Talk:Smith

Where does this "farming" come from? Jason's forge is well-known as a sort of community hub in Lancre Town and he's well known as a smith even Death endorses. I don't remember any mention of his farming. --Old Dickens 23:48, 7 February 2012 (CET) - Ah, farrier, you say! The old eyes failing again. Still, he doesn't work "merely" or even principally as a farrier: there's specific mention of his forge and making his own shoes. Outside large urban areas, possible racetracks and the army, the farrier and the smith are the same guy. There won't be enough horses in vertiginous Lancre to support a farrier. (His regular customer flies in.) --Old Dickens 08:25, 8 February 2012 (CET)

Actually, farrier originally just meant "blacksmith" (OF ferrier < ferrum, iron). It has come to refer more specifically to a fitter of horseshoes and sometimes hedge veterinarian. Old Dickens 22:01, 12 February 2012 (CET)

This is what makes me think Jason is a farrier (he doesn't make anything else with iron than shoes, and the Horseman's Word would fit farrier rather than any other ironsmith). This confusion would be removed if TP hadn't used the word in Snuff for example... Why don't I put that Snuff introduces a farrier, despite the fact that all previous smiths could also be described as farriers, apart from Ned Simnel? Marmosetpower 20:14, 13 February 2012 (CET)

I don't know why you say he doesn't make anything else with iron. He's only been called the smith for some decades and several books and he has only one known customer as a farrier. As mentioned above, the rural smith and the farrier wear the same apron and there will be more plows to mend than horseshoes to fit in rocky Lancre. Old Dickens 23:46, 13 February 2012 (CET)