Moral gray area with a blade made from scrapped historical fence

A local brought me sections from a 19th-century wrought iron fence they demo'd, wanting a kitchen knife. Part of me says it's preserving history through craft, but another part worries it's wrong to profit from dismantling our past. Where do you stand on working with historically significant scrap?

4 comments

4 Comments

hannah_wilson1mo ago

Giving history a practical purpose keeps it alive in people's hands. No point in saving metal just to look at it.

kellyw681mo ago

Tell that to the museums, @hannah_wilson, but they do love their shiny paperweights.

robinc251mo ago

So what happens when the practical use wears the history right out of it? A coin turned into a keychain loses its story, doesn't it? Where do you draw the line between using something and using it up? Seems like some things are worth saving just to remember how they got here.

the_susan1mo ago

So if a coin becomes a keychain, robinc25, does its story end or just change?