BEAUMONT, Texas — A Southeast Texas blacksmith is demonstrating a centuries-old craft at the Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum, showing visitors how metalworkers shaped tools essential to the region's oil boom.

Rob Flurry, of Beaumont, has been working with metal since he was 13-years-old, when he forged his first sword after reading about King Arthur and asking a librarian how swords were made. Now he's sharing his expertise with museum visitors, creating swords, axes, knives and everyday tools while explaining blacksmithing's crucial role in industrial development.

"The ancient Persians and the Mesopotamians were the first blacksmiths," Flurry said. "When they struck Spindletop here, blacksmiths built the tools for them to drill the oil."

Hope Meredith, a Spindletop Museum specia

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