By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Special to the Clarkston News

The Old Mill Museum Blacksmith Shop in Ortonville now has a locally-used swage block.
“It’s a piece of equipment that a lot of the old shops had,” said Tom Roberts, a former Independence Township resident and part of the Clarkston High School Class of 1981 who leads blacksmithing classes and demonstrations at the Old Mill. “You use it to shape iron, you can also use the holes in the block as a plate to punch holes through your work or to size pieces of steel, like if you were making axles.”
Roberts found the block for sale on Facebook. The man selling it had recently bought property in Clarkston that a blacksmith had owned in the early 1900s and had his shop on, and found it when he was mowing the lawn.
“The blacksmith shop at one time was converted into a chicken coop,” said Roberts. “At that time they probably drug the thing out in the yard and left it there. It had been there for years, and he was cleaning up his yard and hit it with his lawnmower.”
Roberts was able to purchase the block with a $600 donation from Ortonville councilmember Pat George, as well as the remaining balance coming from the Ortonville Historical Society.
“The old ones are fairly uncommon,” he said. The way they use them is you build a stand for them so you can move them around, it’s a pretty heavy piece of steel.”
The blacksmith that originally owned it was named Otis, but he was nicknamed “Buzz.” The man who found the swage block also donated a piece of wood with “Buzz” carved into it that was part of the blacksmith shop.
“One day, Otis was out behind his shop, and he got struck by lightening,” said Roberts. “And after he got struck by lightening, his buddies nicknamed him ‘Buzz.’”
Roberts said he is working on a stand for the swage block, which will be displayed at the Old Mill Museum Blacksmith Shop.