ShawneeDispatch.com

Lee Quaintance started working with iron as a child, but it wasn't until he was an adult when he learned how to work with the metal the old-fashioned way.

"In 1993, I applied for an apprenticeship grant through the state historical society," he said. "I thought, 'I've done just about everything else with iron, so why not learn the way to work it hot?'"

Quaintance said he has been a staple at Old Shawnee Days for several years, although he can't remember how long he has attended. Visitors to the annual festival this past weekend stopped and watched him, along with his 9-year-old son Nathan and his friend Dave Lawrence, use a forge to help heat the iron so that it could be made into tools or other objects. Nathan and Lawrence were busy making tent stakes.

"We are teaching a 9-year-old boy how to do some blacksmithing and do things to try to intrigue folks," Quaintance said.

They were portraying blacksmiths from the 1800s, a time when many relied on a blacksmith, including carpenters needing tools and farmers needing farming equipment.

"Every town had to have a blacksmith," Quaintance said.

Although they practice an older art, Quaintance said it still is useful today.

"When I'm working on my farm tools, a lot of times it's easier to light the forge and do it this way than it is with modern tools," he said.

Aside from Old Shawnee Days, Quaintance also will exhibit his traditional blacksmithing in October at the Shawnee Indian Mission's Fall Festival in Fairway.

Quaintance owns a farm in Edgerton, Kan., where he grows certified organic grain. Through the Kansas City Food Circle, he met Lawrence, an organic food promoter. Lawrence likened the traditional blacksmithing methods to organic farming, which is why he became interested in learning the craft from Quaintance.

"The organic methodologies go back for thousands of years," he said. "We are maintaining a bit of contact in old ways that still work."