Blacksmith's Luck

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The other day I mounted one of my great grandfathers "baby" horse shoes on my workshop door. It is one of those things that I have always done when I am just about ready to open shop. It is practically a universal symbol and sign of a blacksmith. Many people believe that the horseshoe always needs to be turned the other way in order to assure good luck. In this instance I am claiming the rite of the blacksmith and the exception to that generalization is that the luck is supposed to be poured down on the forge. May this be so! I could use a bit of luck in my workshop. My Great Great Grandfather Alan Robinson was a farmer and a blacksmith. My living grandmother can remember when her grandmother needed to call him from his fields for a customer. She would take a big metal cooking spoon and beat it on the anvil and he would arrive shortly. I haven't been able to find Alan Robinson's grave. I like to think that a bit of him is alive again in me when I am metalsmithing.