The object is located at the crossroads and constitutes a good example of a rural forge from the region of Radom. It is a wooden building made of beams, with a gable roof covered with thin narrow boards. The roof created a shadow, shielding the entrance, which was characteristic for the forge.
The forge is fully equipped for production. Inside we may find a dominant element in the form of the stove made of meadow stones welded with clay and leather bellows. This set is located in front of the entrance. The whole room is filled with objects necessary for the blacksmith to work. Under the window there is a table with two vices as well as blacksmith’s tools and “szmelc”, i.e. iron scrap used in everyday forging beneath. Nearby we may find a giant metal driller attached to the wall, known as the drill machine. The wall next to the furnace is equipped with shelves full of pliers and tongs. The corner, just next to the door is occupied by a horse gear which arouses common interest. It is used for pulling of rings onto the wheels made in the wheel-wright workshop. The centre of the forge is occupied by anvils and hammers placed upon them. The entire space presents different objects – effects of the blacksmith’s work, for example horse fetters, chains, forged parts of the coach.
The appearance of the forge gives a false impression of a mess. Everything here has its place. The most necessary tools are always “at hand”, whereas the objects used rarely ale placed further away from the blacksmith’s work post. The set of blacksmith’s tools presents richness of forms and applications. The basic devices include: bellows or a fan, anvil, different types of hammers and tongs used for keeping of heated iron during the forging process. Apart from them there are: vices, drillers, files, cutters for cold iron cutting, punches used for making of holes within the iron, screw-taps and screwing dies used for making of screws and nuts, heading tools, known as “naglajzy”, used for processing of heads of nails and screws as well as a potter’s wheel used for sharpening of tools. The blacksmith also used specialist measurement tools, such as: folded rules “calówki”, slide callipers, compasses and triangles. Objects indispensible for the furnace service included: iron scoop for coal, fire iron – a sharply finished rod for prizing of slag, “kropocz” – a rod with an opening for a wet cloth used for sprinkling of hot coal. A separate group is constituted by objects used for horse forging, such as: a hammer used for pulling out of horse’s nails, tearing file used for levelling of hoofs, pincers, knife or plane used for cleaning and cutting of horse’s hoofs, key used for tightening of caulkins – screws from horseshoes, “tępor” – a spinning cake used for cutting of horse nails, trestle used for placing of hoofs during the cleaning process, tongs for examining of hurt spots upon the hoof, pipe “dudka” for putting onto a lip of wayward horses during the forging process.
Blacksmith’s hammers were divided with regard to the weight of the hammer face into: the big ones – bimanual from 6 to 10 kg (they are operated not by a direct hitting of the material but of another, small hammer) and the small ones – manual from 3 to 6 kg, which were used for direct metal processing. A particular type of hammers is constituted by shapes, which give proper form to produced objects. Among the shapes we differentiate top swages and bottom fullers. The latter are placed within the anvil, whereas the former are pressed at the top of the processed metal. The aforementioned hammers are used in one set with bimanual hammers. In order to finish the products, the blacksmith used smoothing hammers.
