The blacksmith's shop in Teddington is back in business.
Photo: RNZ Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
The first record of a blacksmith shop on the Gebbies Pass corner dates back to an ad in The Press on 27 July 1889 which read: "J Bryden has started a blacksmith's shop at Teddington, where he hopes to receive a fair amount of patronage."
As horses gave way to vehicles, the demand for a blacksmith waned and the Banks Peninsula shop eventually closed.
Photo: RNZ Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
The building lay semi-derelict until 2015 when it was restored by members of the local community with support from the Parkinson Family Trust.
Retired blacksmith Les Schenkel agreed to take on the running of the Banks Peninsula smithy and has transformed it into a busy, working blacksmith's shop.
It is now is one of the few operating blacksmith forges in New Zealand.
Photo: RNZ Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
The forge burns West Coast coal to a very high temperature to heat the metal making it malleable.
Schenkel does wide range of blacksmithing work and no job is too small. Often it is in exchange for metal or historic machinery.
A local recently dropped off some old hay mowers and said: "I'll give you these if you make a chandelier for me barn."
Schenkel agreed.
"The hooks and the scroll work are all going to be made out of fencing standards from the paddock up the back here,” he said.
“It's a matter of digging them out of the ground, sticking them through the fire and make stuff out of them.
“I make a lot of stuff out of those standards,” he said with a grin.
