Bernville Iron Works

12/24/2025

An angel ornament I recently made from nickle alloy sheet (about 4" tall).

07/14/2025

EVENT PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2307487456293812

09/11/2024

The next Pa Artist Blacksmiths' Association meet-up will be in Clearfield, Pa at our president's new shop. Andrew and his helpers will be demonstrating how to make a fire ring.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1471032330514903/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[]%7D

Send a message to learn more

09/06/2023

FYI: I'll be volunteering in the historic blacksmith shop at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site this Saturday, Sept 9th from 10-4. If you get a chance, swing down and say hello.

Pic: a couple of scorpion bottle openers that I recently made.

08/01/2023

The annual Blacksmith Day will be held this Saturday, Aug 5th on the grounds of Old Dry Road Farm near Blue Marsh Lake (Berks Co., Pa).

05/10/2023

Sheep Shearing Demonstration at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site this Saturday (May 13th) starting around 11am.

The colliers will also light the fire for a charcoal burn at 10am.

I'll be working in the blacksmith shop.

04/09/2023

I volunteered in the historic blacksmith shop at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site yesterday.

11/18/2021

I'll be in the historic blacksmith shop at Hopewell Furnace that day. Come on down for a visit.

Join us on Saturday, December 4th, 2021as we commemorate early American Christmas traditions from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Beware, The Belsnickel will make an appearance!

The history of celebrating Christmas is as varied as the people who celebrated it. The owners of Hopewell Furnace primarily celebrated in the English fashion. The holiday did not center around children until the mid-19th century. For some, Christmas was kept as a strict holy day while the majority celebrated with visiting and feasting. Religious services were held on Christmas or the day after and centered on the birth of Christ. At Hopewell Furnace, the Brooke family held a Christmas evening party at the Big House.

NPS Photo:/Hawthorne
(Saint Nicholas stands next to a Christmas Tree in the Big House)

07/16/2021

If you've ever wanted to try your hand a blacksmithing or just watch some smiths work, stop on out to our annual Blacksmith Day at Old Dry Road Farm (on the "back" side of Blue Marsh Lake) on Saturday, August 7th.

05/12/2021

I haven’t been doing much blacksmithing lately, but I did just finish an interesting project for the Bernville Heritage & Cultural Society.

An old walk behind (horse/animal drawn) corn planter was donated to the Society by a resident a few years back for their collection. The planter was made in Bernville by W. J. Harpel’s Machine Works. I’m not sure when it was manufactured, but the person from the Society who asked me to work on it thought it might be from the mid-1800s. That might have been when the manufacturer was in operation – I’m not sure.

It was stored in the borough garage and got knocked over, breaking both handles – one clean off, the other was splintered.

I was asked to fix the broken handles and lubricate the moving parts. When the big wheels roll, it drives a shaft that turns a gear in the hopper that makes a ring with holes in it turn. The holes collect corn kernels and drop them out the back of the hopper into the furrow created by the plow.

I decided to give it a partial restoration. Mostly cleaning and preserving.

I was able to glue both handles back together and put a piece of flat stock metal under the breaks as a brace to reinforce them, which worked well.

I took the planter completely apart and cleaned everything. I didn’t want to disturb the original paint and pin-striping on the wooden parts, so after cleaning I put a carnauba paste wax on them which dried clear and provided some protection. The metal parts I cleaned up and applied a rust protectant spray which dries black.

I just got it all back together today and thought it looked pretty good.

The person who donated it had transcribed the directions from the underside of the hopper lid, but the transcription was deteriorating to the point of being very hard to read. So between the original directions and the transcription, I was able to again transcribe and save the directions which I’ll print onto cardstock, laminate and keep with the planter.

The planter will not be put back into service but will be a display piece for the Society.