jim Ellis is a blacksmith. Is the rotator cuff a result of your work blacksmithing? I don't know. I think AGE has a lot to do with it. He just turned 81 that week. And in a world of fast-moving, high-tech jobs,

some that didn't even exist 30 years ago, Jim is a third-generation blacksmith. It picked it up from my father, and he got it from my uncle, and my uncle got it from Mr. Kent, who started here in a village in about 1888, I think, in that area. And even at 81, Jim's still swinging a hammer any day that he can.

Still at it. 111 years in the same village, doing the same job and the same family. I just, I love it. I love the old history. I try to keep it going. So today, with Jim's shoulder on the mend, we follow his story as he strives to pass along a craft

from another time. Under a spreading chestnut tree, the village Smithy stands. The Smith, a mighty man is he, with large and sinewy hands, and the muscles on his brought. The only arms are as strong as iron bands. His hair is crisp and black and long.

His face is like the tan. His brow is wet with honest sweat. He earns whatever he can, and he can look the whole world in the face for he owes not any man. That's Jim reciting The Village Blacksmith, a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1840. Jim has this poem hanging on the wall in his shop.

This is where I first met Jim. I was driving around the Cape when I saw a brick building on the side of the road with a sign outside that said blacksmith right in the driveway. I pulled over and I walked in to find Jim amongst a sea of iron tools and hooks and chandeliers. Iron everything, hanging from the walls, the ceiling, poking out of shelves and buckets. And tucked against the back wall was Jim sitting at a forge, a glowing furnace powered by a hand crank, where he heats his iron up until it glows red so he can bend it and hammer it into whatever shape you want. like walking through kind of a day

what your tasks are, what you do in the shop, everything. Well, that's kind of what I like about it. You never know what's going to do. I mean, people bring things in to be repaired from weather veins to any kind of antique stands and I've even done antique picture frames. Some stuff very intricate,

like little wall hooks and plant hangers. The other day I had to make a U-shaped piece of iron to hold a sign like I wanted. And others just banged, bang, bend it, and put a hook on it, and you're all done. Just bending, heating up, metal, bending it, shaping it. What a lot of us think about blacksmithing, we picture a burly guy at an anvil

pounding away on a hot piece of metal. You might be picturing a sword or medieval times. And that's part of it, shaping a square piece of iron into something usable, like a blade or a hook to hang things. But what a lot of people don't realize is this is how things were originally welded right up until the 1900s.

Welding, as in taking two pieces of metal, getting them hot enough so that they melt and joining them together. The harder it is, the easier it is to move. A good welding heat is 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit when the iron goes past that cherry red color to a bright, light yellow. The iron melts and literally begins to move.

With electric and gas welders we have today, that kind of heat comes pretty easy. Years ago, they used to have to bring it up to that heat. That's how they did the welding. They didn't have electricity, they didn't have welding gases. They welded in the fire. So you've got to get the iron right to that melting point

and then hammer it together. By its nature, all of Jim's work looks old-fashioned, the way things used to be made. It's not perfect and smooth like most metal objects we see today. Most of the things around his shop have a rougher quality to it. And that's the way he likes it. A lot of people don't like to leave hammer marks. I love hammer marks.

As a matter of fact, sometimes I use a special hammer box. to make different marks in it. Why do you love the hammer mark? I don't know, it just shows that it's a hand hammered, not done in the machine. Character. Blacksmithing is a job that's part of our cultural lexicon. Everyone knows what the job is, even though most people today don't know a blacksmith. Even in the 1950s, long after blacksmithing had faded from its heyday,

it still topped the charts in the song Blacksmith Blues by Elamay Morse in 1950s. Mawrse in 1952. That's because blacksmiths are a huge part of our human story. The blacksmith was pivotal in every village, town, and city, dating back almost a thousand years ago when humans began successfully making iron tools. They fixed armor and made weapons, making them vital to conquest, they made farming equipment, axles for wagons. They were quite literally what held society together.

Blacksmithing remained a completely necessary job right up until the industrial revolution. But with the invention of bigger machines, affordable tractors for farmers, and Ford's Model T car to replace the horse and buggy, blacksmiths quickly found their profession obsolete at the turn of the 20th century. Afterwards, Blacksmiths specialized in craft goods, but much of the profession died away during the Depression and years following. The craft itself made a huge resurgence during the 1970s as folks became interested in its history and its application to modern school sculpture and crafts. But not many people do it as a full-time job like the old days. Jim is not an exception. Well, I try to make enough to keep the shop going. But no, it's pretty hard to make it living at it the way I'm doing it. But being retired, I don't have to plan

on it for my income. But I do have to break even, at least. In another life, Jim worked on nuclear weapons in the military and was a mechanic until he broke his back in a truck accident in the 70s. Now that he's technically retired, he runs his shop more like a museum than anything. Although you always have the fire going. I always have a piece of iron in a fire. People like to see the metal being forged, and especially kids like to see it putting in the water and sizzle and all that. But yeah, we're just trying to keep the interest in blacksmithing. How many more years do you think you have in you for blacksmithing? Well, I'll keep that as long as they can.

