Warren in Lancaster, PA
You have to be a little careful about George's Williamsburg stories. Some of them probably happened more than 40 years ago. A lot of tradesmen have gone through in that time. Great blacksmiths that I have known have come and spent their careers and retired. I think I saw Wallace Gusler at Williamsburg 55 years ago, and he made the gunsmith video a few years later. If he did something clumsy in his twenties, we do not need to dwell on it.

When I first was going to Williamsburg many craftsmen were just putting on a show, like a play. Later they had a different spirit. They really wanted to put themselves in the position of the 18th century craftsmen and put their skills up against historic workers. Like one fellow said to me earlier this year, I am not pretending to be Thomas Jefferson; I am a blacksmith. In this mindset, A2 has no place.

Here is an old Williamsburg story: I taught George's wife how to sharpen a spokeshave. This might sound a little odd, but context is important here. She had just come to Williamsburg and might not have even known George at the time.