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Still, it's not a huge industry. There are between 5,000 and 10,000 blacksmiths in the U.S., and of those, only about 10 percent do it professionally â they make things like custom railings or artistic hardware for homes. Back in the classroom, Scott Higgins is learning to punch a hole in metal.
People would remember their grandfather's farm and the shed where his anvil was set up. But they had no idea of what Grandpa did in his shop. Essentially, if a job absolutely had to be done by hand, then a blacksmith would have work. And there were some repairs and tools that called for the blacksmith's skills.oday, about 5,000 men and women belong to ABANA, the Artists Blacksmith Assn. of North America. There are an estimated 5,000 non-members. Add to that all of the farriers, bladesmiths, gunsmiths, and armourers and perhaps 20-30,000 Americans practice the metal arts of our earlier days. Maybe even more.