So now, we're back where we started. With Jim's shoulders, he can sometimes do two hours a day before he's cashed out. But if you ask Jim, if he's worried that all his knowledge of tools and blacksmithing stop with him, he'll tell you not at all. Why? Because he's got a pretty unlikely protege to carry on the tradition. I guess so, yeah. Yeah, my name is Nora Bervin, and I full-time, I'm a metal engraver.

and part-time blacksmith. I say unlikely because Nora is 5-2, skinny, and prefers to forge in a dress. Not the classic image you have in your head when you think of a blacksmith. Nope, nope, I'm very petite, little lady. Usually it's a big burly dude. Do you think other people find it weird that you do something like blacksmithing? I think it surprises a lot of people,

considering more my height and just how scrawny I look. But I think people really respect it, and they think it's very interesting what I do. Nora has been learning from Jim for about three years now, and she enjoys not fitting into the stereotypical image of a blacksmith. Being able to prove maybe to young kids, like it is really nice to show that as an inspiration to younger people or smaller people that,

anyone can do this trade, even though you can swing a eight-pound sledgehammer. You don't have to be a big person that goes to gym all the time or something like that. This in particular shows that you really, anyone can do anything that they put their mind to. Yeah, she's doing wonderful. She loves it. I've got a smile on her face. I've learned so much from Jim over the last just a couple of years. And I've slowly done a little bit on my own here and there throughout this whole time.

But I like the old process. I like the simple ways. And I even make soap from scratch. And I grow vegetables and I grow things in the garden. You're pretty old-fashioned. Yeah. Yeah, very. We'll get back to the story in a second.

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You gotta slow down Do it right, do it once It'll last Because I've got to remember How the old time has got us to this point Wasn't for them We wouldn't be here Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing

Onward through life he goes. Each morning some work began. Each evening sees it close. Something attempted, something done, has earned him a night's repose. Thanks. Thanks to thee, my worthy friend, for the lessons thou hast taught, thus that the flaming forge of life of fortunes must be wrought. Thus on its sounding amble-shaped, each burning deed and thought. Being in gym shop, I couldn't help thinking about something

I picked up as a job when I was in college. Sign painting. I learned typography and painted signs by hand for businesses around Providence, Rhode Island, where I went to school. It was a really tough thing to be even okay at. Like blacksmithing, sign painting used to be a very necessary job in society. Before computers and vinyl printing, sign painters would design storefronts, scale the sides of buildings and paint mammoth advertisements and logos. It was messy. tedious hard work. And today it might seem like a creative passion, but years back, it was a real, vital job that would feed families. It taught me patience, something I was born lacking a little bit. And as I felt the brush slowly glide over glass or wood, knowing all the practice I had done before,

led up to this one mark I had to do in one stroke. There was a sense of satisfaction and confidence that I didn't know before. It's that feeling you get when you've done something right, and you know you didn't take any shortcuts. Today you can drive around and see the remnants of old sign work, faded letters wearing away on the size of brick buildings like ghosts, evidence of something from long ago. And the more I painted, the more I appreciated those disappearing letters, something undeniably human, like a fingerprint,

a record of how far we've come. Hammer marks. If learning an old job like that did anything for me, it was that it helped me appreciate time. For 35-year-old Nora and blacksmithing, it's the same. I feel that I need to hold on to as much knowledge as I can so that it can stay, stick around, and doesn't escape. I know I realize how hard the old type has worked.

I mean, you know, when I listen to my mother, how she grew up on a farm, and the things they had to do before she went to school, walk to school. and riding horses, and they worked really, really hard. How hard it was to put an iron tire on a wagon wheel. How hard it was to make a wagon wheel. All these things, it's just, I don't know, if you know that, I think it helps you get along in today's world,

knowing what other people went through so you can be where you are. They helped you get there. Jim Ellis's skills and knowledge are part of our collective DNA, as humans, and he plays a vital role in making sure that we don't forget. Jim is a craftsman. That's the job he's passing on to Nora. But more than that, to me, I think they're both in the business of gratitude, of passing along and appreciation.

What do you think the future of blacksmithing looks like? I think it's going to be around for a long time yet. There's a lot of young people really into it. And so, yeah, I think it's going to be around for a while. Can't see it going away shortly. Yeah, we'll keep it alive. For On the Job, I'm Otis Gray. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Thanks for listening to On The Job. Brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. Find out more at ExpressPros.com. This season of On the Job is produced by Audiation and Red Seat Ventures. Our executive producer is Sandy Smallins. Our producer is Otis Gray. The show is mixed by Matt Noble at the loft in Bronxville, New York. Find us on IHeart Radio and Apple Podcasts. If you liked what you heard,

please consider rating or reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. We'll see you next time for more inspiring stories about discovering your life's work. All right, if you have ever dealt with a traditional home security company, you know the drill. Expensive monthly fees, contracts that lock you in for years, and waiting around for a technician to set everything up. It's a lot. Well, now they're Simply Safe. They have completely changed the game. Simply Safe has no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, no being trapped. They earn your business by actually keeping you safe, not by locking you in.

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