Thankfully, the morning sun had not yet burned through the cool mist when I drove to Raymond Tilton’s in Wilton where a dozen local smiths were gathered Saturday morning for the dedication of the new Western Maine Blacksmith Association’s traveling forge.

Blacksmithing, involving as it does proximity to hot, smoky coal fires, is a lot of fun – although it’s a little less so in the kind of 90-degree heat we’ve been having lately.

It’s a tradition to have the local minister come and dedicate a new forge, so to do the honors Tilton had invited Dave Zamboni, pastor of the nearby Dryden Baptist Church he attends with his wife Lennie.

The wagon-mounted forge is Tilton’s idea and was built in his yard. He’s a retired blacksmith and farrier.

Now that it’s officially dedicated, the traveling smithy will have its public debut at the Blueberry Festival this Friday and Saturday, where its twin forges will be fired up, and glowing red iron will be hammered and shaped by club members. They’ll be working from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. next to the Wilton Historical Society’s Farm and Home Museum on Canal Street.

This beautiful Gypsy-style wagon, painted green and red and white, was put together from a wrecked house trailer frame, used wood, old bed springs and donated equipment – a typical Raymond Tilton operation, if I may say so about my old friend. Raymond doesn’t believe in buying new where something old that hasn’t seen its full life can be fixed up to do the trick.

Steve Townley, president of the association for its first five years, has been working alongside Ray for the past three summers to put this moveable demonstration site together. They had help from Ray’s son Stan and many others in the club, but it was mainly these two who brought this project to fruition, working side-by-side for long hours.

The greatest compliment he ever received, Townley said, was when Raymond watched him as they solved some problem – there were many along the way – and said, “You tinker pretty good.”

“I’ll remember that for the rest of my life,” said Townley, a retired telephone company manager.

Townley had been interested in smithing before retiring and moving to Maine, but it was a class with Raymond at the Wilton Historical Society that got him going. Most of the people who attended the dedication, and most of the 50 people who have on and off been members of the association, have been students of Raymond’s. He’s been teaching regularly since he persuaded the historical society to let him create the forge and sponsor classes in the basement of the museum seven years ago.

The classes were also a typical Raymond Tilton operation. He donated his time, giving all the fees to the historical society for use of the building.

Ray doesn’t believe in leading people around by the nose. He provides the tools and the equipment, some well-chosen words of instruction, and help where needed. He expects students to want to learn the way he does – by experimenting, by trial and error, and by applying intelligence to formulate clever, if sometimes unorthodox, solutions to problems. Raymond is always ready to watch someone find another way to do something besides the one he thought of.

“Ray sees a problem and he solves it,” said Rodney Porter, co-president of the association along with Bill Reid. That model of problem-solving is the glue of the blacksmithing club. “People’s interest in the association is they are interested in seeing how people did things back in the days when they actually did things.”

The association was also Raymond’s idea. He wanted people who had developed an interest in blacksmithing to get together, share ideas and be encouraged by one another. And he wanted them to be able to share their interest with the community, so he thought of the traveling forge.

What he didn’t want was to be a glory hound and the center of attention, so the dedication was another typical Raymond Tilton operation. After lighting the first fire in one of the forges and nursing it to flaming coals hot enough to – literally – soften iron, he stood quietly at the side, and let the others hammer and talk. While the morning sun began to burn brightly and the others were telling stories about how most of the ideas and problem-solving came from Raymond, he was insisting it was a group effort.

“This was a labor of love, and if it turns out to be as good as I expect it to be, it’ll be well worth the effort,” was all he would say.

His way, I guess, of sharing what he has loved since he was a boy.

The traveling forge will be available for a nominal fee to help cover expenses to local festivals and community events. Contact Tilton at 645-2261 or Reid at 778-2325 for more information.