A forge welded tapered candle support the point jabs into a wall.

Depending on one's location, there's likely some sort of historic recreation event occurring nearby on any given weekend. Many find pleasure in being tourists, watching others wear strange clothes and pretend to be a Viking, a lord from the Renaissance, or a Civil War-era character.

But re-enactors know that the real fun comes in leaving behind modern tools and materials, and reproducing skills and techniques appropriate to their character's point in history.

Daniel Kretchmar has been a member, for 25 years, of a group known as the Society for Creative Anachronism. Participants in the society immerse themselves in an idealized culture based between the years 600 A.D. and 1600 A.D. Or, as members like to say, they've created a Modern Middle Ages, where armored combatants fight for honor and chivalry, and one can join a guild to learn anything from illumination (the artwork that once embellished medieval books) to wood carving to metal working.

Under the name "Daner Ketilsmider," Kretchmar has spent the last eight years learning and plying the ancient skills of blacksmithing. "My interest actually began 10 years ago when I was attending a Boy Scout camping gathering with my son," he says. "I was interested in some custom tent pegs a fellow was making, and when he told me the price, my first thought was, heck, I can do that myself."

When he's not teaching 7th grade biology in East Bethel, Minn., Kretchmar sets up his smithy at Society for Creative Anachronism events, as well as the occasional Civil War encampment or Renaissance Festival. Mounted on two vintage steel tractor wheels, the rig includes a classic hand-operated drill press that Kretchmar restored. In the middle is the allimportant forge, with air fed by a concession to modern design, a hand-cranked blower that is more efficient than a bellows.

Besides shaping and forming with his anvil and tools, Kretchmar also performs forge welding, the ancient skill that eventually led to the development of Damascus steel.

Although he has received rewards and accolades for his work, Kretchmar insists he's still an apprentice, because there's always another technique to be mastered. Similarly, there's often an apprentice or two around his anvil, receiving a patient lesson in hammer skills.

One unusual venture that Kretchmar became involved with, in the late 1990s, was the Mastermyr project. In 1936, a Viking era tool chest was found on an island off the coast of Sweden. Six decades later, an association of blacksmiths set about reproducing the many tools that were in the tool chest, using materials and techniques that closely approximated those of a Viking smith of 1,100 years ago. Kretchmar has contributed several of the reproductions.