Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1974 a broken window in an American house was an errand, not a project. You measured the opening, wrote it on a scrap of paper, drove into…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
He came down the street pushing a cart, or riding a bicycle rigged with a wheel, and he rang a bell or called out, and women came out…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1955 a chimney sweep arrived on foot or by bicycle with a bundle of cane rods over his shoulder, pinned a sheet across the fireplace, and pushed…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 almost every town had a watchmaker, and he was the person who kept the most precise machine most households owned in working order.
He stripped watches…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
An apprenticeship in the machine trades in 1965 was a four-year indenture at deliberately low pay, served in a shop where the training was informal, the guarding was…
One fire, one anvil, and everything metal for a mile. Here are twelve.
1. The Fire Was Not Hot Because It Was Big
A forge fire is small and concentrated,…