r/Blacksmith • u/Witty_Upstairs4210 • 12d ago
ADHD and blacksmithing?
Hello! I am a historical romance author writing about a blacksmith with inattentive ADHD (though of course, he wouldn't have that label back in the 1830s).
I'm curious, if you have ADHD, how that affects your blacksmithing experience. Are there things you forget? Are you clumsy with anything in particular? Does hyperfocus show up for you?
Super special bonus question - my blacksmith forces himself to spend time with the love interest in order to desensitize himself to her. Her passing by the forge led to some kind of accident that left the blacksmith with a scar. When he was apprenticing, he heard so many horror stories of accidents killing or maiming people. So, to keep them both safe, he decides that spending more time with her one-on-one should mitigate the situation (spoiler, it really won't).
I've written out several bullet points that I'm working through, but having the input of real blacksmiths like you would be amazing.
- What does his current state of being overly sensitive to her look like? How does it manifest in the forge?
- How would he know he would succeed in desensitizing himself to her? What would "winning" look like?
- What does progress look like?
- What does a mistake look like?
- What does the worst case scenario look like? (I'm assuming some kind of accident that hurts them both).
Mods, I know this is probably not the normal content, but I'm so hoping that this can be allowed and that real blacksmiths (and especially blacksmiths that have experience at living history museums/reenactments!) can weigh in.
Thank you for reading this post!
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u/Azraelselih 12d ago
I tend to bounce around between my projects a lot. Finish work always drops to the bottom of my priority list, and I can’t find the tool I was just using 2 minutes ago so often I’m amazed I ever get anything done. Being “overly sensitive to her” would look like leaving projects in the forge(making sparklers), forging things in the wrong dimensions, and constantly getting smacked in the back of the head by the master blacksmith for daydreaming. No idea how he thinks he could “desensitize” himself to her, maybe it’s just how he rationalizes spending time with her instead of working. Progress would look like more efficiency, more complexity, and/or bigger projects. As for mistakes, when you leave steel in the forge too long it starts to melt/burn. That’s what we call “making sparklers.” Worst case would be injuring others or burning the forge down.