Blacksmith Shop Shifts Its Focus Over 106 Years

One of Ventura County’s oldest--and smallest--businesses, the 106-year-old Norman Blacksmith Shop, provides a living history of the county’s people and their economy.

Now located on Dawson Drive in Camarillo, the shop was established in Ventura in 1888 by Arthur Norman, great-grandfather of the present owner, John Nuckols.

In the beginning, the shop’s main activity was shoeing horses and fixing broken wagon wheels. That work has been abandoned, but through the decades, Norman Blacksmith has moved into repairing farm equipment, creating decorative ironwork and, most recently, producing security bars for windows.

Nuckols, 52, isn’t sure when the family-owned company quit repairing wagon wheels. He says the firm got out of shoeing horses as demand waned in the early 1930s. “Now, the farm equipment work is slowing down; agriculture’s getting smaller,” he reported. He celebrated his 25th year with the company Friday.

In the 1970s, Nuckols needed four employees to keep up with orders from farmers and custom home builders who wanted fancy iron railings.

In the recent recession, however, he was down to a one-man operation. Now, he’s taken on a part-time assistant.

“The farmers don’t send us as much stuff to repair as they used to, but our security-bar business is picking up. I guess it’s a sign of the times.”