Portrait of a blacksmith in Sorbie

  Portrait of a blacksmith, Sorbie. Dr Werner Kissling, 1958.   This photograph shows one of the Sorbie blacksmiths, who were brothers. The blacksmith is wearing a protective leather apron and is holding some of the tools used for shoeing a horse.   The tongs were used to hold hot metal in place whilst it was worked and the rasp was used to file down horses' hooves before they could be measured for shoes.   Dr Werner Kissling (1895-1988) was a German photographer and ethnographer who spent most of his life documenting Scottish crafts, architecture, and agricultural practices. He was associated with Dumfries Museum from the mid-1950s until his death in 1988.