Daniel Lapidow works in his outdoor, backyard blacksmith shop Sept. 22, 2013. (Photo by Albert Rende.)
Daniel Lapidow, the Hebrew Hammer blacksmith, works in the shop in his Lawrence backyard every Sunday. (Photo by Albert Rende.)
Lawrence resident learns skill from Howell Living History Farm and Trenton blacksmiths
Ever since he was in grade school, the red-bearded blacksmith has remembered loving the feeling that rushes through him as he steps up to an anvil.
No matter what had gone on during the week, no matter how the weather was outside, no matter what the circumstance, as long as he had a hammer in his hand, he felt at ease, like he was home.
It’s been 14 years since Daniel Lapidow first picked up a hammer at the age of 7 during a trip to the Howell Living History Farm in Lambertville, but he recalls it like it was yesterday.
“It started as a fascination of wanting to work with fire and hit stuff with a hammer,” Lapidow said. “I just saw the guy doing it and thought to myself, ‘That looks really cool.’”
Lapidow, 21, has taken that love and turned it into quite an intense hobby as he works every Sunday in a shop behind his Lawrence Township home, where he becomes the “Hebrew Hammer Blacksmith,” the title a tribute to the importance of his faith and his craft.
“The bug bit me for ironwork, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Lapidow said.
After that initial interaction with the anvil, Lapidow continued to go back to Howell Living History Farm every Saturday, working closely with Mike Erdi, the resident blacksmith who agreed to train Lapidow in blacksmith work.
The work wasn’t too labor intensive, but Lapidow fondly recollects his time cranking the bellows to blow air onto the fire.
“He would come by on the weekends, work out for a while and it was a good deal,” Erdi remembered of his former pupil. “I saw him a few weeks ago and his skills just keep getting better and he’s doing his thing.”
After a couple of years working with Erdi, Lapidow elected to join the New Jersey Blacksmith Association at the age of nine. Three years later, through the help of a teacher, Lapidow would find his next mentor as he began an apprenticeship under Sasha Parubchenko, the Blacksmith of Trenton.
Over the course of six years, Lapidow would work with Parubchenko every Saturday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m., working odd jobs and assisting with some of the work — an opportunity that Lapidow is eternally grateful for.
Each session that the two shared became a release for Lapidow, who suffers from dyslexia and had trouble in school as a child.
“Being a person with dyslexia, struggling in school was a hard thing to go through,” Lapidow shared.“Reading, writing and math weren’t my strong points, I hated it. So, to be able to go through a horrible five days at school, knowing that on Saturday I could go hit stuff with a hammer was the best thing.”
Eventually, the academic issues would supersede blacksmithing, but Lapidow said the passion and addiction still ran through his blood and only intensified when his father bought him a picture of a forge and anvil for Hanukah one year. Little did he know that after that initial gift came, the real thing would follow.
Equipped with a forge and an anvil, Lapidow jumped back into the fire, falling in love with the craft again as his muscle memory returned.
With a hammer back in his clutches, he began to attend classes and open forges, traveling all the way to Michigan to increase his skill and knowledge of the craft.
“Some people like fast cars, some people like doing extreme things like jumping off buildings, some people like playing video games, but for me I need to make a hit with a hammer, that’s my thing,” he said.
Just recently, Lapidow attended classes at the Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne, N.Y. It was there that he picked up tips from three master blacksmiths, a trio that included the renowned Mark Aspery.
Aspery, a blacksmith trained in the United Kingdom who now teaches blacksmithing around the country, is just one of many blacksmiths Lapidow admires for his ability to work at the trade full-time — a reality that Lapidow dreams of achieving.
Although Lapidow only practices on a part-time basis, as he takes Career and Community Studies courses at The College of New Jersey, he has been able to show off his craft at events such as the Mercer County Forage Fair, Mercer County Cultural Festival and Mercer County Teen Art Show over the years.
He also is open to conducting lessons at his shop on Sundays for those who are eager to learn more.
“A guy let me start when I was seven, so I feel like I have to keep it going and pass it on to other people too,” Lapidow said. “I feel if someone wants to learn, it is my duty to teach them because this is a dying art, and even though there are more blacksmiths out there than you would think, there’s not as many as I would like.”
For more information on the Hebrew Hammer Blacksmith, email dlapidow@verzion.net or search Hebrew Hammer Blacksmith on Facebook.
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